Seedling News Square

Nine Seed Grants - Quintessentially Wadsworth Center

From environmental projects characterizing and quantitating contaminants in our water, food and even inside us, to infectious disease projects addressing antimicrobial resistance, “one of the world’s most urgent public health problems”, and studying factors that contribute to emerging infections, these seed grant-supported projects span a wide range of fields.
Earth

New York State Department of Health and the State University of New York Global Health Institute Announce Public Health Partnership

Wadsworth Center and SUNY Global Health Institute collaborate to create the New York State Global Health Interface Platform. The partnership is to provide training for future public health and biomedical research professionals and strengthen international grant opportunities. Read the New York State Department of Health Press Release
Plaque reduction neutralization test

New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Surveillance and Testing Capabilities Lead to Identification of Rare Virus

The study is published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The Department issues a joint Health Advisory to health care providers related to increased Oropouche virus activity and associated risk to travelers.
CLEP Releases LDT Review Data

The Department of Environmental Conservation and the Wadsworth Center Work Together to Measure Cyanotoxin Levels in New York’s Lakes and Build the Infrastructure Necessary to Benefit Water Managers and New Yorkers

Across the globe, harmful algal blooms caused by cyanobacteria, also known as CyanoHABs, are increasing in frequency, intensity and duration, impacting drinking and recreational waters. In New York State (NYS), they have been reported in >200 lakes, and are responsible for increasing beach closures over the past decade, prompting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to expand lake monitoring programs to include CyanoHAB monitoring.
Newborn Screening - hand holding infant heel

Wadsworth Center’s Role in the Nation’s Largest Newborn Screening Pilot Study of its Kind - ScreenPlus

All newborns in New York State are screened for 52 disorders including all 37 on the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP).  Because of the immense impact newborn screening has on public health, a committee of professionals continually evaluates conditions for addition to the RUSP. Pilot studies such as ScreenPlus can help determine if a new test for a disorder provides results that are beneficial to the health of the newborn and, therefore, the disorder should be added to the panel.
AlphaFold image of predicted cell-surface kin-identifier protein

A $2.5 Million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Grant Helps Elucidate Mycobacterial Cell-Cell Communication and the Evolution of Mycobacterial Pathogens

Before COVID most of us probably never thought about how the organisms that cause disease inherit their genetic material and how that impacts their ability to be “successful” pathogens.  Drs. Todd Gray and Keith Derbyshire at the Wadsworth Center have been thinking about this for a long time. 
Chip used in sequencing at Wadsworth Center's Advanced Genomic Technologies Core

Publication Exemplifies the Cross-cutting Work of Wadsworth Center’s Public Health Laboratories and Cores

Some of the work of the cores, such as media preparation, is based on techniques that go back over a hundred years, even to the beginnings of what became the Wadsworth Center. Other Wadsworth Center cores perform high-quality antigen production, sophisticated image analysis and manipulation, and sequencing and bioinformatic analysis that may be completed in hours to days rather than weeks or months, often providing comprehensive assessment of a full bacterial genome.
HHEAR Award

Wadsworth Center’s Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR) Laboratory Hub Awarded $2.4 Million in NIH Funding for 2023

Established by NIH in 2019, the goal of HHEAR is to promote the characterization of the totality of human environmental exposures called the "exposome". The exposome includes chemical, physical, and biological stressors as well as lifestyle and social environments that affect a person.
New York Public Health Now Podcast

Wadsworth Center Scientists Dr. Paul Masters and Dr. Kirsten St. George Featured on the New York Public Health Now Podcast

Wadsworth Center scientists Dr. Paul Masters and Dr. Kirsten St. George recently joined Commissioner McDonald and Acting Executive Deputy Commissioner Morne on the New York Public Health Now podcast. The podcast discusses timely topics with front line public health specialists.
Michael Perry and Elizabeth Nazarian

Two of Wadsworth Center’s Own Receive National Awards

At this year’s annual meeting of the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), two Wadsworth Center scientists were honored.   Elizabeth Nazarian, MT (ASCP) received the Silver Award for her contributions including her work to establish the Northeast Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory at Wadsworth Center, her role in developing over 50 laboratory developed tests and authoring 40 papers.
Illustration of a deer tick

Emerging Outbreaks and Lyme Disease - Wadsworth Center Researcher Yi-Pin Lin and Colleagues’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Article Provides Insight

Lyme disease presents an ever-increasing burden to the public and the public health system, with an estimated 476,000 cases per year nationwide (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In addition, many patients continue to suffer pain, fatigue, and brain fog long after being treated for their initial infection.
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