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pancreatic cell in diabetic

Lian receives ENGINE grant for stem-cell-based diabetes therapy

3/21/19

Xiaojun "Lance" Lian, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, was one of three recipients of the College of Engineering's ENGineering for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (ENGINE) grant for "Small Molecule-Based Definitive Endoderm Kit and Pancreatic Progenitor Kit for Stem Cell Research and Therapy." The project focuses on differentiating stem cells into pancreatic beta cells to be used for therapies to treat Type 1 diabetes.

Book cover to special issue of Recovering Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Book examines connection between gender and cooking energy in Sub-Saharan Africa

3/12/19

The link between gender and innovative energy use for food preparation is explored in a new book, “Recovering Bioenergy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gender Dimensions, Lessons and Challenges,” co-edited by Ruth Mendum, assistant research professor for gender initiatives in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, and Mary Njenga, research scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre.

Smoking cigarette in the hands

Eliminating smoking and obesity could affect racial health disparities

3/11/19

Michelle Frisco, associate professor of sociology and demography and Social Science Research Institute co-funded faculty member at Penn State, is quantifying behaviors such as smoking and obesity to show how they affect health disparities between people from different races and ethnicities.

Silhouette of a boy in a tunnel

Depression screening rates remain low among adolescents

2/27/19

A research team lead by Deepa Sekhar, associate professor of pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine, investigated major depressive disorder screening rates among privately insured teens and found screening rates are insufficient to address the youth mental health crisis.

Custom-made protein illustration

Custom-made proteins may help create antibodies to fight HIV

2/27/19

A new way to create proteins that can sneak through HIV’s protective coating may be a step toward understanding the key components needed for developing a vaccine for the virus, according to a team of researchers led by Penn State.

person with image of DNA superimposed

Whose genes are they, anyway?

2/26/19

Personal genomics — decoding your own DNA — offers great promise in tracing your ancestry, learning about your susceptibility to certain diseases, and helping doctors custom-design treatments for you. But it also raises warning flags about privacy and who might profit from your information. If you’re thinking of getting your DNA sequenced, you might want to read this first.

Nurse holding a patient's hand

Developing cultural competence in nursing-patient relationships

2/18/19

Through her research on the relationship between nurses and their patients, Penn State Altoona Assistant Teaching Professor of Nursing Linda Govere hopes to help create mutually positive, respectful, meaningful and effective relations and interactions among people with different ethnic, racial, religious, geographic and social backgrounds.

dicey-looking refrigerator selection

More scrutiny needed for less-deadly foodborne bacteria

2/13/19

Employing advanced genetic-tracing techniques and sharing the data produced in real time could limit the spread of bacteria — Bacillus cereus — which cause foodborne illness, according to researchers who implemented whole-genome sequencing of a pathogen-outbreak investigation.

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