Featured Stories
Penn State biochemist Denise Okafor awarded 2026 Sloan Research Fellowship
Denise Okafor, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of chemistry and Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Biophysics at Penn State, has been honored with 2026 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowship honors extraordinary researchers whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of scientific leaders.
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Skeleton ‘gatekeeper’ lining brain cells could guard against Alzheimer’s
Brain cells are constantly swallowing material from the fluid that surrounds them — signaling molecules, nutrients, even pieces of their own surfaces — in a process known as endocytosis that is essential for learning, memory and basic neural upkeep. New research by Penn State scientists has revealed this vital process may be governed by a previously unknown molecular gatekeeper: a lattice‑like structure just beneath the surface of neurons called the membrane‑associated periodic skeleton.
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Domestication has changed the chemicals squash flowers use to attract bees
In a new study published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, a team led by researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences found that domesticated flowers have different scent chemical profiles than wild plants in several species of squash. Additionally, the specialized pollinators of these plants—squash bees—detect different compounds, called floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in wild plants that they co-evolved with than in domesticated plants.
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News
Apr 15, 2026
Four Huck Trainees Among Graduate Student Award Winners
Four Huck graduate students are among the 42 that have been recognized as outstanding scholars with Graduate Student Awards by the Office of the President and the Fox Graduate School.
Apr 14, 2026
Plant scientists receive $1.96M NIH grant to study plant-bacteria partnerships
A team of plant scientists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has received a $1.96 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund a study of how beneficial plant-bacteria partnerships evolve, persist, and can be harnessed to improve health and agriculture. This grant, called a Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award, supports a lab's long-term research vision rather than an individual project.
Apr 13, 2026
Communication, Science & Society Initiative awards four interdisciplinary grants
The Communication, Science & Society Initiative (CSSI), a research partnership between Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences in the College of the Liberal Arts, has announced the grant recipients from its 2025 request for proposals. The initiative has awarded $52,000 to four projects that bring together teams of life scientists, humanists and social scientists who aim to address multi-dimensional societal problems.
News
Apr 15, 2026
Four Huck Trainees Among Graduate Student Award Winners
Four Huck graduate students are among the 42 that have been recognized as outstanding scholars with Graduate Student Awards by the Office of the President and the Fox Graduate School.
Apr 14, 2026
Plant scientists receive $1.96M NIH grant to study plant-bacteria partnerships
A team of plant scientists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has received a $1.96 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund a study of how beneficial plant-bacteria partnerships evolve, persist, and can be harnessed to improve health and agriculture. This grant, called a Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award, supports a lab's long-term research vision rather than an individual project.
Apr 13, 2026
Communication, Science & Society Initiative awards four interdisciplinary grants
The Communication, Science & Society Initiative (CSSI), a research partnership between Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences in the College of the Liberal Arts, has announced the grant recipients from its 2025 request for proposals. The initiative has awarded $52,000 to four projects that bring together teams of life scientists, humanists and social scientists who aim to address multi-dimensional societal problems.
Apr 09, 2026
Huck Distinguished Lecture Series brings leaders in AI, biodiversity and cryo‑EM
This April, the Huck Distinguished Lecture Series will feature two experts who have established themselves as leaders in life sciences applications for artificial intelligence and cryo-electron imaging.
Events
Friday Apr
17
Frontiers of Mathematical Biology
Center for Mathematical Biology
Friday Apr
17
Seminar: Following My Microbial Path: Luminescence Variation, Water Bottle Buddies, and Predatory Bacteria.
Microbiome Center
Monday Apr
20
Chemobiology, a tool box for studying plant cell wall pectic polysaccharides
Plant Biology Seminar Series
Plant Biology
Events
Friday Apr
17
Frontiers of Mathematical Biology
Center for Mathematical Biology
Friday Apr
17
Seminar: Following My Microbial Path: Luminescence Variation, Water Bottle Buddies, and Predatory Bacteria.
Microbiome Center
Monday Apr
20
Chemobiology, a tool box for studying plant cell wall pectic polysaccharides
Plant Biology Seminar Series
Plant Biology
Monday Apr
20
The use of historical land survey records for studying past Indigenous land use in the eastern US
Huck Ecology Seminar Series
Ecology , Ecology Institute