Bioinformatics And Genomics News | Bioinformatics and Genomics

A team of researchers from Penn State and the University of Illinois Chicago has been awarded a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to employ biomedical research, clinical data, advanced artificial intelligence and mathematical modeling methods to ultimately support personalized medicine for people with Alzheimer’s disease. The team at Penn State includes Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics and director of the Center for Mathematical Biology; Rui Zhang, assistant professor of computer science and engineering; and Wenpeng Yin, assistant professor of computer science and engineering. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 24, 2025

Can digital replicas of patients help personalize Alzheimer’s treatment?

New NSF grant supports project to build 'digital twin' replicas of patients using clinical data to study disease progression and treatment options.

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Wild lupine, a plant of conservation concern across most of its natural range in eastern North America, grows along a Pennsylvania roadside. Credit: Isabella Petitta. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 09, 2025

Wild lupine genetics could be key to conservation of species

Researchers at Penn State studying declining populations of sundial lupines in the eastern part of the United States are closer to determining how the plant's genetics could be used to inform reseeding strategies to help with conservation efforts of the blue flowering plant.

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New research helps explain why disease-associated genetic variants can lead to variable clinical outcomes, influenced both by the patterns of secondary variants, or genetic background, and by how cohorts of individuals in a study are ascertained. In a family, shown on left, secondary variants can influence the severity of clinical outcomes, which is indicated by intensity of blue shading, or which features are present between a parent and a child that both carry the primary variant. However, this relationship between secondary and primary variants is different if the primary variant was discovered in a biobank that includes mostly healthy individuals, in the middle, or people identified for a shared clinical feature, on right. Credit: Corrine Smolen/Girirajan Laboratory / Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 09, 2025

Background genetic variants influence clinical features in complex disorders

New study reveals how the complex interplay of genetic background can lead to different clinical presentations in individuals that share a primary genetic variant.

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Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics, was named director of the Center for Mathematical Biology. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 06, 2025

Center for Mathematical Biology appoints new director

Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and 2025-26 Huck Leadership Fellow, has been named the new director for the Center for Mathematical Biology in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

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Charlene Shupp Espenshade, executive director of the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation, prepares to sample microgreens cultivated at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences during the college’s recent Legislative Research Tour. She is joined by graduate students Auja Bywater and Rishi Ravichandran. Credit: Sean Duke / Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 06, 2025

College of Ag Sciences research tour explores connection between food, health

Government and industry stakeholders got a literal taste of the future of agriculture by sampling hydroponically grown greens at one of several presentations during the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences’ annual Legislative Research Tour, held Sept. 25 at the University Park campus.

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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is formally including all microbial life in its framework by establishing a Microbial Conservation Specialist Group (MCSG), that includes Penn State biologist Seth Bordenstein. Credit: CDC/Unsplash. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 06, 2025

New microorganism survival commission aims to fill critical conservation gap

Global group to examine potential extinction of microbes essential to planetary and human health.

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Researchers analyzed the genetic composition of 46 mammals, including lions, lemurs and porcupines, illustrated here. Credit: Provided by Yana Safanova . All Rights Reserved.

Sep 30, 2025

Population bottlenecks cause decline of mammals’ immunity, researchers find

Population bottlenecks caused by stark population loss due to illness or habitat destruction caused mammals’ disease immunity to decline, according to a new study led by computational biologists in the Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

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Penn State doctoral students selected to participate in the Biotechnological and Integrative Opportunities in Microbiome Science doctoral training fellowship, from top left: Erika Biernbaum, Talon Jost, Paula Blanco Ortiz, Jie Feng, Natalie Ford, Jessica Gaydos, Ashley Ohstrom, Shane Connolly, Mackenna Yount, Yara Cavalcante Viera and Kathleen Culhane. Credit: Provided by fellows. All Rights Reserved.

Sep 24, 2025

One Health Microbiome Center awards 11 inaugural doctoral training fellows

Fellows represent the first cohort of the National Institutes of Health-supported doctoral training program in microbiome sciences and biotechnology.

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Mycelium of phytophthora palmivora, which can give rise to cacao black pod disease, grows from an agar plug, infecting a cacao leaf 48 hours after inoculation. Credit: Mark Guiltinan/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Sep 24, 2025

Gene editing, traditional crossbreeding produce disease-resistant cacao plants

Novel approach could revolutionize sustainable chocolate production while addressing global food security, researchers report.

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The human egg cell, illustrated here, contains specialized genetic instructions called mitochondrial DNA. Credit: Jezperklauzen/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Sep 23, 2025

In brief: Certain age-related DNA mutations are less common in human eggs

A new Penn State-led study suggests that human eggs may have a built-in defense against age-related DNA mutations, a finding that could help researchers better understand reproductive aging and health.

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