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For the second year, the Wadsworth Center hosted a table at the Albany Tulip Festival. Despite the rainy weather, the table saw steady foot traffic, discussing the Center with approximately 65 individuals. Many people were surprised to hear that their Public Health Laboratory is located in the Capital Region, and that we are celebrating 125 years of working to keep them healthy and safe! Multiple people stopped just to say “thank you” for our efforts, and one individual that, even though there is a lot of complicated health news, we were one of their most trusted sources of information.

Supervisory and leadership level roles in the public health laboratory have seen a generational transition as more senior staff have retired in recent years. In response, Wadsworth Center: Community. Advancement. Recruitment. Engagement. (CARE) launched the first-ever Wadsworth Center’s “Leadership Academy”. The inaugural cohort of the Leadership Academy concluded their program recently, covering topics focused on managing people and communication strategies with practical assignments throughout the year. 

In a study to be published in the Tuberculosis journal, Drs. Keith Derbyshire and Todd Gray at the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Genetics identify targets for fighting infections by a dangerous and rising pathogen.

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.

The Wadsworth Center’s Newborn Screening Program began screening for cystic fibrosis (CF) in 2002. Cystic fibrosis is a chronic and progressive genetic disorder that affects the lungs, pancreas, and other organs. Symptoms include failure to thrive, malabsorption, recurrent respiratory infections, wheezing, persistent cough, and male infertility. Newborn screening facilitates early diagnosis and treatment, which is associated with improved health outcomes.

Lessons from the wastewater surveillance program initiated in early 2020, and expanded in 2022 to include sequencing the virus that causes COVID-19, inform methods to improve public health.Three Wadsworth Center Researchers from the Laboratory of Viral Diseases, Chief Kirsten St. George, PhD; Research and Development Group Lead Daryl Lamson; and Research Scientist Lindsey Rickerman, sequenced SARS-CoV-2 from samples collected by partners who assisted with data analysis. 

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.

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.

Joseph Orsini from the Wadsworth Center Newborn Screening Program attended the 2026 Newborn Screening by Tandem Mass Spectrometry Workshop held in Atlanta, Georgia, from April 30-May 1, 2026. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Association of Public Health Laboratories and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and brought together laboratory professionals from state newborn screening programs across the country for advanced training in tandem mass spectrometry applications in newborn screening. Dr.

The Wadsworth Center Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory (NCL) hosted laboratory professionals from Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Vermont from April 27-29, 2026, through the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) peer-to-peer exchange program. The APHL exchange program is designed to strengthen the nation’s radiochemistry laboratory network by providing state and local laboratory professionals with opportunities to engage in hands-on technical training and knowledge exchange with peers from leading public health laboratories across the country.

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.

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:

On May 4, 2026, the Wadsworth Center Rabies Laboratory identified influenza A H5 in a juvenile red fox submitted for emergency rabies testing after the fox had been cared for and handled by multiple family members. The fox developed neurological signs compatible with rabies infection, including paralysis, and was euthanized on May 1, 2026. Initial rabies testing performed by the Rabies Laboratory on May 2 was negative.

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.

On March 1, 2026, at the APHL 14th National Conference on Laboratory Aspects of Tuberculosis, Joseph Shea was honored with the prestigious Ed Desmond Tuberculosis Laboratorian Award.  Presented by the National Tuberculosis Coalition of America, this award recognizes exemplary service, dedication, and leadership among tuberculosis laboratory professionals.