News

Shashikant appointed assistant director

The leadership team of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is pleased to announce that Dr. Cooduvalli (“Shashi”) Shashikant has been appointed an assistant director in the Huck Institutes.

Peters receives inaugural Huck Award for Outstanding Achievements in Life Sciences Research

Dr. Jeffrey Peters, Distinguished Professor of Molecular Toxicology and Carcinogenesis at Penn State, has been given the first-ever Huck Award for Outstanding Achievements in Life Sciences Research.

Invasive species could cause billions in damages to agriculture

Invasive insects and pathogens could be a multi-billion-dollar threat to global agriculture and developing countries may be the biggest target, according to a team of international researchers.

Thirty years of research supports cacao farmers, chocolate industry

The 30th anniversary of the Endowed Program in the Molecular Biology of Cocoa -- Penn State's first fully endowed research program -- was celebrated May 31-June 3 on the University Park campus during a symposium titled, "Frontiers in Science and Technology for Cacao Quality, Productivity and Sustainability."

Researchers to study how microbes become 'fungi in ant's clothing'

A pair of grants worth more than $2 million will enable Penn State researchers to study how microbial parasites control the behaviors and characteristics of their animal hosts.

Study of fungi-insect relationships may lead to new evolutionary discoveries

Zombie ants are only one of the fungi-insect relationships studied by a team of Penn State biologists in a newly compiled database of insect fungi interactions.

New targets for vaccines identified on the surface of the malaria parasite

Dozens of potential new protein targets for malaria vaccines have been identified and characterized on the surface of the transmitted sporozoite stage of the malaria parasite in a new research study.

Programmable materials find strength in molecular repetition

Synthetic proteins based on those found in a variety of squid species' ring teeth may lead the way to self-healing polymers carefully constructed for specific toughness and stretchability that might have applications in textiles, cosmetics and medicine, according to Penn State researchers.

How Depression and Antidepressant Drugs Work

New insight from depressed mice helps researchers unite two hypotheses

How did the giraffe get its long neck?

Clues now revealed by new genome sequencing