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Nazifa Tabassum, left, and Katie Yan will speak at ENVISION: STEM Career Day Supporting Young Women on March 29. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Graduate students to present their journeys in science

Graduate students Nazifa Tabassum and Katie Yan are this year's I AM STEM contest winners. They will serve at this year's keynote speakers for ENVISION on Saturday, March 29, where they will share their experiences in STEM and provide advice to middle school and high school students eager to get involved as scientists.

Credit: Courtesy of the Bisanz Lab / Penn State. Creative Commons

Synthetic microbiome therapy suppresses bacterial infection without antibiotics

Precise, targeted treatment using limited strains of gut bacteria effectively protected against C. difficile infection, severe symptoms and recurrent infections in mice.

Environmental contaminants don’t just pose direct risks to human health — they may also have hidden effects through the microbiome that researchers are working to uncover. Credit: Brenna Buck. All Rights Reserved.

'Growing Impact' discusses environmental contaminants, human health

The latest episode of Growing Impact discusses how environmental contaminants affect human health, a research focus for Penn State professors Andrew Patterson and Costas Maranas.

Bywater’s research centers on food safety within controlled environment agriculture systems, particularly in soilless farming methods such as hydroponics. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Penn State Ag student Auja Bywater wins global research award

Auja Bywater, a doctoral student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded second prize in the Global Challenges University Alliance (GCUA) 2030 research competition for her work titled “Improving Food Safety in Controlled Environment Agriculture Systems.”

The researchers discuss the project in its early stages. From left are Aline Novaski Seffrin, doctoral candidate in plant science; Francesco Di Gioia, associate professor of vegetable crop science; and Chenchen Kang, a former post-doctoral scholar in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

New computer vision system can guide specialty crops monitoring

The technology applies an internet of things and artificial intelligence to enhance controlled environment agriculture in advanced greenhouse scenario.

The flavonoids that provide insecticide-like protection to some corn lines against corn earworm larvae also provide pigments to the plants that show up in the silks, husks and kernels. Pictured here are the lines used in the research.  Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Select corn lines contain compounds that sicken, kill major crop pest

The compounds, called flavonoids, have an insecticidal effect on corn earworm larvae.

Camelia Kantor, associate director of strategic initiatives at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and associate research professor at Penn State, will give the talk, “Bridging Worlds: How Geography and Nematology Research Converge Through Stakeholder Input,” at 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, in 112 Walker Building at Penn State University Park. Credit: Camelia Kantor. All Rights Reserved.

Feb. 24 EarthTalks: Cross-disciplinary collaboration employing stakeholder input

Camelia Kantor, associate director of strategic initiatives at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and associate research professor at Penn State, will give the talk, “Bridging Worlds: How Geography and Nematology Research Converge Through Stakeholder Input,” at 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, in 112 Walker Building at Penn State University Park. Talk will also be available via Zoom.

2024 My Green Lab Consultants Zaman Ataie and Ananya Gollakota check the expiration date on a chemical bottle. Credit: Lydia Vandenbergh. All Rights Reserved.

Sustainable Labs Program increases participant engagement, welcomes new labs

Two upcoming virtual sessions will cover how labs can learn more and join next year’s cohort.

A new biomaterial developed by Penn State engineers mimics a key building block of human tissue, extracellular matrices, which act like scaffolding and enable cells to heal after damage. Credit: Sheikhi Research Group/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Novel ‘living’ biomaterial aims to advance regenerative medicine

A biomaterial that can mimic certain behaviors within biological tissues could advance regenerative medicine, disease modeling, soft robotics and more, according to researchers at Penn State.

Director Bruce Logan, fourth from left, stands with the IEE Research Award winners. From left to right are: Hong Wu, Lisa Emili, Nathaniel Warner, Brian Fronk and Margaret Busse. Lauren McPhillips is not pictured. Credit: Brenna Buck. All Rights Reserved.

Researchers recognized for excellence by Institute of Energy and the Environment

The Institute of Energy and the Environment recognized six Penn State faculty members for their research excellence.