News

Feb 17, 2023

Penn State biochemist Denise Okafor receives 2023 Marion Milligan Mason Award

C. Denise Okafor, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of chemistry at Penn State, has been selected as a recipient of the 2023 Marion Milligan Mason Award for Women in the Chemical Sciences by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

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Jan 24, 2023

Studying the genetics of heart attacks and strokes in Hispanic populations

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and Hispanic/Latino (hereafter referred to as Hispanic) populations are more likely than non-Hispanic populations to experience common risk factors for cardiovascular disease like Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

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Dec 07, 2022

Many genes linked to alcohol and tobacco use are shared among diverse ancestries

Penn State researchers co-led a large genetic study that identified more than 2,300 genes predicting alcohol and tobacco use after analyzing data from more than 3.4 million people.

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Nov 30, 2022

Huck Grad Students Work Towards Inclusion

A discussion and advocacy group started by student leadership is pushing for dialogue and solutions to make the Huck a more welcoming and empowering space for scientists from all backgrounds.

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Nov 15, 2022

New statistical method improves genomic analyses

A new statistical method provides a more efficient way to uncover biologically meaningful changes in genomic data that span multiple conditions — such as cell types or tissues.

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Nov 02, 2022

Two Alzheimer’s drugs tested head-to-head in first-ever virtual clinical trial

An estimated 6.2 million Americans ages 65+ are living with Alzheimer's disease. The national Alzheimer's Association predicts the number to grow to 13.8 million by 2060, barring the development of medical breakthroughs that would prevent, slow or cure the debilitating disease.

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Oct 19, 2022

Newly engineered protein could be used to develop adaptation-proof COVID vaccine

A vaccine design approach that could protect against new variants of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — but also potentially protects against other coronaviruses is one step closer to reality as a result of research at Penn State College of Medicine.

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Oct 06, 2022

Birdsong reveals rare hybrid coupling 10 million years in the making

A team of researchers led by Penn State was able to use a combination of genomic sequencing and song analysis to identify a rare hybrid bird whose ancestors haven’t shared the same breeding location or lineage for 10 million years.

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Oct 03, 2022

Disease outcomes differ by new host species in virus spillover experiments

Why has the SARS-CoV-2 virus ravaged the global human population, but many other animal viruses haven't? Using nematode worms as a model, researchers at Penn State conducted a set of experiments to investigate the factors influencing the disease outcomes of virus spillover events.

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Oct 03, 2022

Makova awarded Masatoshi Nei Innovation Prize in Biology

Kateryna Makova, Verne M. Willaman Chair in the Life Sciences and professor of biology at Penn State, has been awarded the Masatoshi Nei Innovation Prize in Biology. The award was established through a generous gift from Masatoshi Nei, emeritus professor of biology at Penn State and Laura Carnell Professor of Biology at Temple University, and his wife Nobuko Nei.

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