News
Apr 28, 2020
Study reveals important flowering plants for city-dwelling honey bees
Trees, shrubs and woody vines are among the top food sources for honey bees in urban environments, according to an international team of researchers. By using honey bees housed in rooftop apiaries in Philadelphia, the researchers identified the plant species from which the honey bees collected most of their food, and tracked how these food resources changed from spring to fall.
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Apr 28, 2020
Cremer group developing sensors to detect coronavirus in enclosed spaces
The Cremer group — led by Penn State Professor of Chemistry Paul Cremer — has a long history of biosensor research. Over a decade ago, the group developed a platform that could perform real-time, continuous detection.
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Apr 24, 2020
Two Great Valley professors awarded seed grants for COVID-19 research
Despite being limited to virtual interactions and meetings, Penn State Great Valley faculty continue to conduct innovative research. Ashkan Negahban, assistant professor of engineering management, and Satish Srinivasan, assistant professor of information science, were awarded seed grants to fund projects to help address the COVID-19 crisis.
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Apr 23, 2020
Gene-editing protocol for whitefly pest opens door to control
Whiteflies are among the most important agricultural pests in the world, yet they have been difficult to genetically manipulate and control, in part, because of their small size. An international team of researchers has overcome this roadblock by developing a CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing protocol that could lead to novel control methods for this devastating pest.
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Apr 22, 2020
Iron deficiency in corals?
When iron is limited, the tiny algae that live within coral cells — which can provide the majority of a coral’s nutritional needs — change how they take in other trace metals, which could have cascading effects on vital biological functions.
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Apr 22, 2020
New decontamination protocol permits reuse of N95 respirators
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a shortage of personal protective equipment, including “N95” respirators, needed by frontline healthcare providers. A new protocol using aerosolized hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate N95 respirators could allow them to be safely reused in some hospital settings, where the disinfectant is already being used for other decontamination purposes.
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Apr 22, 2020
Researchers to study impact of COVID-19 and social distancing on families
Since social distancing has been implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19, many families are experiencing high levels of stress and conflict — arguments and conflict between parents, between parents and children, and between siblings.
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Apr 20, 2020
Penn State engineer aims to tackle COVID-19 from two angles
To combat COVID-19 in both the treatment and testing arenas, Yong Wang, Penn State professor of biomedical engineering, has received two grants from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences COVID-19 multi-institute seed grant fund.
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Apr 14, 2020
Seed grants jump-start 47 interdisciplinary teams to conduct COVID-19 research
The multi-institute initiative is providing a total of $2.25 million to help researchers leverage external support toward the creation of solutions to the myriad health, social and economic problems caused by COVID-19.
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Apr 10, 2020
Bioinformatics Community Mourns Huck Alum James Taylor
Highly esteemed data scientist and advocate worked with a number of Huck Institutes researchers at the Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics.
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