Center For Infectious Disease Dynamics News | Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics

May 12, 2026

Q&A: Is AI democratizing global health or reinforcing old inequities?

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the tools that are central to global health decision-making in areas like disease control policies, financing and vaccination strategies, such as infectious disease modeling. This brings new opportunities to the modeling landscape, but could also exacerbate existing disparities, according to Matt Ferrari, professor of biology and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences at Penn State.

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May 11, 2026

Q&A: Tips to protect against ticks

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, and Pennsylvania consistently ranks as one of the top states in the nation for reported cases of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. However, there are ways to protect people, pets and livestock against ticks and the pathogens they carry, according to Erika Machtinger, associate professor of entomology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

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Apr 22, 2026

Connected habitats help wildlife fight disease, strengthen protective microbes

A team led by Penn State biologists found that amphibians in connected natural forests and aquatic habitats were more likely to host beneficial skin microbes that inhibit a deadly fungal pathogen. But when these habitats become spatially separated due to planted crops, infrastructure development or other human land use, those microbial defenses weaken and pathogen infection levels can increase with potentially deadly results.

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Apr 06, 2026

Molecular entomologist Jason Rasgon named AAAS Fellow

Jason L. Rasgon, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Endowed Chair in Disease Epidemiology and Biotechnology at Penn State, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Mar 16, 2026

Targeting two flu proteins sharply reduces airborne spread

A long-running debate in vaccine design revolves around whether a vaccine should be optimized to prevent the virus from replicating inside an infected host or prevent the virus from transmitting to others. New research led by Penn State scientists suggests there may not have to be a tradeoff.

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Mar 11, 2026

Q&A: What factors influence likelihood and severity of Ebola outbreaks?

Since its first documentation in 1976 there have been over three dozen outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in Central and West Africa, the largest of which resulted in the death of over 11,000 people between 2013 and 2016. A severe and often fatal disease, Ebola causes fever, weakness and bleeding, and spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is infected. Researchers at Penn State recently published two papers that looked at factors that contribute to how these outbreaks begin and how severe they become.

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Erika Machtinger, associate professor of entomology, and Michael Skvarla, assistant research professor of arthropod identification, will use their grant award to support expanded research on tick biodiversity and tick-borne bacteria in Belize. Credit: Contributed Photo. All Rights Reserved.

Feb 03, 2026

College of Ag Sciences awards bridge funding for global research collaborations

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has awarded bridge funding to four faculty members to support research collaborations addressing soil fertility, public health, climate resilience and agricultural trade include two from the Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology.

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Researchers used advanced imaging techniques, conducted at Penn State’s publicly funded Core Facilities, to study the architecture of the Turnip Crinkle Virus (TCV). This plant pathogen has an icosahedral — or 20-sided — shell that is the same structure as many human pathogens, such as enteroviruses, noroviruses, poliovirus, hepatitis B virus and the virus that causes chickenpox. Pictured are Varun Venkatakrishnan, left, a Penn State doctoral student, and Ganesh Anand, associate professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

Dec 15, 2025

Unique bond identified as key to viral infection speed

Viruses are typically described as tiny, perfectly geometric shells that pack genetic material with mathematical precision, but new research led by scientists at Penn State revealed a deliberate imbalance in their shape that helps them infect their hosts.

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Francisco Dini-Andreote and Andrew Patterson are both faculty in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Dec 09, 2025

Two College of Ag Sciences faculty earn spots on highly cited researchers list

Francisco Dini-Andreote and Andrew Patterson in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences are among the most highly cited researchers in 2025, according to the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Group.

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Dec 04, 2025

New test distinguishes vaccine-induced false positives from active HIV infection

A Penn State team has developed a new approach capable of differentiating active HIV infection from false positives — which could potentially accelerate vaccine development and testing.

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