Fellowship Showcase: Highlights from the 2021-2022 Wadsworth Center Fellows

Wadsworth Center is committed to the continuing education of the next generation of public health laboratorians. In partnership with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Wadsworth Center has offered full-time, working fellowships to graduate and post-graduate scientists for more than 25 years.

Wadsworth Center Collaborates as part of CRyPTIC: Comprehensive Resistance Prediction for Tuberculosis: an International Consortium

Tuberculosis­­­ - The Tortoise Would you be surprised to know that tuberculosis (TB) was the leading infectious disease killer in the world in 2019? Estimates of deaths attributed to TB were second only to COVID-19 in 2020 (roughly 1.5 million versus 1.8 million reported deaths, respectively). In the ongoing race to be the microbe responsible for the largest number of deaths across the planet, “hares” like HIV and SARS-CoV-2 explode onto the scene and appear to leave everyone else in the dust.

Lab Week Celebrates the Hard Work and Dedication of Public Health Laboratory Staff

Wadsworth Center joins with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to celebrate Lab Week April 24-30, 2022. Follow the links to learn about the many ways public health laboratorians help to keep us safe every day - from environmental testing to infectious disease testing to newborn screening.

Wadsworth Center’s Dr. Klemen Strle Featured on the Cover of Nature Reviews Rheumatology

A culmination of work in Lyme arthritis in patients and in animal models, the review highlights the paradigm that infectious agents may trigger immune dysregulation and autoimmunity, leading to persistent post-infectious sequelae.Lyme arthritis: linking infection, inflammation and autoimmunity.Lochhead RB, Strle K, Arvikar SL, Weis JJ, Steere AC. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2021 Aug;17(8):449-461. doi: 10.1038/s41584-021-00648-5. Epub 2021 Jul 5. PMID: 34226730 Review.Cover used courtesy Springer Nature Limited.

1st Place. 3 Minute Thesis.

Rachel Fay, Ph.D. candidate in Wadsworth Center’s Arbovirology Laboratory, under the mentorship of Dr. Alex Ciota, took first place in the University at Albany’s fourth annual Three Minute Thesis competition with her talk titled, “Increasing the resolution of vector-borne diseases and climate change”. The contest gives all graduate students across all fields at the University at Albany a chance to present their work. Listen to Rachel’s talk.

Dr. Nicholas Mantis Awarded $9 Million Contract to Aid in Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment of Lyme Disease

Dr. Nicholas Mantis, of Wadsworth Center's Division of Infectious Diseases, was awarded a five-year, $9 million contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to study human antibody responses to the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi.  

A New Game Plan - Wadsworth Center’s Dr. Jon Paczkowski Awarded $1.8 Million NIH Grant to Study Regulation of Virulence Factors

​Current antibiotics work by interfering with bacterial growth, which is a fine game plan… until it stops working. More and more, bacteria are finding ways around this approach, resulting in a huge antibiotic resistance problem. Dr. Jon Paczkowski may just have come up with a new defensive strategy and recently received a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate.

Radical Solutions: Diagnosing and Even Predicting COVID-caused MIS-C

As we’ve seen repeatedly during the pandemic, it isn’t always easy to get our hands on everything we need, hmmm, cue the toilet paper, especially new things. This reality translates to addressing patients who have COVID today. By using tools we already have in labs across the country, we can capitalize on the technology, instruments and the know how to use them by using them in new ways.

Wadsworth Center Scientists Featured in Association of Public Health Laboratories' Lab Matters

Dr. St. George is quoted in the feature article beginning on page 5 and our own Infectious Disease Fellow Nora Cleary is featured on pg 19. Nora has been selected for the Edith Hsiung Memorial prize for her abstract/presentation on Hep A whole genome sequencing.  This is one of the two top travel awards from the American Society for Microbiology for a student, fellow, or technologist, presenting their work at the annual, international Clinical Virology Symposium, to be held this year in West Palm Beach.

Under Construction…Permanently. 25 Years of Wadsworth Center’s Clinical Laboratory Information Management System (CLIMS)

Having spent a lot of time in our homes recently, most of us are probably contemplating a dream renovation. If that project requires several professionals - plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc., we might have second thoughts.

Wadsworth Center’s Laboratory of Organic Analytical Chemistry Continues to Test Vaping Fluids Suspected of Causing Illness From New York State

In 2019, cases of a mysterious illness related to vaping, formally referred to as “e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury” (EVALI), were identified across the United States.  A significant number of cases affected young New Yorkers.  In association with NY Regional Poison Control Centers and medical facilities from around the state, Wadsworth Center’s Laboratory of Organic Analytical Chemistry analyzed vape fluid samples from suspected cases for cannabinoids, pesticides, synthetic cannabinoids, opioids, illicit drugs, an

Wadsworth Center Leads the Way in Number of NYS COVID Variants Sequenced

SARS-CoV-2, like all viruses, is constantly creating new variants through mutation of its RNA genome. Most mutations are of little or no consequence. However, every once in a while, a new mutation can increase transmissibility, increase disease severity, cause the virus to escape the body’s immune response, or do any combination of these.

Deciphering the sleep/wake cycle of ribosomes in mycobacteria

Infections with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb),  the etiological agent of tuberculosis (TB) in humans, are difficult to eradicate with antibiotics: a 6-month long multidrug regimen is necessary for the treatment of TB.  The drug recalcitrance of TB infections has been associated with a specialized subpopulation of Mtb cells, that do not replicate or are very slow growing and whose metabolism is significantly decreased.

Seven Fellows, One Goal

Wadsworth Center has long been committed to providing the next generation of public health professionals with the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities. More than 300 students have made Wadsworth Center their summer home over the course of nearly 30 years through the National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program.