News | The Huck Institutes (en-US)

New experimental technique developed by Penn State researchers helps uncover how certain proteins cooperate to bind to otherwise closed regions of the genome to facilitate cell differentiation and development. Illustration shows expanded view of chromosome from a cell at the upper left. The “pioneer factor” FOXA1 co-binds with AP-1, allowing FOXA1 to locate target sites in the genome with high specificity. Credit: Holly Godin/Bai Laboratory / Penn State.

Sep 10, 2024

Genomic pioneers collaborate to access the inaccessible

A new experimental method allows researchers to dissect how certain proteins, called pioneer factors, can bind to selective regions of the genome that are inaccessible to other DNA binding proteins.

Full Article

Vishal Singh, left, conducted this study in his lab, the Nutrition and Microbiome—Singh Lab, as part of a team that consisted of graduate research assistants, postdoctoral scholars, undergraduate students and collaborations with researchers from other departments in the University and outside of Penn State. Credit: Provided by Vishal Singh. All Rights Reserved.

Sep 09, 2024

Refined dietary fiber may increase risk for inflammatory bowel disease

New research in mice suggests that guar gum powder — a common dietary fiber additive used in processed foods — may negatively change gut microbiome and increase risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease.

Full Article

The Student Health Center on Penn State's University Park campus. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

Sep 09, 2024

Penn State community reminded to take COVID-19 precautions

With COVID-19 activity on the rise in Pennsylvania and nationally, Penn State is urging its community to continue to take health precautions and follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to keep themselves and others healthy.

Full Article

Sep 05, 2024

Woskob Gallery to host workshop for exhibit exploring storytelling, caregiving

From 5-7 p.m. on Sept. 6 in the Woskob Family Gallery, Aaron Knochel, associate professor of art education, will host an opening workshop for the show “Caretelling: Stories to Sustain Ourselves,” an interdisciplinary group exhibition on display through December that explores the intersection of storytelling and caregiving through collaborative art-making, video installations and graphic narratives.

Full Article

Study authors Olivia Leach, at the computer terminal, and Rachel Cottle, holding the breathing tube, pose in the environmental chamber used to study vulnerability to temperature and humidity. Credit: Provided by W. Larry Kenney . All Rights Reserved.

Sep 03, 2024

Older women more vulnerable to heat than their male peers, researchers find

A new study by researchers at Penn State has found that older women are physiologically more vulnerable to high heat and humidity than older men, and that women between the ages of 40 and 64 are as vulnerable as men 65 years of age or older.

Full Article

Aug 29, 2024

Call for Submissions: Faculty course buyouts for large grant writing

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences (Huck), in partnership with the Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Office (SIRO) and Penn State Colleges, invites faculty to submit requests for course buyouts to facilitate the preparation of large grant proposals.

Full Article

Aug 28, 2024

Research teams receive $1.1 million to study microbiomes in agriculture

Two Penn State-led research teams have received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture for projects investigating the ways microbiomes — the microorganisms in a particular environment, such as in soil or a living organism — can affect disease dynamics in agriculture.

Full Article

Aug 23, 2024

New CMIND director named

Janine Kwapis, the Paul Berg Early Career Professor in the Biological Sciences at Penn State, has been appointed director of the University's Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders (CMIND), an interdisciplinary research unit within the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

Full Article

Aug 22, 2024

Cancer drug could treat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, study shows

A type of drug developed for treating cancer holds promise as a new treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, according to a recent study by researchers at Penn State, Stanford University and an international team of collaborators.

Full Article

Aug 22, 2024

NSF grant to fund novel study of environmental DNA fate in streams

The U.S. National Science Foundation awarded Assistant Professor of Aquatic Ecology Daniel Allen and his team a grant to support a project focused on analyzing how environmental DNA moves and in streams across the continent.

Full Article