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Researchers discovered that by blocking a specific enzyme called indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1, or IDO1 for short, they could rescue memory and brain function in models that mimic Alzheimer’s disease. Pictured from right to left: Melanie Reynolds, Penn State’s Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Praveena Prasad, doctoral candidate at Penn State, Brenita Jenkins, lab manager and research scientist at Penn State. Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

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

Kierstyn Higgins, a doctoral candidate in ecosystem science and management, using a backpack eDNA sampler to collect eDNA from stream water. The inset shows the unit's intake.  Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

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

A mining bee (Andrena sp.) climbs on a blueberry flower. The bee species was one spotted by volunteers through a program led by Penn State.  Credit: Nash Turley / Penn State. Creative Commons

Volunteers record bee biodiversity and discover new species in Pennsylvania

The findings of a new study may help improve the understanding of how pathogens may be transmitted between wild and managed bees, according to researchers. Credit: Damien TUPINIER/Unsplash. All Rights Reserved.

Honey bees may play role in spreading viruses to wild bumble bees

How U.S. Farms Could Start a Bird Flu Pandemic

Spotted Lanternfly Returns

Five new research collaborations between Penn State and minority-serving institutions selected to receive seed funding via the Inter-Institutional Partnerships for Diversifying Research program

Penn State students awarded USDA pre-doctoral fellowships for research

NY's invasive lanternflies are coating the region with sweet, destructive poop

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Five new research collaborations between Penn State and minority-serving institutions selected to receive seed funding via the Inter-Institutional Partnerships for Diversifying Research program

Penn State awards five new seed grants to support inter-institutional research

How, when and where to see Pittsburgh’s most beautiful butterflies

A team led by Penn State researchers found that early life exposure to "forever chemicals" in the environment permanently disrupts the gut microbiome in mice. Credit: DrAfter123/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Early life exposure to common chemical permanently disrupts gut microbiome

Credit: Prostock-Studio/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved.

Less sleep and later bedtime in childhood linked to future substance use

The U.S. National Science Foundation will support the establishment and operation of the National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences at Penn State. Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

NCEMS aims to ‘build a nationwide community' and address research barriers

Researchers have found certain ion channels, proteins critical for electrical signaling in the nervous system, in single celled-organisms called choanoflagellates that are the closest living relatives to animals. This rewrites the evolutionary tree of these ion channels, which were previously thought to be only be found in animals. Left: Choanoflagellate under the microscope. Right: Proposed evolutionary tree of the various types of Shaker family ion channels in choanoflagellates, top, and animals, or Metazoans. Credit: Image: David Spafford; Tree: Jegla et al. 2024, PNAS. All Rights Reserved.

Rewriting the evolutionary history of critical components of the nervous system

Chad Smies, doctoral student in biology at Penn State, studies the mechanism behind memory updating and how that process changes with aging. Credit: Provided by the Kwapis Lab / Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Memory problems in old age linked to a key enzyme, study in mice finds

Ecology graduate student Caleb Butler

Ecology Student Wins Award from Phycological Society of America

The Benefits of Ozempic Are Multiplying

Texas Reservoir Water Levels Are Hitting Record Lows. Here's Why

Yong Wang, Penn State professor of biomedical engineering and the Huck Chair in Cell Medicine, is using a four-year, $2.02 million National Institutes of Health grant to explore how to safely add growth factors to collagen used by doctors for tissue repair.  Credit: Kate Myers/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Biomedical engineer to use $2M NIH grant to improve human tissue repair

Why North Jersey may have to stomp more spotted lanternflies than the rest of the state

I’m About to Go on a Big Trip. Should I Be Worried About Bird Flu?

This zebrafish was imaged using a technique called histomography. Colors indicated a specific assigned intensity and position within the scan.  Credit: Provided by the researchers / Penn State.

$3.8M NIH grant funds 3D tissue and organism visualization project

This angus bull, named P S Power Play, was a famous bull in the 1970s involved in Black Angus breeding and artificial insemination. Credit: Penn State Beef and Sheep Center / Penn State. Creative Commons

Penn State researchers receive USDA-NIFA grant to study male cattle genetics