🐝 Join us for the first Biology Seminar of the semester! 🎤 Shannon Cruz, Associate Professor at Penn State 🌼 *Increasing support for difficult causes: Lessons learned from pollinator conservation* 📅 Tuesday, Nov. 3 🕛 12–1 PM 📍 8 Müller Lab We hope to see you there! #PennStateBiology
🎨 Help brighten up Müller Building! Join the C&D Committee for a mural painting event inspired by last year's contests! 📅 November 6 ⏰ 10 AM–1 PM 📍 Müller Building, 1st Floor 🖌️ No experience needed! All are welcome. Paint brushes, food & drinks provided! #PennStateBiology
🐸 A decades-old mystery, solved! New research led by Penn State Biology Ph.D. candidate Jack Boyette of the Becker Lab links mysterious frog declines in Brazil to a deadly fungal pathogen. Published in Molecular Ecology and featured by Penn State and the Smithsonian! 🔗 www.psu.edu/news/researc...
Ecological cold case: Solving decades-old mystery of disappearing frogs | Penn State University
New research used museum specimens collected in the 1970s and 80s to show that the decline in amphibian populations at Boracéia Biological Station in Brazil's Atlantic Forest were due to the deadly am...
psu.edu
We had the pleasure of hosting Provost Fotis Sotiropoulos in the Biology Department last week!
📢 Join us tomorrow for our Biology Seminar! ❄️ Prof. Arkadiusz Sołtysiak (University of Warsaw) will discuss a novel method for identifying short-term climate change using human tooth enamel. 📅 Tuesday, October 20 🕛 12 PM 📍 Room 8 Müller Lab
🦠🌎 Interested in microbial ecology, bioinformatics, and spatial analysis? Explore Microbial Macroecology: Methods & Applications (BIOL 597), a graduate course combining microbiome datasets, GIS, and ecological theory to investigate large-scale microbial patterns.
Congrats Dr. Calderón! Freshly minted PhD from @psubiodept.bsky.social—Co-advised with Zachary Szpiech! 🧪🦉
No BioGSA student seminar tomorrow, but coffee and cookies are still on! ☕🍪 Join us Tuesday, October 13, from 11 AM–12 PM in 317 Müller Lab to grab a treat and catch up with the Biology community!
💻 🍃 Bottom-up multiscale #modelling of guard cell walls reveals molecular mechanisms of stomatal biomechanics by Hojae Yi and @candersonlab.bsky.social @psubiodept.bsky.social buff.ly/b5TseC6 #PlantScience
Bottom-up multiscale modelling of guard cell walls reveals molecular mechanisms of stomatal biomechanics
Abstract. Stomata are dynamic pores on plant surfaces that regulate photosynthesis and are thus of critical importance for understanding and leveraging the
buff.ly
Exciting to see Penn State Biology research featured in Popular Science! 🐸🦠 The story highlights new work from the Becker Lab on how skin bacteria can help protect frogs from fungal disease. Read the feature: www.popsci.com/environment/... #PennStateBiology #Amphibians #Microbiome
Frogs wear bacterial suits of armor to fight off deadly fungus
Chytridiomycosis has driven at least 90 frog species into extinction.
popsci.com
Join us tomorrow for our Biology Seminar Come a little early to chat and enjoy coffee and cookies 🎙️ Speaker: Jesse Lasky, Professor, Penn State 🌿 Title: Environmental adaptation in plant populations 🕛 Time: 12:00–1:00 PM 📍 Location: 8 Müller Lab We hope to see you there!
Join us tomorrow for our first Biology Seminar of the semester! 🎉 Come a little early to chat with colleagues and enjoy some coffee and cookies before the seminar. ☕🍪 We hope to see you there!
