Penn Libraries enter a ‘new era of innovation’

Having just completed her first year, Constantia Constantinou is helping to guide the Penn Libraries into the future, driving collections, forming new partnerships, and reimagining spaces.

an x-ray scattering system made out of a long white tube connected to a sample box at one end. lee is shown in two separate images placing a sample inside of the box, partially obscured behind darkened panel glass

Researchers think small to make progress towards better fuel cells

A young student of color looks upward with their hand on their mouth

Black boys, grief, and guns in urban schools

Fall into the arts

Reproductive science by experts, for teens

A philanthropic approach to strengthening democracy

Improving journalists’ access to public information records

Deepfake detector wins PennApps XX

What is ‘guaranteed income’?

CAR T cell therapy may be harnessed to treat heart disease

EVENTS → NEWS ARCHIVES →

PENN ATHLETICS CALENDAR →

Top-and-bottom show fluorescent, microscopic images of layers of the eye's retina in blue, green, and red.

Is treatment forever? Success of gene therapy for inherited blindness depends on timing

An FDA-approved gene therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis, an inherited vision disorder with a childhood onset and progressive nature, has improved patients’ sight. But new research underscores the importance of further investigation to halt the progression of the disorder.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・ September 10, 2019

Two people in traditional Tanzanian clothing sitting on the ground outdoors.

Hunter-gatherers agree on what is moral, but not who is moral

In determining whether there is a universal concept of moral character, research could provide insight into ways to improve our interactions with one another.

Michele W. Berger ・ September 9, 2019

Exterior view of Miller House, with a pebble courtyard with trees and a bench, green lawns and a modernist home.

PennPraxis team to help preserve iconic modernist home in Indiana

A PennPraxis team will develop a conservation management plan for Miller House and Garden, considered one of the finest examples of Modernist domestic design in Columbus, Indiana.

Penn Today Staff ・ September 9, 2019

penn president amy gutmann and jonathan moreno

Gutmann and Moreno talk bioethics, health care in new book

The University’s president, a political philosopher, teamed up with a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor to write “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven but Nobody Wants to Die.”

Lauren Hertzler ・ September 8, 2019

Map of Brazil and other parts of South America showing myriad points of orange

Inferno in the rainforest

Satellite images have detected more than 100,000 points of fire in the Amazon this year. Scientists Reto Gieré and Alain Plante illuminate some less obvious impacts of the fires, including health threats and climate impacts.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・ September 6, 2019

Training the next generation of globally minded researchers

Health Sciences

A cohort study comes of age

Campus & Community

Summer construction is in full swing

penn president amy gutmann on quad steps

Campus & Community

The Class of 2023 moves in

On a hot and humid August day, Penn’s newest students stepped onto campus. Volunteers helped students and families get settled, as the Phillie Phanatic and President Amy Gutmann welcomed the new arrivals.

A sculpture of a female figure and the feet of another sculpture of two figures as they are being lowered onto a pipe while one construction worker holds a rope and another reaches up.

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Two monumental sculptures arrive on campus

On loan for 99 years, one sculpture is between Franklin Field and The Palestra, the other next to the main library.

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Stonewall anniversary exhibit reflects 50 years of struggle, celebration

“Tonight is Forever,” a new exhibit at the William Way LGBT Community Center created by Stuart Weitzman School of Design Senior Lecturer Gabriel Martinez, is on display through June 28.

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Walt Whitman and the People’s Press

A unique course combining literature and design leads to a mobile printing press that will be part of the poet’s 200th birthday celebration.

Carolyn Lazard at the Institute of Contemporary Art

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Meet the student selected for the Whitney Biennial

For the 2019 Whitney Biennial, featuring young artists from across the country, MFA student Carolyn Lazard will contribute a work that asks patrons to consider the relationship between environment and the chronically ill.

Health Sciences

CAR T cell therapy may be harnessed to treat heart disease

Penn Med researchers used genetically modified T cells to improve heart function in an animal model after cardiac injury, a step forward in expanding the use of the technology to treating, or even reversing, heart failure.

