Agriculture briefs: Grants help Penn State to study mosquitoes
News in brief from Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
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Mosquito-borne pathogens, including zika, yellow fever and other illnesses have serious and worldwide impacts on human health. The World Health Organization warned that half of the global population is at risk of dengue, with 100 million to 400 million infections occurring each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that 2023 saw more than 260 million cases of malaria and almost 600,000 deaths across 83 countries.
To improve scientific understanding of the pathogens involved and begin addressing these challenges, the National Institutes of Health's Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease recently awarded a pair of grants collectively worth more than $2.8 million to Jason Rasgon, professor of entomology and of disease epidemiology, and Huck Endowed Chair in Disease Epidemiology and Biotechnology at Penn State.
If successful, Rasgon said, the projects could lower technical barriers for researchers studying mosquito genetics and eventually, enable new discoveries that could help inhibit the spread of dangerous pathogens.
Researchers evaluating biomass startup
Researchers in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences are working with the entrepreneur behind the proposed startup of an innovative woody biomass-to-energy facility planned for north central Pennsylvania to determine if the planned operation will be sustainable and ecologically sound.
Woodland Biomass Innovations is developing a proposed operation that promises to convert roughly 1,000 tons of regional wood residues per day into 42,000 gallons of gasoline, biochar and renewable electricity. Company founder Luca Pandolfi plans to build his facility in Tioga County, where it can be fed by surrounding dense forests partially composed of small-diameter trees that mostly go to waste in timbering operations.
Researchers in the College of Agricultural Sciences have been modeling the environmental impact and benefit of the process Woodland Biomass Innovations will use and are evaluating forests in the area to ensure they'll sustainably provide enough biofuel to support the proposed operation.
Anaerobic digesters can help farmers
An advanced technology that could benefit farmers' bottom line and help answer the rising demand for domestic energy production borrows a key ingredient from a centuries-old
practice of burning dried manure to warm homes where trees were sparse or expensive: animal waste. According to Christine Costello, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, anaerobic digesters may help not only manage animal waste but also generate renewable energy and additional income streams.
Anaerobic digesters convert raw manure into nutrient-rich fertilizer and biogas, which can be sold or used to power the farm. These manure-based anaerobic digester systems help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by creating and capturing methane -- which can offset fossil fuel use when used to produce energy -- from organic waste.
Costello, who studies the environmental outcomes of anaerobic digestion in the U.S., pointed out that the technology has far more potential. Anaerobic digestion is a growing technology that can be applied to other waste, like food waste from food and beverage processing.