šŸ”¬ Bridging Science & Surgery

Explore Dr. Dino Ravnicā€™s regenerative medicine work, meet our new Leadership Fellows, and submit your clever name for our newsletter rebrand.

July 01, 2025

July 2025

This month, we are highlighting our Huck Leadership Fellows, including celebrating the interdisciplinary and translational research of Dr. Dino Ravnic. The new Huck Strategic Research Themes are featured on our website, in our seed grant program, and throughout this monthā€™s stories. In mid-July, you will receive our new, secondary newsletter, the ā€œFunding Flash.ā€

Additionally, we are hosting a competition to rename the current news-focused edition. If you can think of something better than ā€œKeep Up with Huck,ā€ reply to this email with your slick new name. The winning name will make its debut in our September edition and score its author a sweet prize.

As a reconstructive microsurgeon by training and translational researcher by mission, Ravnic is no stranger to building bridges: between disciplines, campuses, and even tissue layers. He has spent the last decade helping shape a cross-campus ecosystem for regenerative medicine that reaches from Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center to Penn State Harrisburg and to the heart of the University Park research community.

ā€œI think the research weā€™ve built over the last seven or eight years is pretty astounding. It has enormous potential for clinical translation.ā€

Dr. Dino Ravnic, professor of surgery and Huck Chair in Regenerative Medicine and Surgical Sciences

Ravnic joined the Penn State College of Medicine in 2013 as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon with a deep interest in improving patient outcomes. He said his clinical work in reconstructive surgery quickly revealed opportunities to integrate engineered materials into surgical practice. He began collaborating with University Park faculty almost immediately, as he sought to connect clinical practice with scientific innovation.

Find out how these early partnerships laid the groundwork for interdisciplinary projects in tissue repair.

Three faculty members, representing three different Penn State colleges, have been named Huck Leadership Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year:

  • Jill Hamilton, associate professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, director of the Schatz Center in Tree Molecular Genetics and Ibberson Chair of Silviculture Research

  • Wenrui Hao, professor of mathematics

  • Gustavo Nader, professor of kinesiology and Huck Chair in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology

They have been selected to participate in the yearlong professional development program, which involves faculty members in high-level decision-making at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and encourages them to develop projects that contribute to the broader institutional mission.

Climate can vary across large areas of land, but it also can vary within much smaller areas such as farms. A new study by researchers at Penn State examined whether these microclimates ā€” the climate of a very small or restricted area ā€” affect pollination by both wild and managed bees and resulting wild blueberry yields.

Researchers discovered that both wild bees and honey bees found the most densely blooming areas of the fields and concentrated their foraging in these areas. Wild bees also tended to forage on plots that were warmer than average.

The study ā€” available online now and scheduled to publish in the October issue of the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment ā€” took place on a 170 acre wild blueberry field in Maine.

Huckā€™s One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) is sending two doctoral students to Hilden, Germany, for a seven-week industry internship at the headquarters of QIAGEN, a global leader in biotechnology for life sciences diagnostics, equipment, and research.

This internship program was launched in early 2024 through a formal partnership agreement between QIAGEN and OHMC. This multi-layered partnership spans research, education and collaborative outreach projects.

Teh-hui Kao, distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, has stepped down as chair of the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program (IGDP) in Plant Biology after 26 years in the role.

During Kaoā€™s tenure, the program experienced profound changes. A major milestone came in 2006 with the formation of the current plant biology program through the merger of two separate graduate tracks: an existing plant physiology program and an ecological and molecular plant physiology (EMPP) option. Kao spearheaded the integration, helping to expand the programā€™s scope and modernize its curriculum in alignment with the rapidly evolving field of plant biology while never losing sight of the need to prioritize the students under his guidance.

Who will take his place?

Longtime program faculty member Charlie Anderson, professor of biology and co-director of the Center for Biorenewables, will take over as chair.

ā€œI am delighted that Charlie Anderson has accepted the role and will lead the Plant Biology program. Charlieā€™s research program is truly interdisciplinary, spanning detailed studies of the molecular architecture of cell walls to developing innovative strategies for biomaterial and bioenergy production.ā€

Christina Grozinger, director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

Andersonā€™s research is centered around the dynamics of plant cell walls with the objective of better informing efforts to use plants as sustainable resources for food, materials and energy. His research team explores how plants capture carbon dioxide for use in photosynthesis, measures changes in wall architecture during growth, observes how interactions between cell wall components influence wall structure and remodeling, and seeks to identify and characterize new genes that influence cell wall dynamics.

Upcoming Events

The Big10 neuroscience community aims to showcase the diverse, cutting edge neuroscience research being conducted by researchers at Big10 institutes and to facilitate an ongoing, supportive, diverse, and intimate environment to promote neuroscience research for researchers within this community and at all career stages.

  • When: July 21-22

  • Where: The Nittany Lion Inn

  • Cost: Student $50; Faculty $150; Industry $400

For real-time event information and to submit your own, check out our Google Calendar.

Media

šŸ“ø Photo of the Month

The Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology (CRRB) hosted a photo contest, and we have chosen to showcase one of our favorites for this monthā€™s newsletter.

  • Photo credit: Cody DePew (Laser Ablation Tomography facility manager, Plant Science Department)

  • Center: Center for Root and Rhizosphere Biology

  • Description: A sample of an orchid (Cypripedium sp) aerial root that was provided by the New York Botanical Garden.

  • Capture method: This is a transverse section of an air root taken on the Laser Ablation Tomography machine at Penn State. The colors represent tissue autofluorescence.

We have also created a Flickr album to showcase the rest of the submissions, with plans to continue to add stunning and inspiring images as we receive them.

If you would like to submit a photo to be featured, reply to this email or send to [email protected].

Huck in the News

Huck research attracts media attention from around the world. Here are a few highlights from the past month:

  • Edible and biodegradable packaging from milk protein and plant cellulose. [AZO Materials]

  • ā€˜Forever chemicalsā€™ detected in 65% of sampled private wells. [tribLIVE]

  • Brood XIV cicadas emerge in parts of Pennsylvania after 17 years. [MSN]

  • GPS collars on deer track their movement. [Erie Times-News]