School of Veterinary Medicine

Penn Immunologists Find a Molecule That Puts the Brakes on Inflammation

PHILADELPHIA — We couldn’t live without our immune systems, always tuned to detect and eradicate invading pathogens and particles. But sometimes the immune response goes overboard, triggering autoimmune diseases like lupus, asthma or inflammatory bowel disease.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Compound Derived From a Mushroom Lengthens Survival Time in Dogs With Cancer, Penn Vet Study Finds

PHILADELPHIA — Dogs with hemangiosarcoma that were treated with a compound derived from the Coriolus versicolor mushroom had the longest survival times ever reported for dogs with the disease. These promising findings offer hope that the compound may one day offer cancer patients — human and canine alike — a viable alternative or complementary treatment to traditional chemotherapies.

Katherine Unger Baillie

T Cells ‘Hunt’ Parasites Like Animal Predators Seek Prey, a Penn Vet-Penn Physics Study Reveals

PHILADELPHIA — By pairing an intimate knowledge of immune-system function with a deep understanding of statistical physics, a cross-disciplinary team at the University of Pennsylvania has arrived at a surprising finding: T cells use a movement strategy to track down parasites that is similar to strategies that predators such as monkeys, sharks and blue-fin tu

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn and Cornell Researchers Spearhead the Development of New Guidelines for Veterinary CPR

PHILADELPHIA — For nearly 50 years, the American Heart Association, with the help of researchers and physicians from across the nation, has developed and disseminated guidelines on how best to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on patients experiencing cardiac arrest. But no such evidence-based guidelines existed in the veterinary world.

Katherine Unger Baillie, Holly Auer



In the News


San Francisco Chronicle

Fentanyl overdoses hit a surprising group of San Franciscans: the city’s dogs

Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that fentanyl can be absorbed across the mucous membranes in canine noses, causing dogs to face a life-threatening overdose.

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Nature

Bird flu virus has been spreading in U.S. cows for months, RNA reveals

Louise Moncla of the Veterinary School of Medicine says that the bird flu virus is clearly being transmitted to cows in some way.

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The Washington Post

How to (responsibly) let your cat outside

James Serpell of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that some cats are perfectly happy within the confines of the home, while others have a greater desire to wander, explore, and investigate.

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The Washington Post

Cats aren’t jerks. They’re just misunderstood

James Serpell of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that the domestic cat suffers from its legacy of being a not-quite-wild animal on the margins of society.

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Newsweek

Dog respiratory illness map update: Mystery disease spreads to more states

Deborah Silverstein of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that the dogs most at risk for respiratory illness are those with low immunity, such as young puppies, the unvaccinated, or older dogs, and potentially short-nosed breeds.

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