The Wadsworth Center has been educating undergraduate students for several decades through the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program. Over the last three years we have been building on that experience to launch and expand the summer Public Health Laboratory Academy – an applied research internship experience funded in partnership with the Association of Public Health Laboratories. This year, we have 16 synchronous-track students and three asynchronous-track interns across infectious disease, environmental health, and genetics.

University at Albany PhD student Ryan Gainor was recognized for his poster presentation at the University at Albany Showcase 2026. Ryan is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences within the Center for Integrated Health Sciences and conducts research in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the Wadsworth Center. 

Two New York birth hospitals have been selected to partner with the Wadsworth Center as recruitment sites for BEACONSNBS (Building Evidence and Collaboration for GenOmics in Nationwide Newborn Screening), a national research study evaluating the use of genome sequencing in newborn screening.

Dr. Denise Kay, Director of the Newborn Screening Program at the Wadsworth Center, attended a meeting of the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Newborn Screening Molecular Subcommittee at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention in Atlanta. As Co-Chair of the subcommittee, Dr. Kay co-led the meeting.

Janice Pata, Director of the Division of Scientific Cores at the Wadsworth Center, advanced the longstanding educational partnership between the New York State Department of Health and the University at Albany during the 2025–2026 academic year by facilitating the nationally recognized Entering Mentoring program for the first time at the university.

Rapid advances in laboratory instrumentation, automation, and computational technologies have created unprecedented opportunities to strengthen the prevention, detection, and response to public health threats. The Wadsworth Center’s Community, Advancement, Recruitment, and Engagement (CARE) program has focused on promoting the adoption of automated workflows by ensuring that staff have access to high-quality training resources and in-house expertise. 

In a study recently published in Biochemistry, Dr. Nilesh Banavali, and colleagues in the Wadsworth Center's Division of Genetics, describe how medically important antibacterials bind to ribosomes of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. The team predicted detailed atomic structures and binding affinities for multiple antibacterials interacting with the pathogen’s ribosomal small subunit. Why this is a breakthrough:

In early April, the Wadsworth Center received a request from the Maine Public Health Laboratory for assistance with infectious disease testing following a fire on the roof of their facility resulting in a loss of ventilation and suspension of laboratory operations.

Dr. Thomas Bartlett, a new Principal Investigator in the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Genetics, has been awarded a New York Community Trust award for his grant proposal entitled “Finding New Gaps in the Cell Wall of Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.”

“Initiation of Translation by the Ribosome”Ribosomes are cellular machines that conduct protein synthesis (or gene translation) in both bacteria and higher organisms such as humans. The mechanism of initiation of translation is among the most fundamental and highly regulated cellular processes.  Dr. Ramakrishnan's presentation focused primarily on how translation works in eukaryotic cells. Dr.