News

May 30, 2024

Local disparities may prevent national vaccination efforts for rubella

When public health officials make policies about when and how vaccination programs are implemented, they must weigh the benefits and risks of how infectious diseases spread throughout the country. However, these analyses are often based on national-level data and, in some countries, may overlook nuances at the local level.

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May 20, 2024

H5N1 virus from 2022 mink outbreak capable of inefficient airborne transmission

Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza was detected in dairy cattle for the first time in the United States in March, with nine states reporting outbreaks by May. While the method of transmission among cattle is currently unknown, new research demonstrates that a related strain of H5N1, which caused an outbreak in farmed mink in 2022, could transmit through the air to a limited number of ferrets.

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May 06, 2024

Five faculty members honored with Evan Pugh University Professorships

Five Penn State professors—including Huck-affiliated faculty members Reka Albert, Vijaykrishnan Narayanan, and Clive Randall—have been named Evan Pugh University Professors, an elite and prestigious distinction conferred by the University on only 79 faculty members since the establishment of the designation in 1960.

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May 28, 2024

Réka Albert named Evan Pugh University Professor

Réka Albert, distinguished professor of physics and biology at Penn State, has been named an Evan Pugh University Professor, the highest honor that Penn State bestows on a faculty member.

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Apr 22, 2024

Kissing bugs, vector for Chagas disease, successfully gene edited for first time

Kissing bugs, or triatomine bugs, are the primary vector for Chagas disease. New research from an international team, including a Penn State researcher, demonstrates — for the first time — the use of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in kissing bugs and opens the door to research on applied strategies for Chagas disease control.

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Apr 17, 2024

Tracy Langkilde appointed interim executive vice president and provost

Tracy Langkilde, the Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Eberly College of Science, has been named interim executive vice president and provost of Penn State, effective April 15. Langkilde succeeds Executive Vice President and Provost Justin Schwartz, who has been named as the sole finalist for chancellor of the University of Colorado Boulder and will depart Penn State this summer.

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Apr 09, 2024

Podcast sheds light on the evolution of disease-causing pathogens

As the ever-growing number of Covid variants has made clear to the global public in recent years, disease-causing viruses can evolve incredibly fast. The same holds true for bacteria that cause many infectious diseases. Andrew Read was interviewed about his career as a prominent researcher in this field.

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Mar 29, 2024

Vaccine protects cattle from bovine tuberculosis, may eliminate disease

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a livestock disease that results in large economic losses to animal agriculture worldwide. The disease can also transmit to humans and cause severe illness and death.

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Mar 13, 2024

New nasal vaccine platform helps clear COVID-19 infections in an animal model

A newly developed intranasal vaccine candidate helps to clear COVID-19 infections more quickly than controls in pre-clinical testing, according to a recent study.

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Feb 26, 2024

Temperature, humidity may drive future transmission of parasitic worm infections

As climate changes, temperature isn’t the only factor to influence the spread of infectious diseases. Humidity plays a role, too, according to new research published in Ecology Letters.

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