5/18
Immunology
Could a single shot heal heart disease?
Experts at Penn Medicine are researching novel treatments for heart disease, including CRISPR gene editing technology, CAR T technology, and mRNA injections.
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, Penn’s historic mRNA vaccine research team, win 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine
The highest honor was bestowed for foundational discoveries that gave the world a vaccine to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
An mRNA vaccine against Lyme disease-causing bacteria
In pre-clinical models, researchers at Penn Medicine have developed a vaccine that protects against Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
This season’s flu and COVID-19 vaccines
Judith A. O’Donnell of the Perelman School of Medicine answers common questions about this year’s flu shot and the new COVID-19 vaccines.
The immune health future, today
Breaking the code of the immune system could provide a new fundamental way of understanding, treating, and preventing every type of disease. Penn Medicine is investing in key discoveries about immunity and immune system function, and building infrastructure, to make that bold idea a reality.
Removing the barrier surrounding solid tumors clears path for T cells
Penn researchers uncover a new way to target solid tumors. Using CAR T cells to remove cancer-associated fibroblasts surrounding pancreatic tumors allows T cells to infiltrate and attack the tumor cells.
Penn Medicine’s Carl June to receive 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
The Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Perelman School of Medicine is honored for pioneering the development of CAR T cell therapy, which programs patients’ own immune cells to fight their cancer.
A suit of armor for cancer-fighting cells
New research from the University of Pennsylvania offers a safer path for CAR T cell immunotherapy.
An immunotherapy strategy against all blood cancers
Researchers at Penn Medicine have demonstrated a new potential treatment using CAR T cell therapy using a CRISPR base-editing to develop a method called “epitope editing.”
Carl June on the boundless potential of CAR T cell therapy
In a Q & A, June, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, and Daniel Baker, a fourth-year doctoral student in Penn’s Cell and Molecular Biology department, discuss how the treatment can extend to treating diseases beyond cancer.
In the News
The mRNA miracle workers
Nobel laureates Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine appear on “Sunday Morning” to discuss their careers, their mRNA research, and the COVID-19 vaccines.
FULL STORY →
Blood tests can help diagnose Alzheimer’s—if they’re accurate enough. Not all are
Virginia Man-Yee Lee of the Perelman School of Medicine says it’s likely in the future that anyone older than 60 will get an Alzheimer’s test.
FULL STORY →
AI detects cancers and immunotherapy biomarker
Daiwei Zhang and Mingyao Li of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues have developed an AI tool called iStar that can automatically spot tumors and types of cancer that are difficult for clinicians to see or identify and can predict candidates for immunotherapy.
FULL STORY →
Godfather of mRNA vaccines reveals plans to immunize people against cancer years before tumors strike to ‘the disease from ever appearing’
Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine, who won the Nobel Prize for mRNA vaccines along with Katalin Karikó, is researching an mRNA vaccine against cancer.
FULL STORY →
Is the flu shot market a slam dunk for mRNA vaccines? Experts aren’t so sure
Scott Hensley of the Perelman School of Medicine is working on a flu vaccine to provide protection against 20 subtypes of flu that may pose a pandemic threat in the future.
FULL STORY →
Trial results offer hope to Kiwis with ‘incurable’ blood cancer
Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine praises New Zealand research into a new CAR T-cell cancer treatment for patients with blood cancer.
FULL STORY →