Core Facilities News

Keep up with the latest news for Huck Core Facilities

The winners of a quiz competition held at the 2025 Core Facilities Open House

October 06, 2025

Core facilities open house welcomes new researchers

The Huck Institute of the Life Sciences at Penn State University Park. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

September 15, 2025

Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences names 2025-26 seed grant recipients

Credit: Keith Hickey / Penn State. Creative Commons

September 15, 2025

September open house to showcase Huck Institutes instrumentation facilities

When the sidechain bases guanine (G) and uracil (U) are paired in the 3D structure of a molecule of ribonucleic acid (RNA) the unusual pairing creates an unusual molecular conformation called a “wobble," pictured on the left. New research shows that non-covalent modifications to the bases can further alter the conformation creating a “shifted wobble," shown on the right. This conformational diversity could help explain RNAs function versatility, according to the researchers. Credit: Md Sharear Saon/Bevilacqua Lab / Penn State. Creative Commons

September 09, 2025

Unusual molecular conformation could help explain RNA’s versatility

Chemistry graduate students Amanda Gramm (L) and Jessica Thompson (R) will participate in internships with Huck Institutes Core Facilities

September 02, 2025

Grad Students to participate in Core Facilities internships

Andrew Patterson, John T. and Paige S. Smith Professor, professor of molecular toxicology and of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Huck Chair in Molecular Toxicology at Penn State, has been named associate director for shared and core facilities at the Huck Institutes. Credit: Mike Houtz / Penn State. Creative Commons

September 01, 2025

Andrew Patterson named Huck associate director for shared and core facilities

Figure: MRI of an avocado. (A) Photograph of dissected fruit showing ﬂeshy pericarp and stony seed. (B–F) Internal structure of the fruit as visualized by MRI; (B, E) distribution of water shown in longitudinal and cross-section; (C, F) distribution of lipid (given in color-code (C) or in gray scale (F)); (D) visualization of the vascular system in the seed and the fruit. Abbreviations: vse-vascular system of embryo (fragment), vsp-vascular system of pericarp (fragment), vssc-vascular system of seed coat.

July 16, 2025

MRI advancements herald new possibilities for plant imaging

Researchers reconstructed a high-resolution 3D image of a tick-borne Powassan virus. Credit: Courtesy of the Hafenstein lab at the University of Minnesota. All Rights Reserved.

July 09, 2025

Structure of tick-borne virus revealed at atomic resolution for the first time

More than 30 researchers from seven Penn State colleges received seed funding from the Institute of Energy and the Environment to advance innovative, early-stage work addressing critical energy and environmental challenges. Credit: Brenna Buck. All Rights Reserved.

June 24, 2025

Ten interdisciplinary research teams awarded IEE seed grants

The activation of Protein Kinase A (PKA) is a critical part in how the body responds to stress and starvation. Using a variety of imaging and biochemical techniques, a team of researchers from Penn State has revealed how the metabolic cycle that activates PKA resets itself between stressful events. Credit: Varun Venkatakrishnan/Anand Lab / Penn State. Creative Commons

May 28, 2025

Resetting the fight-or-flight response

Credit: Courtesy of the Bisanz Lab / Penn State. Creative Commons

March 03, 2025

Synthetic microbiome therapy suppresses bacterial infection without antibiotics

Environmental contaminants don’t just pose direct risks to human health — they may also have hidden effects through the microbiome that researchers are working to uncover. Credit: Brenna Buck. All Rights Reserved.

March 03, 2025

'Growing Impact' discusses environmental contaminants, human health

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