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This image depicts a conceptual mobile application designed to empower health care providers to capture and analyze placenta images at birth for immediate diagnostic insights. Credit: Sonhita Chakraborty / Penn State. Creative Commons

Placenta assessment tool aims to improve neonatal, maternal care

A multi-national, multi-institutional team led by Penn State researchers developed a new tool that enables doctors to examine placentas right at the bedside using just a phone.

New program aims to transform research administration with $5.1M NSF grant

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $5.1 million to support the Skilled Training in Administration and Institutional Research (STAIR) program, a national initiative designed to revolutionize research administration across U.S. academic institutions.

Penn State Herbarium adds historic perspective to modern research

Boasting a collection of an estimated 35,000 plant specimens form around the world, the Penn State Herbarium is the third largest herbarium in Pennsylvania. Among its holdings are 3,000 plant specimens from the personal collection of Even Pugh, the first president of Penn State.

In his research, Xiaogang Hu, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Neurorehabilitation and an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State, focuses on creating wearable assistive robotic systems for people with limited use of their limbs, especially their hands, with the goal of the user intuitively controlling the systems and devices on which they rely.  Credit: Kate Myers/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Person-centered, bio-inspired research leads to improved control of prosthetics

Penn State researcher focuses on creating wearable assistive robotic systems for people with limited use of their limbs, especially their hands, with the goal of the user intuitively controlling the systems and devices on which they rely.

Two Huck graduate students receive American Heart Association fellowships

Two Huck graduate students awarded individual 2-year American Heart Association fellowships.

New research finds sex-specific regions of the brain can relieve the detrimental effects of chronic stress in male and female mice. Left: Schematic showing a cortical microcircuit with three types of interneurons expressing somatostatin (SST), parvalbumin (PV) or vasointestinal peptide (VIP) and their distinct patterns of innervation of glutamatergic output neurons (PNs), with thin lines representing axons that send chemical signals and the thicker lines of PNs representing dendrites that receive information. There is selective innervation of the distal ends of PN dendrites by axons of SST neurons. Right: Increased activity of SST neurons by genetically induced disinhibition, on top right, or by chemogenetic activation of SST neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex, on bottom right, leads to stress resilience and facilitates the reversal of the detrimental behavioral effects of stress exposure in male but not female mice. Credit: Bernhard Lüscher / Penn State. Creative Commons

Brain regions that relieve effects of chronic stress in mice differ based on sex

In two new studies, researchers made mice resilient to stress by activating neurons in different brain regions and found that the changes involved are highly sex-specific

Nate Carey is a native of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. Credit: Sean Yoder / Penn State. Creative Commons

Penn State undergraduate Nate Carey earns Marshall Scholarship

Penn State student Nate Carey has earned a 2025 Marshall Scholarship, which is among the most competitive U.K. scholarships for U.S. students and recognizes academic excellence and leadership and ambassadorial potential.

A team led by Penn State researchers used principles of pulse monitoring in traditional Chinese medicine to design a pressure-sensing platform to identify the optimal pulse signal, which they combined with a machine learning model to also predict blood pressure.     Credit: Provided by Huanyu "Larry" Cheng. All Rights Reserved.

Old wisdom meets new tech: Traditional Chinese medicine inspires pulse sensors

A team led by Penn State researchers used principles of pulse monitoring in traditional Chinese medicine to design a pressure-sensing platform to identify the optimal pulse signal, which they combined with a machine learning model to also predict blood pressure.

The genomes of Kirtland’s warblers show extensive signs of inbreeding, according to a new study, which could guide continuing conservation efforts for the once-endangered songbird. Credit: Nathan Cooper. All Rights Reserved.

Once-endangered Kirtland’s warblers show extensive signs of inbreeding in genome

The genome of a once-endangered songbird shows extensive signs of inbreeding, according to a new study by Penn State researchers.

Center for Socially Responsible AI awards seed funding to seven diverse projects

The Penn State Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) has announced the results of its most recent seed-funding competition.