Penn State Department of Biology

Predicting vaccination levels without accurate or timely vaccination data | Penn State University Researchers at Penn State and the World Health Organization have developed a new method to estimate and predict regional measles vaccination coverage levels even when accurate or timely survey data on...

New research co-led by Penn State scientists reveals a novel way to predict measles vaccination rates when data is limited. Their model uses clinic-collected data from suspected cases, enhancing disease prevention. Proud of our team for advancing global public health!
www.psu.edu/news/eberly-...

The breadth of the brain | Penn State University Researchers in the Penn State Neuroscience Institute study the brain’s many aspects in a variety of ways, with implications from mental health to aging and disease.

🧠 Dive into the fascinating world of neuroscience with Penn State’s latest story on the mysteries of the brain! From memory formation to the evolution of the nervous system, discover how interdisciplinary research is driving new insights. Read more: www.psu.edu/news/eberly-... #Neuroscience

When dreams turn dark: Neuroscientists to study nightmares and mental health | Penn State University 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 Foundatio...

www.psu.edu/news/enginee...

Dreams, and likely nightmares, are experienced across humans and animals, but neuroscientists still do not know why. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Penn State will study the underlying mechanisms of nightmares and their relationship with anxiety-related mental health disorders

Feat. 3 Penn State-affiliated scientists this new season of the documentary series "Human Footprint" is available for watching on PBS:
www.pbs.org/show/human-f...

Penn State 3rd in US, 64th globally in 2025 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings | Penn State University Penn State ranks No. 3 in the United States and No. 64 overall among the top international institutions assessed by the 2025 Times Higher Education (THE) University Impact Rankings. These rankings aim...

Penn State 3rd in US, 64th globally in 2025 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings

www.psu.edu/news/impact/...

Two rows of people (12 in total) standing in front of two large windows.

It was fantastic to unplug from the chaos in the world for a few days to focus on the wonderful & impactful science being done in the Ecology & Evolution of Infectious Disease community. Huge thanks to Notre Dame for hosting @eeid2025.bsky.social and I can't wait for @eeid2026.bsky.social next year!

Two Penn State doctoral students selected for industry internship in Germany | Penn State University Two doctoral students from Penn State's One Health Microbiome Center have been selected to intern at QIAGEN's headquarters in Germany this summer. The internship program was developed as a collaborati...

The One Health Microbiome Center in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is sending two PhD students to Germany, for a ndustry internship at the headquarters of QIAGEN:

www.psu.edu/news/huck-in...

Congratulations to our new doctors that defended their PhD in the last few weeks!

Their final project is a testament to their hard work—give it a look and join us in celebrating their achievement!

Through the integration of publicly available sequencing datasets and GIS-based spatial analysis, they employed multivariate techniques such as structural equation modeling to identify key macroecological patterns driving soil bacterial diversity.

Inside the Microbial Macroecology Class with Dr. Gui Becker

Our students took the lead this semester, launching a project to uncover the abiotic factors shaping soil biodiversity on a global scale...

There were 40 such nice comments. Thanks to Assoc Dean Malcos for organizing and sending them out and thanks to our faculty for making a difference in these students' educational journey.

These letters have just been put in people's mailboxes. Additionally, when faculty receive a shout out in the senior exit survey, those comments will be shared with the faculty.

Every year our graduating senior undergrads are given the opportunity to write a personal note to a faculty member that inspired them. Biology had 27 this year!

Last Friday was the annual Biology Dept Bake Off. The Huber lab reclaimed the rolling pin for the win this year. Thanks to the climate and diversity committee for putting the event together and for everyone that participated.

Highlighting some recent media by Todd Lajeunesse on coral bleaching. He appeared in 96! stories across big cities in the US after doing this piece with FOX News that was picked up by dozens of affiliates. Great work, Todd.

www.teletrax.com/Video/Review...

Our faculty is so proud of all our amazing graduates — congratulations on this huge achievement! 🎓🎉

For your weekly wrap up of all things human genetics and microbiome…The breakthroughs and scholarship of @erdavenport.bsky.social from @psumbiome.bsky.social and @psubiodept.bsky.social

Fieldwork in remote sites has its own adventures! wow! We want to hear more field/lab work stories like this! Share your story here (short or long, serious or silly): shorturl.at/Goy0p

Luckily, the rental company had not forgotten about us, and the truck somehow made it down the rocky road with a replacement SUV in tow..."

I hiked the km back to the house, and the whole crew was there looking defeated. Someone had left the light on overnight and the "working" car's battery was dead, with no partner to jump it with...

I got about 1 km down the road before the tire started coming off of the wheel, so I got out and looked behind me to find that the second car was not there...

Since I was the lightest person in the group, I was chosen to try to drive the rental car back to the water treatment plant on the flat tire, with the rest of the group not far behind in the second car...

We did another night of transects using his car before concluding that the rental company was never going to show up...

We used the air pump at the plant to pump up the tire as best we could, then drove the 45 minutes back to the house. In the morning, the tire was flat as could be, but luckily our colleague was on his way with his own car. No biggie...

After getting a special tour of the water treatment plant at 4 am, we tried to sleep in the car but were woken up by someone asking us to leave because the gases they use for sterilization were an explosion hazard...

So, we drove to the water treatment plant and called the rental company for help. They said that it would be 1-2 days before they could bring a replacement car...

When we went to change it, we noticed that one lug nut on the tire was of the "locking" variety, with no unlocking tool to be found. We were about a 15 minute drive from the gate of the field station/water treatment plant and 30 minutes from our housing...

New field tale feat. Shannon Buttimer, PhD candidate on Becker lab!

"While we were running transects to sample amphibians in São Paulo, Brazil, we were staying in field housing that situated along an unpaved, very rocky and muddy road...🧵