News

Mar 26, 2020

Engineers model mutations causing drug resistance

Whether it is a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, or cancer cells that no longer react to the drugs intended to kill them, diverse mutations make cells resistant to chemicals, and "second generation" approaches are needed. Now, a team of Penn State engineers may have a way to predict which mutations will occur in people, creating an easier path to create effective pharmaceuticals.

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Mar 24, 2020

Developing a novel oral antibiotic to treat multidrug-resistant gonorrhea

Up to $2.86M has been awarded to a research team including Penn State scientists to develop a new oral antibiotic to treat multidrug-resistant gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease caused by bacteria that have developed resistance to all but one existing antibiotic.

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Mar 12, 2020

Gene regulatory factors enable bacteria to kill rivals and establish symbiosis

Two factors that control the expression of a key gene required by luminescent bacteria to kill competing bacterial cells have been identified. The finding, by researchers at Penn State, sheds light on the molecular mechanisms that enable different strains of bacteria to compete and establish symbiosis in the Hawaiian bobtail squid.

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Mar 11, 2020

Listening to your gut: A powerful new tool on the microbiome and cell metabolism

Many aspects of our lives — not only the presence or absence of certain diseases, but conditions like obesity, sleep patterns, even mood — may be determined, to a surprising extent, by the microbes living inside of us.

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Feb 05, 2020

Herringbone pattern in plant cell walls critical to cell growth

Plant cells tend to grow longer instead of wider due to the alignment of the many layers of cellulose that make up their cell walls, according to a new study that may have implications for biofuels research.

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Feb 04, 2020

Academia-enterprise partnership aims to help people with diabetes

Innovative wound dressing would help reduce life-threatening infections, amputations for diabetic patients.

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Jan 28, 2020

Zhang receives National Science Foundation CAREER Award

Xin Zhang, Paul Berg Early Career Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and of Molecular Biology, has been honored with a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation in recognition of his work to “quantify cellular proteome stress and recovery using chemical methods.”

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Jan 21, 2020

Persistent environmental contaminant changes the gut microbiome of mice

An industrial chemical — phased out since 2002, but previously used in stain and water-repellent products and firefighting foam — alters the gut microbiome of mice and could have implications for human health, according to an international team of researchers.

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Jan 21, 2020

Aspiring neurosurgeon mapping cancer-suppressing protein

Madison Evans is a Penn State biomedical engineering major who would like to become a neurosurgeon. Before she heads off to medical school, though, the Schreyer Honors Scholar is part of a research project that could change the way her future patients receive treatment.

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Jan 02, 2020

Penn State researcher receives a Rising Star Award in biomedical engineering

Xiaojun “Lance” Lian, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Penn State, has been named one of the 2020 Rising Star Award recipients in stem cell engineering by the Biomedical Engineering Society’s (BMES) Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Special Interest Group (CMBE SIG).

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