A hand dipping into a stream

Life at All Scales

Huck scientists are developing cutting-edge tools and strategies to study life across scales—from molecules to ecosystems—to better monitor and promote the health of people, plants, animals, and the environment.

Life at All Scales

An illustration of cells

At the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, we are using and developing innovative new strategies to view life from all angles and scales. Our researchers explore how proteins and RNA regulate gene expression, viruses cross cell membranes, metabolites move inside an organism, and plant communities are distributed across landscapes. Our scientists are leveraging technology, chemistry and artificial intelligence to develop sensors that can detect physiological and chemical changes in plants, animals, humans, or changes in pollutants, environmental conditions, or species abundance and community composition in diverse habitats.

These approaches allow us to monitor changes in organismal and environmental health with greater precision than ever before, leading to the development of novel and effective strategies to promote the health of people, plants, animals, and ecosystems.

News

Understanding us: Researchers apply algorithm to decode complex genome sequences

Two assistant professors of computer science at Penn State helped develop a specialized algorithm to analyze and verify complex genome sequences.

Q&A: Unifying the microbiome sciences for global health and sustainability

Recently, members of Penn State's One Health Microbiome Center published an article in the American Society for Microbiology’s flagship journal, mBio. In this Q&A, a few of the paper’s authors discussed how the center is leading the charge to breakdown traditional disciplinary silos and expand the One Health focus to include more than just pathogenic microbial threats.

Two Penn State doctoral students selected for industry internship in Germany

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is sending two doctoral students to Hilden, Germany, for a seven-week industry internship at the headquarters of QIAGEN, a global leader in biotechnology for life sciences diagnostics, equipment and research.

News

Understanding us: Researchers apply algorithm to decode complex genome sequences

Two assistant professors of computer science at Penn State helped develop a specialized algorithm to analyze and verify complex genome sequences.

Q&A: Unifying the microbiome sciences for global health and sustainability

Recently, members of Penn State's One Health Microbiome Center published an article in the American Society for Microbiology’s flagship journal, mBio. In this Q&A, a few of the paper’s authors discussed how the center is leading the charge to breakdown traditional disciplinary silos and expand the One Health focus to include more than just pathogenic microbial threats.

Two Penn State doctoral students selected for industry internship in Germany

The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State is sending two doctoral students to Hilden, Germany, for a seven-week industry internship at the headquarters of QIAGEN, a global leader in biotechnology for life sciences diagnostics, equipment and research.

Resetting the fight-or-flight response

New study reveals mechanism responsible for resetting key molecular cycle involved in response to stress and starvation.