LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Logan Townsend as an Assistant Professor, effective July 1. Dr. Townsend, most recently a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes Research at McMaster University in Canada, will lead the newly established Integrative Stress Metabolism Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical.

Antibiotic resistance in plant pathogens threatens sustainable crop protection, yet its molecular basis remains incompletely understood. This study reports that streptomycin resistance in Clavibacter michiganensis strain TX-0702 is mediated by a plasmid-borne aminoglycoside phosphotransferase, APH(3), encoded on an uncharacterized plasmid, pCM3. Functional and biochemical analyses demonstrate that APH(3) inactivates streptomycin through phosphorylation, establishing a phosphorylation-driven resistance mechanism in Gram-positive plant pathogens. Sequence analyses reveal that pCM3 carries mobile genetic elements, suggesting environmental dissemination of resistance genes in plant-associated microbes. These findings expand understanding of phytopathogen antibiotic resistance and highlight plant microbiomes as potential resistance gene sources with implications for agricultural, food, and human health safety.

What if a prosthetic hand could adapt to the person instead of the other way around? Researchers have developed a personalized AI-powered prosthetic system that combines custom 3D-printed wearable sleeves with soft magnetic sensors to decode each user’s unique muscle movements in real time. Designed for every individual’s anatomy, the technology delivers more natural, reliable control and remained highly accurate during repeated testing, offering a promising step toward prosthetic devices that feel more intuitive, comfortable and responsive.

Researchers led by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Assistant Professor Jiawei Yang have designed a modular system that could potentially improve hydrogel implants in the body by customizing the materials for stiffness and functionality.

At left, hydrogels developed by Jiawei Yang and a team of researchers exhibit different colors according to their coatings. At right, a microscopic image of a hydrogel surface. Photos courtesy of Jiawei Yang. The system, described in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, uses coatings to treat the surface of hydrogels, which are flexible, water-loaded polymers.