Health Sciences

Balance of ‘stop’ and ‘go’ signaling could be key to cancer immunotherapy

A Penn study shows potential of the interferon pathway as a biomarker to help predict which patients are likely to respond to immunotherapies.

edlerly patient lying in hospital bed with door open and sunlight coming through the windows.

Health Sciences

Elderly patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma benefit from targeted therapies

A Penn study of Medicare patients who are often underrepresented in medical trials finds overall survival benefits from treatment with targeted therapies.

Health Sciences

How to reinvigorate exhausted immune cells to stop cancer

A Penn study has identified a protein called TOX that regulates exhausted T-cells, and could be a key to new immunotherapies.

Science & Technology

Inferno in the rainforest

Wide-angle view of a heavily mined landscape with a refinery or energy facility in the background.

Science & Technology

Climate lecture series will call for ‘unprecedented action,’ 1.5 minutes at a time

With a nod to the stated goal of the Paris Agreement of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst effects of climate change, a new 90-second lecture series kicks off today to give faculty and students a platform to briefly share how their work addresses climate change, and what we can do to help.

thomas mallouk poses in a laboratory surrounded by equipment and glassware

Science & Technology

Materials for a more sustainable future

Using a collaborative approach and their expertise in fundamental chemical research, new Chemistry Department faculty member Thomas Mallouk and his group address challenges faced by engineers and materials scientists.

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

‘Design with Nature,’ 50 years later

Beginning on the Summer Solstice, the Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology at the Weitzman School is presenting Design With Nature Now, a multi-platform exploration of the legacy of visionary environmental planner and landscape architect Ian L. McHarg.

Virginia M. Y. Lee in her lab wearing a lab coat.

Health Sciences

Researcher Virginia M.Y. Lee receives $3 million Breakthrough Prize

The Breakthrough Prize award recognizes Lee’s work studying underlying mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other dementias.

Health Sciences

Taking out the protein garbage becomes more difficult as neurons age

As cells age, their ability to remove damaged proteins and structures declines, which could be a risk factor for neurodegenerative brain diseases.

blue neurons on a white background with red nucleuses

Science & Technology

Protein-linked sugars are crucial for the uptake of proteins linked to Parkinson’s disease

A new study shows that glycoproteins, proteins with added sugar molecules, impact how neurons uptake alpha-synuclein, a protein that clusters together and can lead to Parkinson’s disease.

Health Sciences

A new drug target for chemically induced Parkinson’s disease

An enzyme that modifies chemicals formed in the body by alcohol, tobacco, and certain foods may be a new target for treating Parkinson’s disease. The altered compounds may play a role in triggering the onset or advancing the progression of the neurodegenerative condition.

The Wall Street Journal

Falling yields unleash flood of muni ‘century bonds’

MaryFrances McCourt, vice president for finance and treasurer, said a recent century bond purchased by the University cost half a percentage point less than anticipated. “Our borrowing costs beat our expectations,” she said. “We were thrilled.”

FULL STORY →

Time

What to know about the origins of ‘left’ and ‘right’ in politics, from the French Revolution to the 2020 presidential race

Sophia Rosenfeld and Brent Cebul of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the use of “left” and “right” in political discourse. The terms began as “literal descriptions,” said Rosenfeld, of the seating patterns in 18th-century France’s post-revolution National Assembly.

FULL STORY →

The New York Times

Should the government give everyone $1,000 a month?

Ioana Marinescu of the School of Social Policy & Practice was quoted for her defense of universal basic income, which some have claimed would create an unmotivated workforce. “It reduces the number of hours individuals work but not the total number of people classified as employed,” she said.

FULL STORY →

Vox.com

America is in danger of losing its ‘measles-free’ status

Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing spoke about the possible loss of the country’s measles-elimination status, conferred on countries who go without measles cases for at least one year. “It’s a line in the sand,” she said, “to go back to having regularly circulating measles in the country.”

FULL STORY →

MarketWatch

Dear Mr. President, why is it a good thing if a 10-year Treasury note is worth less than a bag of dirt?

Jeremy Siegel of the Wharton School said the Federal Reserve should lower its rates but not to zero or a negative number, as President Trump has proposed. Negative rates, Siegel said, would mean that a recession was inevitable.

