Read the press release New York Expands Global Health Leadership by Joining WHO’s International Response Network.

A press release from Governor Hochul announces that construction is underway for the new Wadsworth Center laboratory.

On March 1, 2026, at the APHL 14th National Conference on Laboratory Aspects of Tuberculosis, Joseph Shea was honored with the prestigious Ed Desmond Tuberculosis Laboratorian Award.  Presented by the National Tuberculosis Coalition of America, this award recognizes exemplary service, dedication, and leadership among tuberculosis laboratory professionals.

In recent years, several dermatophytes within the Trichophyton interdigitale /Trichophyton mentagrophytes Species Complex have become a significant public health concern due to increasing drug resistance and rapid transmission in human populations, leading to serious and difficult-to-treat skin infections. This complex includes 28 genotypes. Notably, T. indotineae (formerly T. mentagrophytes genotype VIII) was recently recognized as a distinct species, with resistance to the first-line drug terbinafine observed in over 50% of isolates. T.

Scientists at the Wadsworth Center have developed a novel molecular assay to evaluate the risks posed by the emerging toxic cyanobacterium Aetokthonos hydrillicola. A. hydrillicola is associated with invasive aquatic plants and is capable of producing two potent toxins: aetokthonotoxin, a brominated neurotoxin, and aetokthonostatin, a cytotoxic dolastatin analog. Aetokthonotoxin has been identified as the cause of Vacuolar Myelinopathy, a fatal neurological condition linked to deaths in wildlife including eagles, waterfowl, fish, and bobcats.

Caleb Mallery, a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Paczkowski Lab within the Division of Genetics at the Wadsworth Center and a student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University at Albany, has been awarded a prestigious F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. His research focuses on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a significant cause of hospital-acquired infections, particularly among individuals with cystic fibrosis and those with weakened immune systems.

Ms. Deanna Luneau, a fifth-year Environmental Health Sciences PhD candidate conducting her doctoral research at the Wadsworth Center, was recently featured in a student spotlight on the University at Albany College of Integrated Health Sciences website. Working under the  mentorship of Dr. Patrick Parsons in the Trace Elements Laboratory at Wadsworth’s Biggs Laboratory, Ms.

Staff from the Newborn Screening Program at the Wadsworth Center participated in the annual meeting of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, held March 10–14 in Baltimore, Maryland, where they presented research highlighting New York State’s leadership in newborn screening. Dr. Denise Kay presented “Targeting CFTR Deletions and Duplications in Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening: Implications for Sensitivity and Equity,” addressing strategies to improve detection and ensure equitable screening outcomes. Dr.

In significant recognition of its technical excellence, the Wadsworth Center has been designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Advanced Laboratory Response Network–Biological (LRN-B) Laboratory. One of only 14 laboratories nationwide with this designation, the Wadsworth Center sits at the apex of a tiered national system designed to detect and respond to biological threats. The LRN-B is a national system of laboratories organized in a tiered structure of sentinel clinical laboratories, reference laboratories, and national laboratories.

Patrick Parsons, Director of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the Wadsworth Center, participated in a series of on-camera interviews with Spectroscopy, a technical publication that covers advances in spectroscopic techniques used in analytical chemistry laboratories. Dr.

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Bureau of HIV/Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Field Services conducts HIV rapid testing and is registered as a Limited Service Laboratory through the Clinical Laboratory Evaluation Program at the Wadsworth Center. Dr. Linda Styer, Director of the Wadsworth Center’s Bloodborne Viruses Laboratory, is the Laboratory Director for this NYSDOH Limited Service Laboratory. In this role, Dr.

As a part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Lead Poisoning Prevention Initiative, the CDC Foundation is building and strengthening laboratory capacity for blood lead level testing, which is critical for early detection and monitoring of lead exposure. Because symptoms of lead poisoning are typically subclinical, most affected individuals are unaware of their exposure. Blood lead level testing is the most reliable way to confirm exposure.

The National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases (NITRD) invited the Wadsworth Center Chief of Bacterial Diseases, Dr. Kimberlee Musser, to participate as a distinguished faculty member at the NITRD International Conference on Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases (NICON 2026) held February 12-15, 2026 in New Delhi, India.  Dr.

Bacteria are often thought of as simple, solitary organisms, but many species can coordinate their behavior as a group, a process called quorum sensing. When enough bacteria accumulate in one place, they release and detect small chemical signals that trigger collective behaviors, including the production of toxins and other factors that make infections difficult to treat. 

From February 24-26, multiple Wadsworth Center laboratories hosted an Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Fellow from the Colorado State Public Health Lab. The main purpose of the visit was for the fellow to gain experience with the New York State Environmental Laboratory Approval Program’s (ELAP) accredited method for enumerating Legionella in environmental samples using the internationally recognized ISO 11731:2017 standard. 

Scientists at the Wadsworth Center have developed a new online resource to help researchers better understand Mycobacterium abscessus (MABS), an opportunistic bacterial pathogen that can cause difficult-to-treat infections.  Drs. Anil Ojha and Pallavi Ghosh of the Division of Genetics, together with Dr. Pascal Lapierre of the Bioinformatics Core, created the MABS Pangenome Explorer, an interactive, web-based tool designed for rapid exploration of the M. abscessus pangenome (https://abscessus.wadsworth.org/)

On February 28, 2026, communities around the world observed Rare Disease Day, an annual event held on the last day of February to raise awareness and promote advocacy for individuals living with rare diseases. Globally, an estimated 300 million people live with one of more than 10,000 identified rare diseases. In the United States, a disease is considered rare if it affects fewer than 200,000 people. While each condition is uncommon individually, rare diseases collectively affect 1 in 10 Americans, including approximately 1.8 million New Yorkers.

On February 18, 2026, Spectrum News NY1 joined James V. McDonald, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, for a tour of the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences. The visit was part of a feature commemorating the Department’s 125th anniversary. 

On February 10, 2026, the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences (DEHS) hosted the 2026 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 State/Territory Laboratory Group Meeting at the Biggs Laboratory facility at Empire State Plaza. The annual meeting convenes environmental laboratory leaders and partners from federal, state, and territorial agencies across EPA Region 2, which spans New York to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Dr. Thomas Bartlett, a new Principal Investigator in the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Genetics, was invited to present his research at the annual Dartmouth College Microbiology & Molecular Pathogenesis Program (M2P2) Retreat, held February 12–13, 2026, in Fairlee, Vermont. The M2P2 retreat convenes scientists from across New England, New York, and eastern Canada to share cutting-edge research in microbiology and infectious disease. In his seminar, “LOST IN TIME AND SPACE: How does Staph aureus decide when and where to divide?” Dr.

Dr. Spencer Bruce, Director of the Bioinformatics Core at Wadsworth, recently presented during the February State Public Health Bioinformatics (StaPH-B) Monthly Call. StaPH-B is a bioinformatics consortium created by subject matter experts affiliated with the Association of Public Health Laboratories. The consortium represents bioinformaticians from across the United States and internationally who are focused on addressing common barriers to bioinformatics implementation in state and public health laboratories.