A DNA-sequencing algorithm co-developed by Stephan Schuster, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State, and Ji Qi and Fangqing Zhao, who were Penn State postdoctoral fellows on the research team, has received top honors in a competition for new software developments in next-generation DNA sequencing. The biotechnology company Illumina awarded Schuster and his co-authors the first-place academic-category price, which included a monetary award, for their inGAP (Integrated Next-generation Genome Analysis Pipeline) software. Illumina's iDEA (Data Excellence Award) Challenge is "a program designed to challenge the scientific community to develop new and creative visualization and data-analysis techniques." (more)
On May 13, 2011, Roger Geiger, distinguished professor of higher education at Penn State, spoke about the University's history as a land-grant institution at the initiation and awards ceremony of Penn State's Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Lambda of Pennsylvania. Following is a transcript of his talk. (more)
Research Unplugged, Penn State's town-and-gown discussion series, is back for the spring semester starting Wednesday, March 17, at the Penn State Downtown Theatre on Allen Street in State College. The first event of the season features Penn State musicologist Lisa Jenkins, accompanied by members of local Celtic band Callanish. (more)
A rare, ancient polar bear fossil discovered in Norway in 2004 is yielding a treasure trove of essential information about the age and evolutionary origins of the species. A paper published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by researchers at Penn State, the University at Buffalo, the University of Oslo and other institutions is filling in key pieces of the evolutionary history of polar bears and brown bears, including their response to past climate changes. (more)
Human genomes from Southern African Bushmen and a Bantu individual, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have been sequenced by a team of scientists seeking a greater understanding of human genetic variation and its effect on human health. The team is led by Stephan Schuster at Penn State University in the United States and Vanessa Hayes at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Human genomics is a powerful and rapidly emerging medical resource. The scientists say they need to learn the full range of human genetic variation in order to learn how genes affect health, and that Southern Africa is the place to look. (more)
Stephan Schuster and Webb Miller opened new frontiers in molecular biology when they successfully sequenced the woolly mammoth genome last year. "This is really the first time that we have been able to study an extinct animal in the same detail as the ones living in our own time," explains Schuster, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. The approach they developed may help explain past extinction events--and prevent future ones. (more)
A study by Penn State scientists published this week in the early online edition of the journal Genome Research reveals that the genetic material left behind by extinct woolly mammoths is yielding new clues about the evolution of mammals. The analysis of mobile DNA elements in the mammoth genome reveals new insights into how some of these elements arose in mammals and how they shaped the genome of a species headed for extinction. (more)
Penn State professors Stephan Schuster and Webb Miller have been named among "The World's Most Influential People" by TIME Magazine. The May 11 issue of the magazine describes the "TIME 100" winners and their accomplishments. Schuster, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Miller, a professor of biology and of computer science and engineering, are leaders of a team that is the first to report the genome-wide sequence of an extinct animal, the woolly mammoth. They developed a novel approach for gene studies that reads ancient DNA highly efficiently. They also were the first to achieve the successful sequencing of genes from the extinct Tasmanian tiger. Their research has opened the door to the widespread, nondestructive use of museum specimens to learn why mammals become extinct and how extinctions might be prevented. (more)
Time Magazine soon will publish its 2009 list of the world's "Top 100 Most Influential" people, and the Penn State science team of Stephan Schuster and Webb Miller is in the running. Time has set up a Web site so that everyone can vote to select the top 100 winners out of the 200 finalists. Penn State fans can vote for the Penn State team at http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1883644,00.html online. (more)
