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Spotted lanternfly at rest

Penn State scientists spotlight spotted lanternfly research on Capitol Hill

6/6/18

As the emergence of the spotted lanternfly continues to threaten portions of Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry, two researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences who are studying the invasive insects joined colleagues from more than 20 universities on Capitol Hill today (June 6) to show members of Congress and their staffs the importance of funding agricultural research.

Beekeepers with frame

Researchers aim to develop best practices for organic beekeeping industry

11/17/17

A nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will support Penn State researchers in determining best management practices for organic beekeeping by comparing organic and chemical-free to conventional management systems. The funding comes from the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Rain grant awardee

Researchers win funding for new tomatoes, wood packaging pest treatment

8/22/17

Penn State research teams working on two promising discoveries -- a new, energy-efficient treatment to kill destructive insects in wood and new tomato varieties bred for Pennsylvania conditions -- each have won $75,000 Research Applications for Innovation, or RAIN, grants to bring their discoveries to market.

Bed Bug Micro Image

Bedbugs beware: New research may beat back bedbug epidemic

3/22/17

A new biopesticide developed by Penn State scientists has the potential to turn the bedbug control market on its ear, thanks to a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem taking root at Penn State that’s helping to push crucial discoveries out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.

Probing Questions: How concerned should Pennsylvanians be about Zika virus?

7/7/16

Penn State associate professor of entomology and disease epidemiology Jason Rasgon studies how viruses are spread by mosquitoes, fleas, sand flies, lice, ticks and mites, as well as other insects and arthropods.In this Probing Question video, Rasgon looks at the relative risks for Pennsylvanians

Mosquito feeding on caterpillar

Penn State entomology researchers receive Grand Challenges Explorations grant

11/24/15

Two Penn State researchers have been chosen to receive a grant through the Grand Challenges Explorations program, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Johanna Ohm, graduate student in biology, and Matt Thomas, professor and Huck Scholar in Ecological Entomology, will develop an insect-based artificial diet for adult Aedes/Anopheles mosquitoes as a viable alternative to mammalian blood meals.

Heather_Hines portrait in lab

Colorful patterns of evolution mark butterflies and bumblebees

5/14/14

As a graduate student, Heather Hines was part of a successful effort to track the history of bumblebee evolution, painstakingly constructing from genetic and geographic information a comprehensive family tree. As a post doc, she worked with a large international consortium of evolutionary biologists doing similar work with Heliconius butterflies. Now an assistant professor of biology at Penn State, Hines is using both systems to unravel the fascinating genetics behind adaptive radiation and mimicry.

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