The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) at Penn State in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is one of the largest and most active organizations in the field and provides centralized resources to Penn State, the nation and the world. The center fosters a community and partner network for microbiome science and education with a mission to optimize, accelerate and disseminate long-lasting knowledge, resources and impact on the microbes that live in environments spanning humans, agriculture and the environment.
As a world-class destination for microbiome scholarship, the center's story-driven year was exemplified by the top-10 viewed Penn State News articles featuring high-impact research and resources. The most popular articles showcase the center's cutting-edge research in the areas of cardiovascular disease, nutritional sciences, the gut microbiome, food and agriculture, and plant diseases. These defining stories celebrate the success of new programs and resources, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) T32 Biotechnological and Integrative Opportunities in Microbiome Sciences (BIOMS) doctoral training grant and the Microbiome Medal, and they highlight the world-renowned speakers that have visited the OHMC in the last year.
"As we reflect on a year packed with exciting discoveries and success stories, those of us in the internationally awarded OHMC look forward to continuing to advance microbiome research and global wellbeing in 2026," said Seth Bordenstein, director of the OHMC and professor of biology and entomology and Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Microbiome Sciences.
One Health Microbiome Center awarded for global impact in microbiology
Announced in late 2024, Applied Microbiology International awarded OHMC the W.H. Pierce Prize for Global Impact in Microbiology, which had only been given to individuals in its 30-year history. Marking the first time a center has received the award, this honor recognizes the contributions the center has made to shape the future of the field of applied microbiology. The award also recognized the OHMC's impact on the United Nations' Sustainability Development Goals, highlighting the importance of microbiology in achieving "peace and prosperity for people and the planet."
Connection among gut fungi, genetics and disease risk in humans identified
Scientists at the OHMC uncovered new insights about the three-way relationship between chronic disease and genetic variation in humans and fungi in the human microbiome. The study, co-authored by Emily Van Syoc, former Penn State postdoctoral research fellow; Emily Davenport, assistant professor in biology; and Seth Bordenstein, was published in PLOS Biology using data from the NIH to examine the number and types of human genes and gut fungi that together drive chronic disease risk, an understudied component of human health.
Nighttime pistachio snacking may reshape gut microbiome in prediabetic adults
A study published in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition found that consuming pistachios can shift the gut microbiome in prediabetic adults. The researchers, led by Kristina Petersen, associate professor of nutritional sciences, compared the microbial communities in the stools of participants who consumed two ounces of pistachios each night for 12 weeks to those of participants who consumed the typically recommended 15 to 30 grams of a carbohydrate-based snack. Beneficial compounds and bacteria were noted to be more abundant in the pistachio group, potentially indicating a beneficial impact on health - although Petersen notes that more research is needed to investigate this possible conclusion.
Human microbiome pioneer to deliver World Microbiome Day lecture
On World Microbiome Day 2025, the OHMC hosted Curtis Huttenhower, professor of computational biology and bioinformatics at Harvard University, for a special virtual lecture. Huttenhower spoke about recent advances in the newly launched NIH Human Virome Project, bioinformatic tools from his lab group, and a new partnership with Hill's Pet Nutrition to study the relationship between diet, the microbiome and health in companion animals, such as dogs and cats. The lecture is available on the OHMC YouTube page.
Q&A: Unifying the microbiome sciences for global health and sustainability
To better understand the intricate and important roles that microorganisms play in linking environmental, agricultural, and human health, three members of the One Health Microbiome Center at Penn State spoke about their recent perspective article published in the journal mBio. Associate Professor of Food and Animal Microbiomes Erika Ganda, OHMC Director Seth Bordenstein and former OHMC Research Project Manager Nichole Ginnan explained the concept of One Health and that, historically, the only focus on microorganisms in the One Health field was for their role as pathogens. They discussed why the time has come for One Health to upgrade its long-term focus on pathogens to one that broadly embraces helpful microorganisms since the total flow of microbes through ecosystems shapes the risk of health and disease across humans, agriculture and the environment, according to Bordenstein.
One Health Microbiome Center announces 2026 symposium, keynote speaker lineup
The One Health Microbiome Center announced its next biennial symposium on May 13-14, 2026, at Penn State University Park. The symposium will bring together researchers from across the microbiome sciences under one roof, and it will include workshops, poster presentations and research talks, including keynotes from Joy Bergelson, Martin Wiedmann and Arturo Casadevall. Registration with limited seating available is now open to the Penn State community, external researchers and the general public.
New microorganism survival commission aims to fill critical conservation gap
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, a global organization dedicated to shaping environmental and conservation policy, created a microbial conservation specialist group this year, marking the first time the group has formally incorporated microbial life into global conservation frameworks. OHMC Director Seth Bordenstein is a member of the group and co-author of the accompanying Nature Microbiology article that outlined the group's vision to act as a global safeguard for microbial biodiversity, species survival, ecological disruption and potential extinctions.
Host-microbiome interaction biologist to receive inaugural Microbiome Medal
The OHMC announced the Microbiome Medal, which recognizes an exceptional researcher or group in the field of microbiome sciences for their scholarly contributions and humanitarian impacts on the microbiome sciences community. The inaugural recipient of the Microbiome Medal was Thomas Bosch, senior research professor at Kiel University, member of the German National Academy of Sciences and senior fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, who visited Penn State in December to deliver two special lectures to the Penn State community.
New clues in how plant microbiomes protect against bacterial speck disease
New research led by Kevin Hockett, associate professor of microbial ecology in the College of Agricultural Sciences, revealed that the microbial communities of tomato plants can protect against bacterial speck diseases that are widespread in U.S. production areas, including 97% of the tomato acres in Florida. Bacterial speck can lead to severe losses of crop yield. Hockett's research showed that the populations of two types of bacteria drive down the incidence of bacterial speck. A probiotic therapy for tomato growers is a highly promising outcome of the research.
$2.6M NIH grant to fund new microbiome sciences training program at Penn State
The OHMC received a new NIH) grant via the Biotechnological and Integrative Opportunities in Microbiome Sciences (BIOMS) program to train doctoral students in microbiome sciences and biotechnology. This effort is led by Associate Professor of Food Science and Lester Earl and Veronica Casida Career Development Professor of Food Safety Jasna Kovac, OHMC Research Project Manager Grace Deitzler and OHMC Director Seth Bordenstein. The new training grant, awarded to support the development of doctoral leaders and research training programs, is the nation's first dedicated training grant to microbiome science and will provide career development opportunities, mentorship opportunities with international industry partners and specialized research training in the microbiome sciences. Former OHMC Research Project Manager Nichole Ginnan co-authored the training grant.
About the OHMC
As one of the largest and most active units in the field, the OHMC is on a global mission to define the future of health and build a legacy of contributions that promote the general welfare of humans, agriculture and the environment. Learn more on the OHMC website.
