Bats are important keystone species which provide ecosystem services by consuming a variety of insects and agricultural pests. Many native bat species are currently threatened with either habitat loss or emerging infectious diseases, including White Nose Syndrome. Therefore, there is a need to develop survey approaches which increase accessibility to citizen scientists and researchers alike to monitor populations, such as with emerging, affordable smartphone enabled technologies.

Affecting over 35 million people a year, the number of infected individuals continues to grow because there is currently no cure to eliminate HIV. Two scientists at Temple Health have manipulated mouse genomes to display human immunity and the effect of two different treatments on the mice after HIV is injected into the rodents. They have found promising results in ridding the mouse cells of any traces of inducible HIV DNA, are looking to further their research in hopes of soon using human subjects.