Microbiome Center News | One Health Microbiome Center

Jasna Kovac, left, and Seth Bordenstein, right, are the co-program directors and authors of the BIOMS grant. Credit: Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences and Eberly College of Science / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 22, 2025

$2.6M NIH grant to fund new microbiome sciences training program at Penn State

The internationally recognized One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is the recipient of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to train doctoral students in biotechnological innovation, industry advancements and interdisciplinary microbiome research.

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A grant from the Morris Animal Foundation will support research at Penn State on the health of amphibians. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 22, 2025

National foundation grant to support study on amphibian health at Penn State

Research in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aimed at helping amphibians fight fungal disease by strengthening their natural defenses has received a $120,000 grant from the Morris Animal Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing animal health through scientific research.

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The researchers simulated corn production in 38,572 locations under the six nuclear war scenarios of increasing severity. Because of the crop’s global significance, the researchers chose to model corn’s collapse in a nuclear winter to represent the expected fate of agriculture overall. Credit: crisserbug/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 21, 2025

Simulating the unthinkable: Models show nuclear winter food production plunge

A team led by researchers at Penn State have modeled precisely how various nuclear winter scenarios could impact global production of corn — the most widely planted grain crop in the world.

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Matt Langland, who recently graduated from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management, examines salt-encrusted soils in New Mexico's migratory bird habitats. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 17, 2025

College of Ag Sciences grant program supports student learning, experiences

A grant program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aims to enhance student learning by empowering faculty and students to design immersive, hands-on projects that bridge classroom knowledge with real-world partnerships.

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Credit: Keith Hickey / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 16, 2025

Optical tweezers help elevate single-molecule research at Penn State

The instrument, supported by a new NIH infrastructure grant, uses laser light to ‘tweeze’ tiny objects like DNA molecules and proteins.

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Jason Keagy, assistant research professor of wildlife behavioral ecology, is shown on the bank of an Icelandic lake holding a fish trap during a collection of threespined sticklebacks in a previous study. Credit: Janette Boughman. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 07, 2025

‘Scialog’ grant to study how rising ocean temperatures affect fish behavior

A wildlife behavioral ecologist at Penn State is part of a multi-institution team that received funding from Scialog: Neurobiology and Changing Ecosystems, a international three-year initiative that aims to spark new science exploring neurobiological responses to rapidly changing environments.

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Eating pistachios as a nightly snack for 12 weeks altered which bacteria lived in the digestive system of people with prediabetes, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State. Credit: Jose Calatrava Cano/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 07, 2025

Nighttime pistachio snacking may reshape gut microbiome in prediabetic adults

Eating pistachios every night for 12 weeks altered bacteria in the gut, according to new study.

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Four emerging leaders in science and innovation have been selected for the inaugural Next-Gen Innovators Fellowship at Penn State. The cohort includes a tenured faculty member, a recent doctoral graduate and two current Penn State graduate students. Credit: Curtis Chan / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 07, 2025

Four selected for inaugural Next-Gen Innovators Fellowship at Penn State

Four emerging leaders in science and innovation have been selected as the inaugural fellows in Penn State’s Next-Gen Innovators Fellowship program, an initiative designed to close critical training gaps in research translation and technology commercialization.

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Credit: Curtis Chan / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 02, 2025

Eight graduate students receive U.S. National Science Foundation fellowships

Eight Penn State graduate students received U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships for the 2025-26 academic year.

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ARISE students in the genetics and microbiome module learn how to extract, amplify and assess DNA quality in the the Department of Anthropology's new laboratory in the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building. Credit: Penn State Department of Anthropology. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 01, 2025

ARISE program provides hands-on training to aspiring anthropologists

A talented group of aspiring anthropologists recently traveled to Penn State to take part in the Department of Anthropology’s annual ARISE program.

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