Our seminars will start next Tuesday! More details on Monday. We are excited to see you all again
Penn State Department of Biology@psubiodept.bsky.social · 2mo ago📅 Save the date, Biology community! Our Biology Seminars are back this semester: 🗓️ Tuesdays ⏰ 12:00 PM 📍 Mueller Room 8 We’ll share reminders and seminar details here and by email each week. Here’s our schedule so far — mark your calendars! 👇
Dear Bio Community! 🧬🌿 Have you been enjoying our new summer fieldwork highlights? We’d love to share your stories too! If you’ve been doing fieldwork, lab work, or other exciting research that we could highlight on the Department of Biology’s social media, please comment here or reach out to us.
🧵 Fieldwork Highlight: From 4 AM starts to 50-lb backpacks, this team headed deep into California’s Sierra Nevada to uncover the hidden history of an amphibian pathogen. 🏔️🐸 Their destination? Backcountry lakes in Yosemite National Park and Sierra National Forest. 1/6
You’re Invited! Welcome Social: Meet, Mingle, & Connect! �� Join BMMB, HGSAC, and Biology for a Meet & Mingle event as we welcome our new and incoming graduate students to the community!
📅 Save the date, Biology community! Our Biology Seminars are back this semester: 🗓️ Tuesdays ⏰ 12:00 PM 📍 Mueller Room 8 We’ll share reminders and seminar details here and by email each week. Here’s our schedule so far — mark your calendars! 👇
Can skin bacteria save a frog's life? 🐸 New research from PhD fellow Laura Schuck & the Becker Lab @PennState moves science closer to proving that the skin microbiome is a frontline defense against deadly infection. Out now in @AnimalMicrobiome 👇
This summer, Biology graduate researchers John Majoris and Macy Littell visited a clownfish laboratory at Boston University! 🐠
Biologist and lab coordinator, Jennifer Rittenhouse-Pruss, was given a ‘We Are’! Her nominator wrote:
Pollinator science is blooming across Pennsylvania 🐝🦋🌼 On National Pollinator Week, PSU Extension Master Gardeners are supporting pollinator research, education, and conservation across the state, from monitoring bee diversity to helping researchers understand which flowers best support polinators
New in @PLOSNTDs from the McGraw Lab! 🦟 Researchers found that both mosquito genetic background and Wolbachia strain influence dengue virus blocking and fitness in South American Aedes aegypti populations—important insights for improving dengue control strategies. journals.plos.org/plosntds/art...
Interactions between mosquito genetic background and Wolbachia strain affect dengue virus blocking and fitness in South American populations of Aedes aegypti
Author summary Dengue virus is transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, causing large outbreaks in many parts of the world. One promising way to reduce dengue virus transmission is to release mosqui...
journals.plos.org
🌱 We’re hiring in Plant Biology at Penn State! The Department of Biology at Penn State University Park is searching for a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor in any area of plant biology.
Biology Seminar on Tuesday, April 28th This is the final seminar in this semester's series; we hope to see you there! Seminar Details Speaker: Jeremy Lichstein, Professor, University of Florida Title: Forest Dynamics in a Changing World Time: 12:00–1:00 PM Location: 8 Müller Lab
🧬 Biology Student Seminar this week! Join us for two exciting talks: 🧠 Troy LaPolice & Nittany AI Group Transforming university scheduling with MatchMyLab 🧬 Natalia Grube Taenia evolution & what it reveals about carnivory in hominins 🗓️ 12:00–1:00 PM 📍 8 Müller Lab #PSUBiology #StudentSeminar
🎉 Big congratulations to our 2025–26 Biology Graduate Student Award winners! Recognized for outstanding academic achievement and promise across our department 👏 Special shoutout to all recipients of the Popp, Mohnkern, Troxell, and Hill awards—you make #PSUBiology proud! 🧬🌿
🚨 Biology Seminar this Tuesday! Join us for a powerful talk by Christopher Medina-Kirchner (Harvard Medical School): “Agony and Ecstasy: A Scientist’s Path from Incarceration to MDMA Research” 🗓️ April 14 ⏰ 12–1 PM 📍 8 Müller Lab
🧠 Are we really as “special” as we think? In a recent Ezra Klein interview, Michael Pollan explores a provocative idea: 👉 Human consciousness may not be as unique — or as protected — as we assume.
