Core Facilities News

Keep up with the latest news for Huck Core Facilities

Composite of promotional images of the PacBio Revio and Thermo Orbitrap Astral

January 16, 2026

New genomics, metabolomics instruments added to Huck facilities

Researchers at Penn State found that two proteins thought to operate in harmony to regulate the genetic information-carrying messenger molecules called mRNA actually work in opposition: one protein destabilizes mRNA while the other steadies it. Credit: wildpixel/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

December 16, 2025

Opposing forces in cells could hold clues to treating disease

three people wearing lab coats in the Metabolomics Core Facility

October 28, 2025

Modern methods in biological research course to be offered in spring 2026

Entomologists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences examined the potential for birds to feed on spotted lanternflies. Credit: Anne Johnson / Penn State. Creative Commons

October 27, 2025

Spotted lanternfly may use ‘toxic shield’ to fend off bird predators

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

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