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Katherine Unger Baillie
Senior Science News Officer
Katherine Unger Baillie covers the School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, and in the School of Arts and Sciences, manages media relations for biology, earth and environmental science, and history and sociology of science. She also occasionally covers scientific research coming from other parts of Penn.
This Penn heart patient is a 9-year-old boxer dog named Sophie
Sophie underwent a cardiac ablation procedure in a Perelman School of Medicine translational research lab to treat her arrhythmia—the first time a dog with her diagnosis received such a treatment. Veterinary cardiologist Anna Gelzer says of the collaboration, “It’s the best of both worlds.”
Immersive stories to spur action on climate
Organized by the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH), a two-day festival, “Environmental Storytelling and Virtual Reality” begins Friday, and will explore how virtual reality and other immersive storytelling might inspire action on climate change.
A second life for leaves
Taking a scientific approach to managing campus land, Facilities and Real Estate Services is partnering with soil scientists and ecologists to study how mulching plots with leaves fares for soil health and biodiversity.
Mentoring circles support a journey through STEM
An initiative of the Biomedical Postdoctoral Council Diversity Committee has established an informal network of “mentoring circles” for postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates in STEM, with a particular emphasis on including participants from underrepresented backgrounds.
Campus orchard grows, with help from the community
Now five years old, the Penn Park Orchard is expanding, literally and figuratively. With shovels and sweat equity, members of the University contributed to those efforts at a workday.
Basser Center takes aim at BRCA
Twenty-five years after the discovery of genetic mutations that dramatically increase cancer risk, the Penn Medicine’s Basser Center for BRCA is building scientific knowledge alongside public awareness about BRCA-related cancers.
The science of sensations
To confront the ills of the opioid epidemic, scientists must develop a fundamental understanding of the biology of pain. Biologist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor’s work is setting the stage for screening alternative drugs and uncovering new pathways that an opioid-alternative could target.
Comprehensive dental care for a vulnerable population
In a new clinic at the School of Dental Medicine, refugees who survived torture are having all of their dental needs met by students and faculty.
The dangers of vaping
Vaping has been marketed as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, but recent deaths and acute respiratory illnesses have belied that claim. Pulmonologist and smoking cessation expert Frank Leone of the Perelman School of Medicine explains the e-cigarette phenomenon and why it’s dangerous.
The diet-microbiome connection in inflammatory bowel disease
Dogs with a Crohn’s-like disease fed a special diet were found to have characteristic changes in their gut microbiomes, paralleling changes seen in children with Crohn’s.