Two Penn State researchers have participated in the formulation of a new updated research agenda for global malaria elimination and eradication. Together with more than 180 scientists, malaria program leaders, and policy makers from around the world, Manuel Llinás, professor of biochemistry and molecularbiology, and Jason Rasgon, professor of entomology and disease epidemiology, contributed to…

Like It or Not: Broccoli May Be Good for the Gut

For the broccoli haters of the world, researchers may have more bad news: the vegetable may also help promote a healthy gut.

In a study, when mice ate broccoli with their regular diet, they were betterable to tolerate digestive issues similar to symptoms of leaky gut and colitis than mice that were not placed on a broccoli-supplemented diet, according to Gary Perdew, the John T. and Paige S.…

Plant Cell Walls’ Stretch-but-don’t-break Growth More Complex than Once Thought

Plant cell wall growth is typically described as a simple process, but researchers using a microscope that can resolve images on the nanoscale level have observed something more complex.

A close-up look at the growth of plant cell walls, which largely determines the way a plant grows and takes shape, offers a better understanding of how the tough-but-flexible walls expand, researchershave found…

Disease-associated Genes Routinely Missed in Some Genetic Studies

Whole-exome DNA sequencing — a technology that saves time and money by sequencing only protein-coding regions and not the entire genome — may routinely miss detecting some genetic variations associated with disease, according to Penn State researchers who have developed new ways to identify such omissions.

Whole-exome sequencing has been used in many studies to identify genes associated with…

Key Regulator of Bone Development Identified

Loss of a key protein leads to defects in skeletal development including reduced bone density and a shortening of the fingers and toes — a condition known as brachydactyly. The discovery was made by researchers at Penn State University who knocked out the Speckle-type POZ Protein (Spop) in the mouse and characterized the impact on bone development. The research, which appears online in the…

Super-Cold Microscope Has Super Cool Uses

While “go big” is the motto for many science initiatives, Penn State researchers are hoping a cutting-edge microscope will allow them to “go deep” to promote biomedical research and discoveries in materials science.

The purchase of a cryo-electron microscope, recently approved by the Penn StateBoard of Trustees, freezes samples at cryogenic temperatures — which usually start at or below -238…

Researchers to study how microbes become ‘fungi in ant’s clothing’

A pair of grants worth more than $2 million will enable Penn State researchers to study how microbial parasites control the behaviors and characteristics of their animal hosts.

The National Institutes of Health recently awarded $1.6 million to a research team led by David Hughes, assistant professor of entomology and biology, to study microbes in the genus…

Study of fungi-insect relationships may lead to new evolutionary discoveries

Zombie ants are only one of the fungi-insect relationships studied by a team of Penn State biologists in a newly compiled database of insect fungi interactions.

“I couldn’t find a place with broad information about all groups of fungi that infect insects in the same study,” said Joao Araujo, graduate student in biology. “When we organized the information, we started to…