News

Asian longhorned beetle larvae eat plant tissues that their parents cannot

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Despite the buzz in recent years about other invasive insects that pose an even larger threat to agriculture and trees — such as the spotted lanternfly, the stink bug and the emerald ash borer — Penn State researchers have continued to study another damaging pest, the...
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Penn State professor co-chairs roadmap to guide synthetic biology investments

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Some of the potential applications of engineering biology, or synthetic biology, sound like science fiction: genetically engineered organisms that produce plastics from carbon dioxide and synthetic... Read More >

Whole genome sequencing may help officials get a handle on disease outbreaks

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Whole genome sequencing technology may give epidemiologists and health care workers a powerful weapon in tracking and, possibly, controlling outbreaks of serious diseases, according to a... Read More >

Penn State names Georgia Tech’s Lora Weiss senior vice president for research

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lora G. Weiss, interim senior vice president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and interim director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), has been named senior vice... Read More >

New tuberculosis tests pave way for cow vaccination programs

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Skin tests that can distinguish between cattle that are infected with tuberculosis (TB) and those that have been vaccinated against the disease have been created by... Read More >

NOW WE KNOW HOW THE ZOMBIE ANT GETS ITS BITE

HOW DO WE begin to comprehend the astonishing complexity of a fungus that invades an ant’s body, grows throughout its tissues, and orders the host to climb up a tree and... Read More >

Bioengineered cell walls open new medical, research possibilities

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Biomedical engineers at Penn State have developed a process to build protective, synthetic plant cell walls around animal cells. The work, published in Nature Communications, could hold... Read More >