Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Penn State

Thursday, December 11, from 11:00 a.m. to noon, Dana Hawley, Professor of Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech, will present "When history repeats itself: effects of prior pathogen exposure on the ecology and evolution of a songbird pathogen".

Will presenting on Batrachochytrium dendrobaditis in PA and OH.

Jack presenting on chytrid fungus in amphibians. 🐸

Jamie presenting on Culex tarsalis virome profiling. 🦟

Happening today!

Thursday, December 4, from 11:00 a.m. to noon, CIDD graduate students will present their research.

Dr. Cobey presenting on immune memory and vaccination.

Thursday, November 20, from 11:00 a.m. to noon, Sarah Cobey, Professor of Ecology and Evolution from the University of Chicago, will present "Immune memory and vaccination against influenza".

Northeast Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease meeting kicking off! At @ciddpsu.bsky.social

Dr. Pedra presenting on tick-borne diseases and AI.

🎙️ Arturo is a leading scholar and thought leader in medical microbiology and infectious disease research. Please join us at the One Health Microbiome Symposium. He is in a league of professors who have long championed the "One Health" concept — which makes his perspective indispensable.

Virome profiling of Culex tarsalis through small RNA-seq: A challenge of suboptimal samples Author summary Mosquitoes are capable of transmitting pathogenic viruses to humans and other vertebrate hosts during feeding. However, they can also carry viruses that infect only mosquitoes, which ar...

New work published today from the RasgonLab! The first thesis chapter from @zureishon.bsky.social!

Project highlights some of the difficulties we had with sample collection during the early days of COVID

journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...

Thursday, November 6, from 11:00 a.m. to noon, Joao Pedra, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will present "From Arthropod Immunology to Artificial Intelligence: a Journey Into Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases".

Dr. Metcalf presenting on infection dynamics and vaccination.

Thursday, October 30, from 11:00 a.m. to noon, Jessica Metcalf, Professor of Ecology and Evolution from Princeton University, will present "Infection dynamics and vaccination in a changing world".

Thursday, October 2, from 11:00 a.m. to noon–David Kennedy, Associate Professor of Biology from Penn State, will present "Anticipating the evolution of pathogen resistance and new diseases ."

Monday, September 29, from noon to 1:00 p.m., welcome Kara Fikrig to CIDD and hear what her lab is up to,

A person stands at a podium in a conference room, presenting to an audience. The presentation slide projected on the screen reads 'Impacts of mosquito-borne disease' and features an image of a book titled 'The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator' by Timothy C. Winegard. Several people are seated and facing the presenter, listening attentively.

Ryan Smith presents on how mosquito biology influences pathogen transmission. 🦟

Thursday, September 25, from 11:00 a.m. to noon–Ryan Smith, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology from Iowa State University, will present "Mosquito immune cells and vector competence: A tale of two pathogens."

Monday, September 22, from noon to 1:00 p.m., hear from Isabella Cattadori, Professor of Biology at Penn State, on new working ideas on infection and nutrition.

OPEN INVITATION to the One Health Microbiome Symposium, May 13-14, 2026!! This is not your typical siloed topic conference. It unifies diverse research fields in microbiome science across Ag, Envtl, and Human Health. 1/n

www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-one-h...

Thursday, September 18, from 11:00 a.m. to noon–Katherine Restori, Assistant Research Professor from Penn State, will present "Preexisting immunity to the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus reduces susceptibility to H5N1 infection and disease in ferrets."

Monday, September 15, from noon to 1:00 p.m., hear from Beth McGraw, Biology Professor and Department Head, and Shannon Cruz, Assistant Professor of Arts and Communications, on STIs (Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis) and Penn State wastewater.

Come and work with us! Review of candidates will begin ~1 October with rolling consideration thereafter. If you are unable to apply early, contact the search committee chair (me) to discuss timelines.

Monday, September 8, hear from @annepisor.bsky.social about the Society Lab and her research on how people use social relationships to navigate the impacts of environmental, social, and economic change on their well-being, health, and livelihoods.

Early epidemiological characteristics explain the chance of population-level virus persistence following spillover events Virus spillover into new host species can lead to outcomes ranging from dead-end infections to sustained epidemics. This study uses a nematode-virus model to show that early spillover traits, especial...

Read the paper by Shaw and Kennedy published in PLoS Biology.

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Most viruses that spill over into new species burn out, but some persist. 🦠

A Penn State study led by David Kennedy and Clara Shaw found that infection prevalence and viral shedding were strong predictors, while severity and intensity were not.

science.psu.edu/news/what-tr...

Hologenomic structure of bacterial and fungal community composition in the West Nile virus vector Culex tarsalis Background: Microbiota play a crucial role in determining the ability for arthropod disease vectors to transmit pathogens. Microbial community structure can be heavily influenced by microbe-microbe in...

New work from the RasgonLab! Bacterial and fungal microbiomes are spatially structured across Culex tarsalis populations!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Unraveling the arc of vaccine progress The philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously described life in 1651 as “nasty, brutish, and short.” He was undeniably correct, with estimates of average life expectancy in the UK at the time ranging from 37...

Unraveling the arc of vaccine progress | Science

Featuring work from @theferrarilab.bsky.social.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reducing the threats of rodent-borne zoonoses requires an understanding and leveraging of three key pillars: disease ecology, synanthropy, and rodentation Rodents have co-existed with humans for centuries, and frequently exchange pathogens. Historically, rodent-driven plague outbreaks scoured the Old Wor…

New review out in @thelancetplanet.bsky.social from our rodent-borne zoonoses workshop @ciddpsu.bsky.social 🐭🌍

Humans & rodents share a long history and many pathogens -from plague to mpox. Outbreak prevention needs socially + ecologically grounded solutions

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...