News

Tiny magnetic particles fight lung cancer cells on command in lab test

Traditional treatments for lung cancers can have serious side effects throughout the body, but newly developed, highly targeted treatments could reduce damage, according to Penn State researchers. A team led by Dan Hayes developed a method that could lead to one such treatment with magnetic nanoparticles.

Disease outcomes differ by new host species in virus spillover experiments

Why has the SARS-CoV-2 virus ravaged the global human population, but many other animal viruses haven't? Using nematode worms as a model, researchers at Penn State conducted a set of experiments to investigate the factors influencing the disease outcomes of virus spillover events.

Makova awarded Masatoshi Nei Innovation Prize in Biology

Kateryna Makova, Verne M. Willaman Chair in the Life Sciences and professor of biology at Penn State, has been awarded the Masatoshi Nei Innovation Prize in Biology. The award was established through a generous gift from Masatoshi Nei, emeritus professor of biology at Penn State and Laura Carnell Professor of Biology at Temple University, and his wife Nobuko Nei.

Partner-drug resistance accelerates resistance of first-line malaria drug

A new research collaboration between Penn State, Oxford, and Imperial College London demonstrates that resistance to partner drugs facilitates resistance evolution to artemisinin, the world’s most important first-line drug for the treatment of malaria.

Compost to computer: Bio-based materials used to salvage rare earth elements

Penn State researchers used micro- and nanoparticles created from the organic materials to capture rare earth elements from aqueous solutions.

Alumnus and professor named new head of biomedical engineering

When Dan Hayes graduated from the Penn State Eberly College of Science with a bachelor’s degree in science in 1997, the Department of Biomedical Engineering was still three years away from forming. Now, Hayes will lead the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His tenure as department head begins July 1.

Climate-associated genetic switches found in plants

Genetic variants that can act as switches directing structural changes in the RNA molecules that code for proteins in plants have been experimentally validated in plants for the first time. The changes to RNA structure can affect the molecule’s stability, how it interacts with other molecules, and how efficiently it can be translated into protein — all of which can impact its function and the traits of the plant.

Scientists devise method to help prevent hospital infections

On any given day, one in 31 hospital patients is diagnosed with an infection that developed as a result of care during their hospital stay, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Medical devices such as catheters, stents, heart valves and pacemakers, whose surfaces can become covered with harmful bacterial films, account for about a quarter of such infections. To help prevent such infections, a research team led by Penn State and the University of California, Los Angeles, developed a novel surface treatment for these devices.

College of Engineering awards six Multidisciplinary Research Seed Grants

The Penn State College of Engineering recently awarded six Multidisciplinary Research Seed Grants to faculty members, including one in partnership with the College of Health and Human Development and another with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

Kuchipudi receives College of Ag Sciences award for research innovation

Suresh Kuchipudi, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Emerging Infectious Diseases, is the 2022 recipient of the Research Innovator of the Year Award, given by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences to recognize faculty and staff who have made notable efforts to commercialize their Penn State research.