Dr. Michele Caggana has been honored by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) for her leadership in improving laboratory screening of newborns for genetic disorders. Dr. Caggana, director of the Newborn Screening Program at the New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center, received the Harry Hannon Laboratory Improvement Award in Newborn Screening at the APHL’s recent Newborn Screening and Genetic Testing Symposium in St. Louis.

Lyme disease, transmitted by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in U.S. Vector-borne diseases are carried by mosquitoes, ticks or fleas. The bacterium is introduced during a tick bite and then survives in the bloodstream and can spread to the heart, joints, or brain. Infections can result in arthritis, neurological abnormalities or carditis. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 30,000 people are infected annually.

STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES COMPASSIONATE USE STUDIES OF CANNABIDIOL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS WITH TREATMENT-RESISTANT EPILEPSY Studies to be regulated under FDA’s Expanded Access Program 100 Children and Young Adults in New York Will be Enrolled at Five Sites Statewide

The Wadsworth Center’s Bacteriology Laboratory played a pivotal role in the recent Legionella outbreak in New York City. The classical approach to Legionella testing is culture, but, as Legionella are slow growing and fastidious organisms and the water samples are usually heavily contaminated with other bacteria, obtaining results can take a long time, delaying the required public health response. In order to support more rapid decision making, Dr.

Commissioner of Health, Dr. Howard Zucker reflected that Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology frees those who, like Stephen Hawking, are locked-in by allowing the silent to speak and the immobile to move. It aids those with injury, illness and stroke by taking advantage of lifelong brain plasticity that not long ago we didn’t realize existed. With the use of hardware and software, thoughts can control a keyboard enabling the user to text, email or move a wheelchair.

The New York State Newborn Screening Program screens all infants born in the state for 47 different diseases. In addition, the program is currently performing a pilot study with Dr. Melissa Wasserstein (pictured left), from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, to screen for four additional diseases that are lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs). Four New York City hospitals are participating and approximately 500 infants are being tested weekly in the pilot study.  The newest disorder to be tested is called Hurler syndrome.

On Monday June 15th the Lieutenant Governor, the Honorable Kathy Hochul, visited the David Axelrod Institute. She had specifically asked to learn more about our preparedness and biodefense activities, so the first stop was a tour of the Biodefense Laboratory. Dr. Christina Egan described the laboratory’s capabilities to detect agents-of-concern in white powders, as well as other environmental samples, and the major push in the development and evaluation of new technologies since the anthrax attacks of 2001.

When new risks to public health increase, the Wadsworth Center finds new scientists to address them.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 2 million people are infected and 23,000 people die annually from drug resistant bacteria in the United States alone. Drug resistant tuberculosis in particular is described by CDC as a Serious Threat. For these reasons, bacterial drug resistance is a primary research focus for the Wadsworth Center.