News | The Huck Institutes (en-US)

Visitors browse the displays in the College of Agricultural Sciences Exhibits Building during Penn State's 2024 Ag Progress Days expo. Credit: Michael Houtz/Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 30, 2025

Ag Progress Days displays showcase advanced technology, animal health, invasives

A new initiative aimed at developing emerging and advanced technologies to enhance food production, agricultural ecosystems and natural resources will be one of the focal points of the College of Agricultural Sciences Exhibits Building at Penn State’s 2025 Ag Progress Days, Aug. 12-14.

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Jul 28, 2025

College of Ag Sciences names first cohort of Land Grant Research Impact Fellows

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has launched the Land Grant Research Impact Fellows program. This new initiative recognizes and supports faculty whose research addresses pressing challenges in Pennsylvania and beyond.

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Sophia Mucciolo, a graduate student in ecology and her adviser Sara Hermann, assistant professor of ecology and of entomology, examine monarch butterfly specimens in the lab. Credit: Keith Hickey / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 28, 2025

Huck student receives U.S. National Science Foundation fellowship

Sophia Mucciolo, an ecology student affiliated with the Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, recently received a fellowship from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).

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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 25, 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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Using AI-driven pattern recognition, TalkingSick analyzes short voice recordings to detect deviations from a user’s healthy voice baseline. These deviations could signal potential respiratory illnesses before physical symptoms appear. The startup team participated in the NSF I-Corps National Teams program, which they completed in June. The program requires teams to complete at least 100 customer interviews in just seven weeks. Credit: Provided by TalkingSick. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 25, 2025

Startup works to detect respiratory illnesses through vocal patterns

TalkingSick startup launches through Invent Penn State NSF I-Corps programming.

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Jul 24, 2025

Huck Students impress at Forest Genetics conference

Penn State grad students took the Forest Genetics 2025 conference by storm, winning more than half of the poster and presentation awards available. Three Huck trainees were among those recognized.

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H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak has caused mass die-offs in wild birds, farmed poultry and even wild mammals. New research suggests that widespread immunity to H1N1 seasonal influenza virus may explain why exposure to H5N1 bird flu causes only mild symptoms in humans. Credit: Opla/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 23, 2025

Seasonal flu immunity protects against severe illness from bird flu in ferrets

A study in ferrets — which have remarkably similar respiratory systems to humans — suggests that widespread immunity to H1N1 seasonal influenza virus may explain why exposure to H5N1 bird flu causes only mild symptoms in humans.

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Researchers developed a proof-of-concept device capable of detecting a biomarker implicated in endometriosis with unprecedented sensitivity from menstrual blood. The device is similar to a pregnancy test, showing two lines if the biomarker is detected in the sample. Credit: Provided by Dipanjan Pan / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 22, 2025

Next-gen tech can detect disease biomarker in period blood

Proof-of-concept, at-home device can detect biomarker for endometriosis — a debilitating uterine disease — in 10 minutes; advancement makes early detection easier, more accessible, researchers say.

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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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