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Earlier this year, the Wadsworth Center became the first and only state public health laboratory in the nation to perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) of tuberculosis (TB) specimens. One case illustrates the enormous impact of WGS on TB testing and its central role in rapidly detecting and preventing the spread of drug-resistant TB strains among New York State’s general population.

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.

The Laboratory of Viral Diseases hosted a two-day enterovirus molecular characterization workshop on July 28th and 29th. The training was sponsored by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and included scientists from state public health laboratories in New Jersey, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, California, Massachusetts, and Nebraska.  

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Grant (T32) titled “RNA Science and Technology in Health and Disease” was awarded to the University at Albany, State University of New York, for $1.8 million over the next five years to support seven RNA Fellows each year from the graduate education programs that comprise the RNA Institute.  

The Wadsworth Center has been awarded funding through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Grant Program’s Antimicrobial Laboratory Network to support antimicrobial-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis activities from August 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026.  Two state public health laboratories, including the Wadsworth Center’s Mycobacteriology Laboratory, were selected to conduct whole genome sequencing (WGS) for culture-positive tuberculosis (TB) cases within their states. 

The State Health Department's Wastewater Surveillance Program  is integral to advanced COVID-19 tracking and nation-leading polio detection efforts. The program is now testing for Influenza, RSV, Hepatitis A, Norovirus and antimicrobial-resistant genes.Read the New York State Department of Health's press release.

On July 15, 2025, Wadsworth Center’s Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory (NCL), within the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, onboarded their third Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) fellow in the past three years.  

A new episode of the Inspired to Heal podcast, hosted by Dr. William (Bill) Trick – retired in 2024 after a distinguished career as a clinician, researcher, and CDC epidemiologist – features Wadsworth Center’s Dr. Kimberlee Musser alongside Dr. Don Weiss of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  

The Environmental Laboratory Approval Program (ELAP) within the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, has regulatory oversight of laboratories testing environmental samples collected in New York State. These laboratories analyze for a wide range of contaminants, including mercury, lead, PCBs, and “forever chemicals” (PFAS). As part of its mandate, ELAP conducts on-site inspections to ensure laboratory compliance.  

In the September 2025 issue of Clinical Microbiology Newsletter, a new three-part collaborative series, “Laboratory Diagnosis of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria,” was published with Wadsworth Center’s Dr. Kimberlee Musser as a coauthor.  Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are increasingly recognized as significant pathogens responsible for lung and other infections, particularly among individuals with underlying lung disease or weakened immune systems. NTM are frequently associated with nosocomial outbreaks, often traced to contaminated water sources. 

Dr. Rajendra Agrawal of the Wadsworth Center was invited to speak at the Ribo25 Symposium (September 18–19, 2025) at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB), marking 25 years since the atomic structure of a bacterial ribosome subunit was solved – a discovery recognized with the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  Dr. Agrawal’s presentation, “The mammalian mitochondrial ribosomes: From first glimpses to current insights,” highlighted the Wadsworth Center’s pioneering work in mammalian (human) mitochondrial ribosome research.