Faculty
Paul Bartell
Associate Professor of Avian Biology
The regulation of biological clocks in birds at the systems level.
Rita Castro
Associate Research and Teaching Professor of Nutritional Sciences
How nutrition, including maternal nutrition, shapes vascular and metabolic health and influences disease risk
Nikki Crowley
Director, Penn State Neuroscience Institute – University Park; Huck Chair in Neural Engineering; Associate Professor, Departments of Biology, Biomedical Engineering, & Neurosurgery
Investigation of peptidergic transmission throughout the brain, using cell-specific and pathway-specific manipulations to understand how peptides alter neuronal signaling and behavior, particularly in the context of stress and drug use.
Mary Jane De Souza
Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology
The etiology of and treatment of the Female Athlete Triad, skeletal health in exercising women and athletes, reproductive endocrinology of menstrual disorders in exercising women, and RCTs of increased food intake in exercising women.
Francisco Diaz
Director of the Center for Reproductive Health and Biology; Associate Professor of Reproductive Biology
Ovarian physiology. Role of SMAD-mediated signaling in follicular and female germ cell (oocyte) development.
Erika Ganda
Emphasis Area Representative, Microbiome Sciences; Associate Professor of Food Animal Microbiomes
Developing practical ways to leverage the microbiome to improve food safety and improve food production animals' production efficiency.
Alison Gernand
Ann Atherton Hertzler Early Career Professor in Global Health; Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences
Jessica Grembi
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
The Grembi lab studies the host-microbiota interplay, with a particular focus on the small intestine, where 90% of nutrient absorption occurs. The lab's research focuses on inflammation that leads to reduced nutrient absorption, with current projects evaluating molecular toxicants that induce intestinal inflammation.
Highlights:
Visit to the Child Health Research Foundation
Visit to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
Camilla Hughes
Assistant Professor of Reproductive Biology
Reproductive biology, ovarian function, and reproductive-immune interaction
Tae Hyun Kim
Huck Early Career Chair; Assistant Professor of Avian Biology
Improving poultry health by applying modern genetic approaches including gene editing. Particular focus on identifying key genes and regulatory elements associated with improved economic traits.
Wansheng Liu
Professor of Genomics
Functional annotation of farm animal genomes, structure and function of mammalian sex (X and Y) chromosome, spermatogenesis and male fertility.
Troy Ott
Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences; C. Lee Rumberger and Family Chair in Agricultural Sciences; Professor of Reproductive Physiology
Reproductive immunology and the physiology of early pregnancy.
David Puts
Huck Associate Director for Graduate Education; Professor of Anthropology
Understanding both the endocrine mechanisms underlying human sexual differentiation and the evolution of these mechanisms, particularly the influence of sexual selection.
Lu Qin
Assistant Professor of Medicine
How peripheral sensory neurons and intercellular signaling pathways contribute to cardiovascular and sensory dysfunction, particularly in the context of aging and women’s health
Ramesh Ramachandran
Professor of Molecular Endocrinology
The influence of hypothalamic neurotransmitters, hormones, and their receptors on avian reproduction.
Claire Stenhouse
Assistant Professor of Animal Science
Reproductive Biology, Uterine and Placental Biology, Developmental Biology, Fetal Development, Endocrinology