August 21, 2013—The HIV/AIDS epidemic is changing in unexpected ways in countries around the world, showing that greater attention and financial investment may be needed in places where the disease has not reached epidemic levels, according to a new study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington.

By any measure, tuberculosis (TB) is a wildly successful pathogen. It infects as many as two billion people in every corner of the world, with a new infection of a human host estimated to occur every second.

The genome sequencing started with the Chinese hamster (picture). Genome researchers from Bielefeld University's Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) headed by Professor Dr. Alfred Pühler have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the Chinese hamster. The Chinese hamster supplies the cell cultures used by the pharmaceutical industry to produce biopharmaceutical products such as antibodies used in medicine. This costly project was only possible thanks to a cooperation between Bielefeld University and its international project partners. The researchers have now published their results in the internationally renowned scientific journal 'Nature Biotechnology'.