The Wadsworth Center Biodefense Laboratory has been awarded $125,000 to develop, optimize, and validate threat-agnostic sequencing workflows for the rapid detection of pathogens in respiratory and other specimens. This project represents a critical step in strengthening New York State’s laboratory readiness and capacity to respond to infectious disease threats.  The initiative will integrate metagenomic and targeted sequencing methods with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Basestack software, including its TaxTriage module. 

Minneapolis, MN | September 7-9, 2025 – Dr. Norma Tavakoli, PhD, of the Wadsworth Center was a featured speaker at the Congenital Cytomegalovirus (cCMV) Public Health and Policy Conference, hosted by the University of Minnesota.  Her presentation, “A Pilot Study in New York State to Screen Newborns for Congenital Cytomegalovirus,” highlighted groundbreaking work conducted by the New York State Newborn Screening Program.  

The New York State Newborn Screening Program at the Wadsworth Center has become the first program in the United States to implement universal newborn screening for Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD), a devastating but now treatable lysosomal storage disorder.  MLD is caused by low or absent activity of the arylsulfatase A (ARSA) enzyme, leading to toxic accumulation of sulfatides and progressive damage to the nervous system.

Wadsworth Center senior scientists Drs. Janice D. Pata, Lili Kuo, and Paul S.

The Wadsworth Center was prominently represented at the annual Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages meeting (“Phages”) in Madison, Wisconsin – one of the premier international conferences in microbial genetics.  The meeting drew more than 350 researchers from around the world, spanning senior investigators to first-year trainees.  

The New York State (NYS) Newborn Screening Program (NBSP) became the first state in the nation to screen for sickle cell disease in 1975. Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder, known also as hemoglobinopathy, that affects the shape and function of red blood cells in the body. It can cause anemia, painful episodes, infections, stroke/blood clots, and organ damage. If left untreated, this condition can cause significant illness and early death. Fortunately, with early diagnosis and treatment, health outcomes can be significantly improved.

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.  

Drs. Pallavi Ghosh and

Read the Association of Public Health Laboratories' blog and interview with Wadsworth Center's own Rabies Laboratory Director, Dr. April Davis.

Dr. Joseph Orsini, Director of the Newborn Screening Program’s Biochemical Genetics Laboratory, represented the Wadsworth Center at the Hunter’s Hope Medical Symposium, held July 15-16, 2025, in Ellicottville, NY. He has attended this annual symposium since 2008, which brings together scientists, clinicians, newborn screening professionals, and families to advance understanding of Krabbe Disease and other leukodystrophies. 

The Wadsworth Center, the public health laboratory of the New York State Department of Health, has been selected to serve as the central reference testing laboratory for a major international clinical trial aimed at preventing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in vulnerable populations.

Dr. Spencer Bruce, Director of the Bioinformatics Core at the Wadsworth Center, recently took part in the Bioinformatics Leadership Program, held June 23-27, 2025, at the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.  

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases, with support from the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hosted a 2025 Scientific Meeting on Candida auris in Miami, Florida from June 5-6, 2025.  

The Wadsworth Center’s Newborn Screening Program published their 2024 annual report, which provides an overview of screening results for each of the mandated conditions on the New York State panel. The 2024 panel included more than 50 conditions. In 2024, 246,895 specimens from 206,728 infants were screened, corresponding to an average of nearly 1,000 specimens for 50 conditions each day (50,000 screens performed daily). A total of 1,866 infants screened positive for one of the conditions on the panel and were referred for diagnostic testing, evaluation, follow-up and treatment.

Drs. Rajendra Agrawal and Soneya Majumdar represented the Wadsworth Center at Ribosomes 2025, the Triennial Ribosome Meeting held June 22–27 in Asilomar, Pacific Grove, California.  

Wadsworth Center received the 2025 APHL Award for Excellence in Applied Research on Infectious Diseases, recognizing outstanding contributions to the field of infectious disease laboratory research, with a particular focus on public health laboratory impact. The award acknowledges the important work of public health laboratorians that bridges scientific discovery and innovation with practical application.

On June 25, 2025, Dr. Sherry Faye, Technical Director of the Wadsworth Center’s Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory (NCL), served as an invited guest speaker at the U.S. Department of Energy and American Chemical Society-sponsored Nuclear Chemistry Summer School (NCSS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory.  This highly selective six-week program is designed to introduce undergraduate students to careers in nuclear science.  Dr. Faye presented an overview of the NCL’s mission and capabilities, including:

On June 25–26, the Newborn Screening Mass Spectrometry Laboratories at the Wadsworth Center hosted Dr. Naija Cottingham, a Fellow from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  Dr. Cottingham is the first participant in this new Fellowship Program, initiated by Dr. Jaya Ganesh, Interim Program Director of the Medical Residency Training Program and Director of the Newborn Screening Inherited Metabolic Disease Specialty Care Center at Mount Sinai.  

The Wadsworth Center proudly hosted a Light Microscopy Imaging Workshop from June 9-13, 2025, focused on advancing research and collaboration in biomedical imaging.  Organized by Rich Cole and Danielle Hunt from the Center’s Advanced Light Microscopy and Image Analysis Core, the event welcomed 43 participants from institutions across the region, including the University at Albany, Albany Medical College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Rochester, and the Neural Stem Cell Institute. 

Dr. Thomas Bartlett and Dr. Siân Owen from the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Genetics attended the 2025 Boston Bacterial Meeting (BBM) in Cambridge, MA – one of the nation’s premier microbiology conferences, drawing over 500 experts annually.