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Two New York birth hospitals have been selected to partner with the Wadsworth Center as recruitment sites for BEACONSNBS (Building Evidence and Collaboration for GenOmics in Nationwide Newborn Screening), a national research study evaluating the use of genome sequencing in newborn screening.

Janice Pata, Director of the Division of Scientific Cores at the Wadsworth Center, advanced the longstanding educational partnership between the New York State Department of Health and the University at Albany during the 2025–2026 academic year by facilitating the nationally recognized Entering Mentoring program for the first time at the university.

Joseph Orsini from the Wadsworth Center Newborn Screening Program attended the 2026 Newborn Screening by Tandem Mass Spectrometry Workshop held in Atlanta, Georgia, from April 30-May 1, 2026. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and brought together laboratory professionals from state newborn screening programs across the country for advanced training in tandem mass spectrometry applications in newborn screening. Dr.

The Wadsworth Center Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory (NCL) hosted laboratory professionals from Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Vermont from April 27-29, 2026, through the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) peer-to-peer exchange program. The APHL exchange program is designed to strengthen the nation’s radiochemistry laboratory network by providing state and local laboratory professionals with opportunities to engage in hands-on technical training and knowledge exchange with peers from leading public health laboratories across the country.

Dr. Denise Kay, Director of the Newborn Screening Program at the Wadsworth Center, attended a meeting of the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Newborn Screening Molecular Subcommittee at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention in Atlanta. As Co-Chair of the subcommittee, Dr. Kay co-led the meeting.

Rapid advances in laboratory instrumentation, automation, and computational technologies have created unprecedented opportunities to strengthen the prevention, detection, and response to public health threats. The Wadsworth Center’s Community, Advancement, Recruitment, and Engagement (CARE) program has focused on promoting the adoption of automated workflows by ensuring that staff have access to high-quality training resources and in-house expertise. 

In a study recently published in Biochemistry, Dr. Nilesh Banavali, and colleagues in the Wadsworth Center's Division of Genetics, describe how medically important antibacterials bind to ribosomes of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. The team predicted detailed atomic structures and binding affinities for multiple antibacterials interacting with the pathogen’s ribosomal small subunit. Why this is a breakthrough:

In early April, the Wadsworth Center received a request from the Maine Public Health Laboratory for assistance with infectious disease testing following a fire on the roof of their facility resulting in a loss of ventilation and suspension of laboratory operations.

Dr. Thomas Bartlett, a new Principal Investigator in the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Genetics, has been awarded a New York Community Trust award for his grant proposal entitled “Finding New Gaps in the Cell Wall of Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.”

“Initiation of Translation by the Ribosome”Ribosomes are cellular machines that conduct protein synthesis (or gene translation) in both bacteria and higher organisms such as humans. The mechanism of initiation of translation is among the most fundamental and highly regulated cellular processes.  Dr. Ramakrishnan's presentation focused primarily on how translation works in eukaryotic cells. Dr.

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.

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.

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.

Click here to read more from the Albany Times Union about the Wadsworth Center stepping in as CDC pauses testing for certain diseases.

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.

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.

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.

DOH staff from the Wadsworth Center (WC) and the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) attended an in-person grantee meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Environmental Health Laboratories facility in Chamblee, GA on March 17-19, 2026. The meeting was organized for state recipients of CDC funding to report on human biomonitoring conducted within their respective jurisdictions.