News | The Huck Institutes (en-US)

In front of the main World Health Organization (WHO) building in Geneva, Switzerland, a statue commemorates the 30th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. Now, researchers at Penn State and the WHO have developed a new method to estimate and predict regional measles vaccination coverage levels even when accurate or timely survey data on vaccination is not available. The new method can be used to guide better targeted vaccination interventions to potentially make measles the next human virus eradicated since smallpox. Credit: © WHO / Christopher Black . All Rights Reserved.

Jul 25, 2025

Predicting vaccination levels without accurate or timely vaccination data

Researchers at Penn State and the World Health Organization develop method to predict measles vaccination levels using routinely collected clinical data on suspected measles cases.

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Using AI-driven pattern recognition, TalkingSick analyzes short voice recordings to detect deviations from a user’s healthy voice baseline. These deviations could signal potential respiratory illnesses before physical symptoms appear. The startup team participated in the NSF I-Corps National Teams program, which they completed in June. The program requires teams to complete at least 100 customer interviews in just seven weeks. Credit: Provided by TalkingSick. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 25, 2025

Startup works to detect respiratory illnesses through vocal patterns

TalkingSick startup launches through Invent Penn State NSF I-Corps programming.

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Jul 24, 2025

Huck Students impress at Forest Genetics conference

Penn State grad students took the Forest Genetics 2025 conference by storm, winning more than half of the poster and presentation awards available. Three Huck trainees were among those recognized.

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H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak has caused mass die-offs in wild birds, farmed poultry and even wild mammals. New research suggests that widespread immunity to H1N1 seasonal influenza virus may explain why exposure to H5N1 bird flu causes only mild symptoms in humans. Credit: Opla/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 23, 2025

Seasonal flu immunity protects against severe illness from bird flu in ferrets

A study in ferrets — which have remarkably similar respiratory systems to humans — suggests that widespread immunity to H1N1 seasonal influenza virus may explain why exposure to H5N1 bird flu causes only mild symptoms in humans.

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Researchers developed a proof-of-concept device capable of detecting a biomarker implicated in endometriosis with unprecedented sensitivity from menstrual blood. The device is similar to a pregnancy test, showing two lines if the biomarker is detected in the sample. Credit: Provided by Dipanjan Pan / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 22, 2025

Next-gen tech can detect disease biomarker in period blood

Proof-of-concept, at-home device can detect biomarker for endometriosis — a debilitating uterine disease — in 10 minutes; advancement makes early detection easier, more accessible, researchers say.

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Jasna Kovac, left, and Seth Bordenstein, right, are the co-program directors and authors of the BIOMS grant. Credit: Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences and Eberly College of Science / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 22, 2025

$2.6M NIH grant to fund new microbiome sciences training program at Penn State

The internationally recognized One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is the recipient of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to train doctoral students in biotechnological innovation, industry advancements and interdisciplinary microbiome research.

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A grant from the Morris Animal Foundation will support research at Penn State on the health of amphibians. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 22, 2025

National foundation grant to support study on amphibian health at Penn State

Research in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aimed at helping amphibians fight fungal disease by strengthening their natural defenses has received a $120,000 grant from the Morris Animal Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing animal health through scientific research.

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The researchers simulated corn production in 38,572 locations under the six nuclear war scenarios of increasing severity. Because of the crop’s global significance, the researchers chose to model corn’s collapse in a nuclear winter to represent the expected fate of agriculture overall. Credit: crisserbug/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 21, 2025

Simulating the unthinkable: Models show nuclear winter food production plunge

A team led by researchers at Penn State have modeled precisely how various nuclear winter scenarios could impact global production of corn — the most widely planted grain crop in the world.

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Nanyin Zhang, the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Chair in Brain Imaging and professor of biomedical engineering, of electrical engineering and of engineering science and mechanics; Patrick Drew, professor of engineering science and mechanics, of biomedical engineering, of neurosurgery and of biology; and Nikki Crowley, associate professor of biology and of biomedical engineering, Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering and director of the Penn State Neuroscience Institute at University Park, received a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to gain insight into the purpose of dreams. Credit: Keith Hickey/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 16, 2025

When dreams turn dark: Neuroscientists to study nightmares and mental health

Dreams, and likely nightmares, are experienced universally across humans and animals, but neuroscientists still do not know why. Now, with a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Penn State will study the underlying mechanisms of nightmares and their relationship with anxiety-related mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Jul 16, 2025

MRI advancements herald new possibilities for plant imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging is an established tool for human medical diagnostics, but recent advancements mean that it now offers plant researchers unprecedented capabilities for non-invasive visualization of plant structures and systems.

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