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A team of researchers from Penn State and the University of Illinois Chicago has been awarded a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to employ biomedical research, clinical data, advanced artificial intelligence and mathematical modeling methods to ultimately support personalized medicine for people with Alzheimer’s disease. The team at Penn State includes Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics and director of the Center for Mathematical Biology; Rui Zhang, assistant professor of computer science and engineering; and Wenpeng Yin, assistant professor of computer science and engineering. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 24, 2025

Can digital replicas of patients help personalize Alzheimer’s treatment?

New NSF grant supports project to build 'digital twin' replicas of patients using clinical data to study disease progression and treatment options.

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Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics, was named director of the Center for Mathematical Biology. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 06, 2025

Center for Mathematical Biology appoints new director

Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and 2025-26 Huck Leadership Fellow, has been named the new director for the Center for Mathematical Biology in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

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A mallard, shown here fitted with a GPS unit, can be tracked by researchers. In recent decades, mallards have experienced a range-wide decline of 12% in the U.S. The Integrated Movement Model being developed by researchers could help inform conservation and management of mallards by combining GPS tracking and citizen science reports. Credit: Clayton Holmes. All Rights Reserved.

Aug 25, 2025

GPS-outfitted birds and citizen sightings to inform a better migration model

Funded by an NSF grant, researchers aim to develop a powerful new tool that melds data from GPS device-carrying birds with sightings by citizen science groups.

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David Kennedy, associate professor of biology at Penn State, and Clara Shaw, now assistant professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth Credit: Keith Hickey / Penn State / Penn State. Creative Commons

Aug 22, 2025

What traits matter when predicting disease emergence in new populations?

Traits of early virus spread help determine if a virus will ultimately persist in a new population, according to new research.

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A new study led by Penn State researchers shows for the first time how sound waves could function as a means of controlling micro-sized robots. Credit: Igor Aronson / Penn State. Creative Commons

Aug 13, 2025

Tiny robots use sound to self-organize into intelligent groups

Microrobots modeled in simulations communicate via sound to form ‘acoustic swarms’ and move collectively.

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In front of the main World Health Organization (WHO) building in Geneva, Switzerland, a statue commemorates the 30th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. Now, researchers at Penn State and the WHO have developed a new method to estimate and predict regional measles vaccination coverage levels even when accurate or timely survey data on vaccination is not available. The new method can be used to guide better targeted vaccination interventions to potentially make measles the next human virus eradicated since smallpox. Credit: © WHO / Christopher Black . All Rights Reserved.

Jul 28, 2025

Predicting vaccination levels without accurate or timely vaccination data

Researchers at Penn State and the World Health Organization develop method to predict measles vaccination levels using routinely collected clinical data on suspected measles cases.

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From left are: Jill Hamilton, Wenrui Hao and Gustavo Nader Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Jun 30, 2025

Huck announces 2025-26 Leadership Fellows

Three faculty members, representing three different Penn State colleges, have been named Huck Leadership Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year.

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Réka Albert, Evan Pugh University Professor and professor of physics and biology at Penn State, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She pioneered network science, a method that involves studying systems as networks, where individual components — like people, proteins or genes — are represented as "nodes," and their interactions are depicted as "edges." This approach led to new ways to visualize and analyze the intricate web of connections in various systems.​ Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

May 08, 2025

Biological physicist Réka Albert elected to National Academy of Sciences

Réka Albert, Evan Pugh University Professor and professor of physics and biology at Penn State, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

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Image caption: A new study investigated the impacts of cholera interventions in the city of Kalemie in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the disease is endemic, meaning it persists to some extent constantly. The study found that the presence of the nearby Lake Tanganyika, pictured here, plays a considerable role in shaping cholera transmission in the area. Credit: MONUSCO/Abel Kavanagh. All Rights Reserved.

Apr 21, 2025

Focus on sanitation and clean water may improve control of endemic cholera

Pathogens that persist in hosts and environments may require tailored management strategies, according to new study of endemic cholera interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Researchers found that orally administered sevelamer — a dialysis drug — can bind off-target antibiotics, shown being injected into the arm here, in the gut. Off-target antibiotics, or antibiotics that end up in the body away from the point of infection, can contribute to bacteria evolving to develop antibiotic resistance. Credit: Provided by Amir Sheikhi. All Rights Reserved.

Mar 18, 2025

FDA-approved dialysis drug may help fight against antimicrobial resistance

The study, conducted in mice, revealed that sevelamer can successfully remove off-target antibiotics from the gut.

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