FULL STORY →

Fast Company

Buying prescription drugs online is easier than ever. But there are side effects

Matthew McCoy of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on direct-to-consumer drug companies, which some fear may lead to transactional relationships between doctors and patients. “The idea of requiring a prescription is that you talk to a doctor—somebody who’s an expert in these issues—and they help advise you based on particular needs you have,” said McCoy. “So it’s concerning that companies might be moving the physician to the back of this process.”

FULL STORY →

Fox News

Dogs of 9/11: Search and rescue canines worked tirelessly in the days following terror attacks

Cindy Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Penn Vet Working Dog Center praised the search and rescue dogs that assisted first responders on Sept. 11, 2001. Otto herself was deployed to Ground Zero to treat dogs returning from searches at the time.

FULL STORY →

NPR

CRISPR gene-editing may offer path to cure for HIV, first published report shows

Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on new efforts by Chinese scientists to treat HIV using CRISPR technology. “This says there will be blue skies ahead,” he said. “We’re going to see many, many applications now since they got to first base here on this one.”

FULL STORY →

Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane (WHYY-FM)

‘Chasing my cure’

David Fajgenbaum of the Perelman School of Medicine was interviewed about his memoir and his research on Castleman’s disease.

FULL STORY →

The Washington Post

Expect the new Italian government to be as short-lived as the last one. Here’s why

Julia Lynch of the School of Arts and Sciences co-wrote an analysis of the state of Italian politics. While Matteo Salvini, “right-wing nationalist” and former deputy prime minister and interior minister, has been ousted from the Italian government, Lynch and her co-author believe “Salvini may be back soon, stronger than before.”

FULL STORY →

Trolley Portal Yoga

47SOUL

Smithsonian Museum Day

Critical Role of Public Gardens

Athletics

The Latest

Is treatment forever? Success of gene therapy for inherited blindness depends on timing

Hunter-gatherers agree on what is moral, but not who is moral

PennPraxis team to help preserve iconic modernist home in Indiana

Gutmann and Moreno talk bioethics, health care in new book

Inferno in the rainforest

Inside Penn

Upcoming Events See all →

Multimedia

Two monumental sculptures arrive on campus

Featured

Campus & Community

The Class of 2023 moves in

On a hot and humid August day, Penn’s newest students stepped onto campus. Volunteers helped students and families get settled, as the Phillie Phanatic and President Amy Gutmann welcomed the new arrivals.

Big Ideas

Two monumental sculptures arrive on campus

Stonewall anniversary exhibit reflects 50 years of struggle, celebration

Walt Whitman and the People’s Press

Meet the student selected for the Whitney Biennial

CAR T cell therapy may be harnessed to treat heart disease

Balance of ‘stop’ and ‘go’ signaling could be key to cancer immunotherapy

Elderly patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma benefit from targeted therapies

How to reinvigorate exhausted immune cells to stop cancer

Inferno in the rainforest

Climate lecture series will call for ‘unprecedented action,’ 1.5 minutes at a time

Materials for a more sustainable future

‘Design with Nature,’ 50 years later

Researcher Virginia M.Y. Lee receives $3 million Breakthrough Prize

Taking out the protein garbage becomes more difficult as neurons age

Protein-linked sugars are crucial for the uptake of proteins linked to Parkinson’s disease

A new drug target for chemically induced Parkinson’s disease

Penn in the NewsSee all →

Falling yields unleash flood of muni ‘century bonds’

What to know about the origins of ‘left’ and ‘right’ in politics, from the French Revolution to the 2020 presidential race

Should the government give everyone $1,000 a month?

America is in danger of losing its ‘measles-free’ status

Dear Mr. President, why is it a good thing if a 10-year Treasury note is worth less than a bag of dirt?

Buying prescription drugs online is easier than ever. But there are side effects

Dogs of 9/11: Search and rescue canines worked tirelessly in the days following terror attacks

CRISPR gene-editing may offer path to cure for HIV, first published report shows

‘Chasing my cure’

Expect the new Italian government to be as short-lived as the last one. Here’s why