News
Jul 04, 2024
Re-engineering cancerous tumors to self-destruct and kill drug-resistant cells
A team led by Penn State researchers has created a modular genetic circuit that turns cancer cells into a “Trojan horse,” causing them to self-destruct and kill nearby drug-resistant cancer cells. Tested in human cell lines and in mice as proof of concept, the circuit outsmarted a wide range of resistance.
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Jul 03, 2024
Arboretum at Penn State's Pollinator and Bird Garden wins international award
The Arboretum at Penn State has been recognized with an international award for sustainable landscape architecture for its Pollinator and Bird Garden.
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Jul 02, 2024
Potential new target for early treatment of Alzheimer's disease
A class of proteins that regulates cell repair and enhances cell growth-signaling systems could be a promising new target for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State.
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Jun 27, 2024
ICDS associate director's work driven by unanswered fundamental questions in AI
The work of Vasant Honavar, the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in biomedical data sciences and artificial intelligence (AI) and a professor of data science in the College of Information Sciences and Technology professor of data science, is driven by answering fundamental questions using machine learning.
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Jun 26, 2024
Self-assembling, highly conductive sensors could improve wearable devices
To advance soft robotics, skin-integrated electronics and biomedical devices, researchers at Penn State have developed a 3D-printed material that is soft and stretchable — traits needed for matching the properties of tissues and organs — and that self-assembles.
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Jun 26, 2024
Researchers compile Cacao Gene Atlas to help plant breeders boost chocolate tree
A team led by researchers at Penn State has created a genetic information resource to help plant breeders develop resistant strains of cacao that can be grown sustainably in its native Amazon and elsewhere, such as the tropical latitudes of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
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Jun 25, 2024
Got prunes? Prunes may preserve bone density and strength in older women
Dairy isn’t the only food that’s good for bone health. Prunes may also protect bone structure and strength in postmenopausal women, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. The findings, published in Osteoporosis International, suggest that daily prune consumption slows the progression of age-related bone loss and reduces the risk of fracture.
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Jun 21, 2024
Physiological Adaptations to Stress graduate training program awarded $2.75M
Penn State’s Physiological Adaptations to Stress graduate training program received renewed funding of $2.75 million from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
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Jun 20, 2024
New tomato, potato family tree shows that fruit color and size evolved together
Fruits of Solanum plants, a group in the nightshade family, are incredibly diverse, ranging from sizable red tomatoes and purple eggplants to the poisonous green berries on potato plants. A new and improved family tree of this group, produced by an international team led by researchers at Penn State, helps explain the striking diversity of fruit colors and sizes and how they might have evolved.
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Jun 17, 2024
Unexpected diversity of light-sensing proteins goes beyond vision in frogs
Frogs have maintained a surprising diversity of light-sensing proteins over evolutionary time, according to a new study led by a Penn State researcher. Light-sensing proteins, called opsins, enable vision in sighted animals, and are responsible for many more biological functions like regulating circadian rhythms. The researchers explored the evolution of nonvisual opsins in frogs, finding that most modern species examined in this study retained a shocking number of these proteins.
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