News

Symposium on biological calorimetry

On Friday, May 13th, 2011, the Center for RNA Molecular Biology and the Automated Biological Calorimetry Facility hosted a symposium on biological calorimetry with over 60 attendees.

New mass spectrometry equipment empowers proteomics research at Penn State

A new high resolution mass spectrometer will provide high-end proteomics capabilities to researchers at all Penn State campuses.

Epidemic! Infectious Disease on a Changing Planet

This series of six public lectures on consecutive Saturday mornings is designed as a free minicourse in infectious diseases for the general public.

Unexpected Discovery Reveals Key Protein Plays a Crucial Role in Regeneration of Injured Nerve Cells

New research conducted by a Penn State research team, sheds light on the mechanism by which damaged nerve cells are repaired. Their findings point to the impact of a motor protein, Kinesin-2, in steering the successful growth and organization of the polarized microtubule arrays contained within neurons.

Reversing autism in a petri dish

Using stem cells taken from the skin of patients with Rett syndrome - the most physically disabling of the autism disorders researchers replicated autism in the lab, identified disease-specific cellular defects, and demonstrated that these defects are reversible. The results raise the hope that, one day, autism may become a treatable condition.

Students spread flu with thousands of close encounters

On a typical day, high school students engage more than 760,000 social interactions that can spread an infectious disease, according to researchers, who suggest that using social contact networks to devise immunization strategies would be more effective than random vaccination campaigns.

Loss of species increases infectious disease risk

As biodiversity declines, the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases increases, according to a review of current experimental data enableded this month in Nature. In an age of unprecedented species extinction rates, it is urgent that the biodiversity of natural ecosystems be preserved to protect humans from increasing pathogenic threats.

Researchers propose new cause of major depressive disorder

GABAergic deficits appear to play a central and causal role in Major Depressive Disorder, a neuropsychiatric disorder affecting approximately 17% of the population worldwide, according to researchers from the Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders.

Computations 19x faster with new adaptive algorithm

Researchers using a new algorithmic process for a heuristic embedding strategy they call "Adaptive GDDA-BLAST" can now see the results of their computations 19 times faster than with their previous computational method. The new method has the added benefits of detecting structural homology in highly divergent protein sequences and isolating secondary structural elements of transmembrane and ankyrin-repeat domains, with possibly wide-ranging impacts on human health and disease studies.

Institute for CyberScience Faculty Fellows Program

The ICS Faculty Fellows Program is now accepting applications for 2011 for internal funding.