biochemistry and molecular biology

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A mosquito feeds on a human host and is engorged with blood

Have RNA, will travel

1/10/18

The parasite that causes malaria has not one, but two, specialized proteins that protect its genetic material until the parasite takes up residence in a new host.

Ericka Reed smiles as she works at the lab bench

Graduate student awarded Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship

8/16/17

Ericka Reed, a doctoral student in biochemistry and molecular biology, has been selected to receive the Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The fellowship is intended to prepare a diverse and highly trained scientific workforce to be leaders in their fields.

Colorized electron micrograph of a malaria-causing Plasmodium parasite (right) attaching to and invading a human red blood cell.

Potential new target for anti-malarial drugs identified

6/14/17

A newly described protein could be an effective target for combating drug-resistant malaria parasites. The protein, the transcription factor PfAP2-I, regulates a number of genes involved with the parasite’s invasion of red blood cells, a critical part of the parasite’s complex life cycle that could be targeted by new anti-malarial drugs.

Squire J. Booker

Squire Booker elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

4/14/17

Squire J. Booker, professor of chemistry and of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences — one of the nation’s oldest honorary societies.

Motor neurons induced by direct programming of mouse embryonic stem cells

How to make a motor neuron

12/8/16

A team of scientists has uncovered details of the cellular mechanisms that control the direct programming of stem cells into motor neurons. The research findings, which appear online in the journal Cell Stem Cell on Dec. 8, show the challenges facing current cell-replacement technology, but they also outline a potential pathway to the creation of more viable methods.

Teniola Idowu and Conrad Tucker discuss the Penn State Millennium Scholars program

Engineering's Tucker welcomes fellow Gates Millennium Scholar

9/16/16

Incoming Penn State freshman Teniola Idowu, is one of the 1,000 students to receive the honor of being named as a 2016 Gates Millennium Scholar, the last class of the program, and one of 29 students named to the fourth cohort of Penn State Millennium Scholars.

Launick in lab

Berks' Saint-Fort to complete NIH fellowship in infectious disease

5/5/16

It has been a long and winding road from Haiti to graduation for Launick Saint-Fort, a biochemistry and molecular biology major at Penn State Berks. Now, with graduation on the horizon, she will soon begin the next chapter — a 14-month, fully-funded fellowship at the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease in Bethesda, Maryland, where she will be investigating parasitic diseases.

Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science

'New Antibiotics for Drug-Resistant Infections' topic of free lecture Feb. 13

2/9/16

A free public lecture, "New Antibiotics for Drug-Resistant Infections," will be given by Kenneth Keiler, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, at 11 a.m. Feb. 13 in 100 Thomas Building. Keiler will describe his discovery of a new kind of antibiotic that have broad-spectrum antibiotic powers to make bacteria incapable of protein synthesis.

Kenneth Keiler

Keiler awarded C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching

10/21/15

Kenneth Keiler, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State, has been honored with the 2015 C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society. Instituted in 1972 and named in honor of Clarence I. Noll, dean of the college from 1965 to 1971, the award is the highest honor for undergraduate teaching in the college.

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