Penn State's Lure Proves Infectious for Top Disease Researchers

for innovative and interdisciplinary infectious-disease research seems to be spreading faster than a flu epidemic. In the last year, internationally renowned scientists have signed on to continue their careers at, or become associated with, Penn State and the College of Agricultural Sciences.

The most prestigious of these affiliations came to light last September, when it was announced that Barry Marshall, co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,had accepted an appointment at Penn State as the Francis R. and Helen M. Pentz Professor of Science to further his groundbreaking research in bacterial infections. This part-time position is associated with the multidisciplinary Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, as well as academic units in three colleges, including the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

A senior research fellow at the University of Western Australia’s School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, Marshall will typically spend part of the spring semester each year at Penn State giving lectures and overseeing his Penn State–based research.