Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) Jan 16 2026 A multidisciplinary team has uncovered a key mechanism that allows the human bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae -responsible for atypical pneumonia and other respiratory infections-to obtain cholesterol and other essential lipids directly from the human body. The discovery, published in Nature Communications , was co-led by Dr. Noemí Rotllan, from the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) and the Center for Biomedical Research in Diabetes