Molecular Cellular And Integrative Biosciences News | Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences

The researchers collected 58 bulk tank milk samples and applied various AI algorithms to differentiate between baseline samples and those representing potential anomalies, such as milk from an outside farm or milk containing antibiotics. Credit: SeanShot/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 11, 2024

AI decodes microbes’ message in milk safety testing approach

By combining the genetic sequencing and analysis of the microbes in a milk sample with artificial intelligence (AI), researchers were able to detect anomalies in milk production, such as contamination or unauthorized additives.

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While the findings are preliminary, the work is a promising first step in finding new therapies against tuberculosis, according to the researchers. Credit: Mathias Katz/Unsplash. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 02, 2024

Plant compound used in traditional medicine may help fight tuberculosis

A compound found in African wormwood — a plant used medicinally for thousands of years to treat many types of illness — could be effective against tuberculosis.

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The researchers tested raw sewage samples collected twice a week from two treatment plants in central Pennsylvania for non-typhoidal Salmonella and characterized isolates using whole genome sequencing. They recovered 43 Salmonella isolates from wastewater samples. Credit: Provided by Ed Dudley. All Rights Reserved.

Sep 20, 2024

Wastewater monitoring can detect foodborne illness, researchers find

Results of a new study suggest sewage monitoring could provide early warning of foodborne disease outbreaks to public health authorities

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Jasna Kovac, associate professor in food science, has been selected to receive the 2025 Award for Early Career Environmental Research by the American Society for Microbiology. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Sep 17, 2024

Food science researcher receives early career award

Jasna Kovac, associate professor and Lester Earl and Veronica Casida Career Development Professor of Food Safety in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been selected to receive the 2025 Award for Early Career Environmental Research by the American Society for Microbiology.

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Sep 11, 2024

Three projects receive Huck Innovative and Transformational Seed Fund grants

Three potentially high-impact, high-risk research projects have been selected to receive seed funding for the latest round of the Huck Innovative and Transformational Seed (HITS) Fund initiative.

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New experimental technique developed by Penn State researchers helps uncover how certain proteins cooperate to bind to otherwise closed regions of the genome to facilitate cell differentiation and development. Illustration shows expanded view of chromosome from a cell at the upper left. The “pioneer factor” FOXA1 co-binds with AP-1, allowing FOXA1 to locate target sites in the genome with high specificity. Credit: Holly Godin/Bai Laboratory / Penn State.

Sep 11, 2024

Genomic pioneers collaborate to access the inaccessible

A new experimental method allows researchers to dissect how certain proteins, called pioneer factors, can bind to selective regions of the genome that are inaccessible to other DNA binding proteins.

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Aug 29, 2024

Research teams receive $1.1 million to study microbiomes in agriculture

Two Penn State-led research teams have received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture for projects investigating the ways microbiomes — the microorganisms in a particular environment, such as in soil or a living organism — can affect disease dynamics in agriculture.

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Aug 23, 2024

New CMIND director named

Janine Kwapis, the Paul Berg Early Career Professor in the Biological Sciences at Penn State, has been appointed director of the University's Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders (CMIND), an interdisciplinary research unit within the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

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Aug 22, 2024

Cancer drug could treat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, study shows

A type of drug developed for treating cancer holds promise as a new treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, according to a recent study by researchers at Penn State, Stanford University and an international team of collaborators.

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Aug 23, 2024

Honey bees may play role in spreading viruses to wild bumble bees

Honey bees may play a role in increasing virus levels in wild bumble bees each spring, according to researchers at Penn State who analyzed seasonal trends of parasite and virus transmission in bees.

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