Biology | Penn Today

Academia’s postdoc system is teetering, imperiling efforts to diversify life sciences

As co-chair of an NIH group to re-envision postdoctoral training, PIK Professor Shelley Berger expresses concern about the future of academic research.

We may finally know why psychological stress worsens gut inflammation

A study by Christoph Thaiss of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues identified a pathway between the brain and immune system in mice that may explain why psychological stress can worsen gut inflammation.

Study: Heat-temperature marine bacteria help detoxify asbestos

Ileana Perez-Rodriguez of the School of Arts & Sciences says that iron has been identified as a major component driving the toxicity of asbestos minerals.

‘Pangenome’ hopes to represent more diverse view of humans

Sarah Tishkoff of the Perelman School of Medicine says that the new pangenome adds structural variants that were previously hard to sequence and analyze.

Subway train passengers with protective masks crowding to get on and off subway station platform on Metro station.

Social conformity in pandemics: How our behaviors spread faster than the virus itself

Researchers led by former postdoc Bryce Morsky and Erol Akçay of the School of Arts & Sciences have produced a model for disease transmission that factors in the effects of social dynamics, specifically, how masking and social distancing are affected by social norms.

lecture attendees pay attention to a speaker in an auditorium

Beyond the pipette and the stethoscope, students explore biology’s societal impacts

The new Biology and Society course, supported by SNF Paideia, gave biology majors the chance to explore how scientists must contend with subjects such as health equity and vaccine hesitancy.

Headshots of David Brainard, Duncan Watts, Susan R. Weiss, and Kenneth S. Zaret

Four from Penn elected to the National Academy of Sciences

The newly elected members, distinguished scholars recognized for their innovative contributions to original research, include faculty from the School of Arts & Sciences, Perelman School of Medicine, Annenberg School for Communication, and Wharton School.

Scientist revisits data on raccoon dogs and COVID, stressing the unknowns

Frederic Bushman of the Perelman School of Medicine doesn’t think that a new study reexamining genetic material proves that infected raccoon dogs were the origin of COVID.

Penn alumna awarded a 2023 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Silvia Huerta Lopez, a 2016 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, has received a 2023 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which provides graduate school funding for immigrants and children of immigrants to the United States.

Scientists turned monkey stem cells into ‘synthetic embryos’

Kotaro Sasaki of the School of Veterinary Medicine comments on the results of a study that created embryo-like structures derived from monkey stem cells.

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