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Featured Stories

From left are: Jill Hamilton, Wenrui Hao and Gustavo Nader Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Huck announces 2025-26 Leadership Fellows

Three faculty members, representing three different Penn State colleges, have been named Huck Leadership Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year.

Full Article

Teh-hui Kao, distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and chair of the plant biology intercollege graduate degree program, speaks with prospective students at a recruiting event on Jan. 19, 2024. Credit: Keith Hickey / Penn State. Creative Commons

Kao steps down as plant biology graduate program chair

Teh-hui Kao, distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, has stepped down as chair of the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program (IGDP) in Plant Biology after 26 years in the role.

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Huck seed grant program introduces new research themes for the life sciences

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has launched its 2025-2026 new seed grant program. Huck seed grants foster innovative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative life sciences research.

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Matt Langland, who recently graduated from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management, examines salt-encrusted soils in New Mexico's migratory bird habitats. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 16, 2025

College of Ag Sciences grant program supports student learning, experiences

A grant program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aims to enhance student learning by empowering faculty and students to design immersive, hands-on projects that bridge classroom knowledge with real-world partnerships.

Figure: MRI of an avocado. (A) Photograph of dissected fruit showing fleshy pericarp and stony seed. (B–F) Internal structure of the fruit as visualized by MRI; (B, E) distribution of water shown in longitudinal and cross-section; (C, F) distribution of lipid (given in color-code (C) or in gray scale (F)); (D) visualization of the vascular system in the seed and the fruit. Abbreviations: vse-vascular system of embryo (fragment), vsp-vascular system of pericarp (fragment), vssc-vascular system of seed coat.

Jul 16, 2025

MRI advancements herald new possibilities for plant imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging is an established tool for human medical diagnostics, but recent advancements mean that it now offers plant researchers unprecedented capabilities for non-invasive visualization of plant structures and systems.

Nanyin Zhang, the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Chair in Brain Imaging and professor of biomedical engineering, of electrical engineering and of engineering science and mechanics; Patrick Drew, professor of engineering science and mechanics, of biomedical engineering, of neurosurgery and of biology; and Nikki Crowley, associate professor of biology and of biomedical engineering, Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering and director of the Penn State Neuroscience Institute at University Park, received a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to gain insight into the purpose of dreams. Credit: Keith Hickey/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 16, 2025

When dreams turn dark: Neuroscientists to study nightmares and mental health

Dreams, and likely nightmares, are experienced universally across humans and animals, but neuroscientists still do not know why. Now, with a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Penn State will study the underlying mechanisms of nightmares and their relationship with anxiety-related mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

News

Matt Langland, who recently graduated from Penn State with a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management, examines salt-encrusted soils in New Mexico's migratory bird habitats. Credit: Contributed photo. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 16, 2025

College of Ag Sciences grant program supports student learning, experiences

A grant program in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aims to enhance student learning by empowering faculty and students to design immersive, hands-on projects that bridge classroom knowledge with real-world partnerships.

Figure: MRI of an avocado. (A) Photograph of dissected fruit showing fleshy pericarp and stony seed. (B–F) Internal structure of the fruit as visualized by MRI; (B, E) distribution of water shown in longitudinal and cross-section; (C, F) distribution of lipid (given in color-code (C) or in gray scale (F)); (D) visualization of the vascular system in the seed and the fruit. Abbreviations: vse-vascular system of embryo (fragment), vsp-vascular system of pericarp (fragment), vssc-vascular system of seed coat.

Jul 16, 2025

MRI advancements herald new possibilities for plant imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging is an established tool for human medical diagnostics, but recent advancements mean that it now offers plant researchers unprecedented capabilities for non-invasive visualization of plant structures and systems.

Nanyin Zhang, the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Chair in Brain Imaging and professor of biomedical engineering, of electrical engineering and of engineering science and mechanics; Patrick Drew, professor of engineering science and mechanics, of biomedical engineering, of neurosurgery and of biology; and Nikki Crowley, associate professor of biology and of biomedical engineering, Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering and director of the Penn State Neuroscience Institute at University Park, received a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to gain insight into the purpose of dreams. Credit: Keith Hickey/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Jul 16, 2025

When dreams turn dark: Neuroscientists to study nightmares and mental health

Dreams, and likely nightmares, are experienced universally across humans and animals, but neuroscientists still do not know why. Now, with a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Penn State will study the underlying mechanisms of nightmares and their relationship with anxiety-related mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Credit: Keith Hickey / Penn State. Creative Commons

Jul 15, 2025

Optical tweezers help elevate single-molecule research at Penn State

The instrument, supported by a new NIH infrastructure grant, uses laser light to ‘tweeze’ tiny objects like DNA molecules and proteins.

Events

Monday Jul

21

Big10 Neuroscience Annual Meeting

Neuroscience Institute , Neuroscience

Tuesday Jul

29

Botany 101: Conquer your plant blindness, Session 3

Plant Biology , Plant Institute

Thursday Aug

14

COEIB Virtual Fermentation Workshop

Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology

Events

Monday Jul

21

Big10 Neuroscience Annual Meeting

Neuroscience Institute , Neuroscience

Tuesday Jul

29

Botany 101: Conquer your plant blindness, Session 3

Plant Biology , Plant Institute

Thursday Aug

14

COEIB Virtual Fermentation Workshop

Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology

Thursday Aug

21

Advancing Structural and Functional Characterization Of Biomolecules

X-Ray Crystallography Facility

 

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