News

Jun 09, 2025

Two Penn State doctoral students selected for industry internship in Germany

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is sending two doctoral students to Hilden, Germany, for a seven-week industry internship at the headquarters of QIAGEN, a global leader in biotechnology for life sciences diagnostics, equipment and research.

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Nikki Crowley, left, principal investigator and director of the Penn State Neuroscience Institute at University Park, Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering and assistant professor of biology and of biomedical engineering, and collaborator, Nanyin Zhang, right, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Brain Imaging and professor of biomedical engineering, along with other team members, will use a new five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the long-term effects of excess alcohol drinking during adolescence. Credit: Keith Hickey/Huck Institutes. All Rights Reserved.

Jun 04, 2025

$2.9M grant funds study on long-term effects adolescent binge drinking

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Penn State will use a new five-year, $2,900,000 grant to investigate the long-term effects of excess alcohol drinking during adolescence.

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Jun 02, 2025

Huck opens search for Associate Director for Graduate Education

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is seeking an innovative Penn State faculty member with a strong background in interdisciplinary life sciences research and a passion for teaching and mentoring graduate students to join our Huck leadership team as an Associate Director for Graduate Education.

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Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences recently welcomed a delegation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to the University Park campus. One of the tours included the PlantVillage Lab, where researchers are using artificial intelligence to help smallholder farmers across Africa, Asia and the Americas adapt to climate change. It is led by David Hughes, Huck Chair in Global Food Security and professor of entomology and biology at Penn State. From left are Celeste Macilwaine, Ed Bogart, David Hughes, Derek Morr, Rimnoma Serge Ouedraogo, Bipana Paudel Timilsen and Huanhuan Wang. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

Jun 03, 2025

Penn State’s Youth Food Lab attends UN Science, Technology, Innovation forum

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences was represented on the global stage as faculty and students participated in the United Nations’ 10th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, held at U.N. headquarters in New York City earlier this month.

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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 29, 2025

Resetting the fight-or-flight response

New study reveals mechanism responsible for resetting key molecular cycle involved in response to stress and starvation.

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By extending egg production in broiler breeder hens, farmers may be able to reduce flock turnover, improve animal welfare and increase efficiency, according to researchers at Penn State. Credit: Hispanolistic/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

May 07, 2025

Common diabetes drug helps chickens lay more eggs

Metformin, a drug commonly prescribed to humans, could be a game-changer for farms and food production, researchers said.

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Apr 29, 2025

HGSAC prepares for largest Life Sciences Symposium yet

The Life Sciences Symposium, organized by the Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee (HGSAC), is set to showcase student research on May 23.

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Apr 29, 2025

Heather Hines named interim director of the Center for Pollinator Research and the Insect Biodiversity Center

Heather Hines, Associate Professor of Biology and Entomology, has been named Interim Director of the Center for Pollinator Research (CPR) and the Insect Biodiversity Center (IBC). Hines is succeeding Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

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This study is the first to scientifically document use of ghost pipe in North America, along with the growing influence of social media and the internet on how and why people are turning to ghost pipe as a medicinal plant. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Apr 25, 2025

Traditional forest medicinal plant ghost pipe used differently today

Driven by the internet and social media, consumption of a strange white plant known as ghost pipe is enjoying a resurgence — but with a twist.

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New research predicts the location of DNA sequences that can form structures besides the canonical double helix — non-B DNA — in the recently released telomere-to-telomere genomes of the great apes, finding that non-B DNA is enriched in newly deciphered genomic regions, including telomeres and centromeres. Image shows evolutionary relationships among the great apes, left from top to bottom, including chimpanzee, bonobo, human, gorilla and two orangutan species and illustrations of representative chromosomes, right, with canonical helical and non-B DNA. Credit: Dani Zemba and Makova Laboratory / Penn State. Creative Commons

Apr 24, 2025

Beyond the double helix: Alternative DNA conformations in ape genomes

Researchers used recently published telomere-to-telomere genomes of humans, chimpanzee, bonobo, gorilla and two orangutans to predict locations of DNA sequences that can form other structures besides the double helix.

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