Jul 30, 2024

Craig Praul named director of Huck Core Facilities

Joining Praul on the new leadership team are Rajeswaran Mani, director of the Flow Cytometry Facility, and financial specialist Kelly Foster.

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – Craig Praul, director of the Huck Institutes’ Genomics Core facility, has been appointed director of Core Facilities for the Huck Institutes. He leads a newly formed team that will replace outgoing director Nigel Deighton, who retired in July.

“It is gratifying—and at the same time humbling—to take on the responsibility of managing all of the knowledgeable, hardworking, and talented people that make our core facilities so successful,” said Praul, who has been part of the Penn State Core Facilities team for 23 years. “Being appointed to this role was confirmation that I have the confidence of leadership and my peers.”

Joining Praul on the new leadership team are Rajeswaran Mani, director of the Flow Cytometry Facility, and financial specialist Kelly Foster. Mani and Foster have been named Assistant Director of Core Facilities for Public Engagement and Outreach and Assistant Director of Core Facility Operations, respectively. Praul and Mani will continue their present duties leading the Genomics and Flow Cytometry facilities.

"We are extremely grateful to Nigel for his efforts in making the core facilities the outstanding resource that they are today," said Patrick Drew, interim director of the Huck Institutes. "I am very happy that we have a strong team taking the reins, and I know that they will continue to maintain and build on the cores’ reputation for excellence."

Along with Praul’s Genomics and Mani’s Flow Cytometry facilities, there a total of 11 Cores overseen by the Huck: Automated Biological Calorimetry, Cryo-Electron Microscopy, the CSL Behring Fermentation Facility, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Metabolomics, Microscopy, Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry, the Sartorius Cell Culture Facility, and X-Ray Crystallography.

Asked about his vision for the role, Praul paid tribute to the “huge positive impact” of outgoing director Deighton and emphasized the need to grow the University’s instrumentation capabilities in a sustainable manner.

“We can never lose sight of the fact that the primary goal of the core facilities is to support life science research,” he said. “Our success is measured by the publications our customers produce, the grants they are awarded, and the patents they win, but we are also stewards of the University's and ultimately the taxpayer's money. Our investments in instrumentation and staff must be fiscally responsible. I am firmly convinced both goals can be achieved, and when our cores demonstrate a high scientific return on investment, the argument for growing support of the core facilities becomes compelling and self-fulfilling.”

“The cores are not simply a collection of highly priced instruments. As Nigel was fond of saying, ‘we aren't stamp collectors.’ We aren't acquiring expensive, shiny boxes to display in a museum. We want to acquire instrumentation that will be used, and we want that instrumentation managed by professionals with a deep understanding of the technologies.”

When Deighton was appointed director in 2009, the Huck Cores served around 150 research groups and recovered $850,000 in operating expenses. Today, those numbers have expanded to more than 360 labs and $2.3 million. Under his guidance, the Huck signed important commercial deals—including naming rights agreements with biotechnology firms CSL Behring and Sartorius AG—and continually acquired cutting-edge instrumentation, such as the FEI Titan Krios microscope which serves as the centerpiece of the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility.

“I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to a large number of current and former colleagues these last 15 years,” said Deighton. “Furthermore, I am delighted that the decision was made to assemble an excellent team to take the Facilities forward, allowing me to spend retirement with no concerns for Huck's future. It really is a special place, and it is only the people that make that so.”

Deighton also commented that he plans to use his resources and newfound time to take care of the less fortunate: “Many of my colleagues have shared Zoom and Teams talks with Skunk and know my love for animals. Adopting dogs to get them out of overly full shelters is a part of my plans; I might even extend that to kids who find themselves in situations that aren't all they should be.”

"I’m so thankful to Nigel for building such a strong foundation for our Core Facilities," said Emily Martell, the Huck's Managing Director, "and I’m thrilled we were able to elevate Huck’s existing talent into leadership roles within the institute. I’m confident that our facilities will continue to flourish under our new leadership team."

"Nigel’s impact on Huck Institutes is undeniable, and he will be sincerely missed. We all wish him nothing but success and fulfillment in the next chapter of his journey."