Health Sciences

T Cells Support Long-lived Antibody-producing Cells, Penn-led Team Finds

If you’ve ever wondered how a vaccine given decades ago can still protect against infection, you have your plasma cells to thank. Plasma cells are long-lived B cells that reside in the bone marrow and churn out antibodies against previously encountered vaccines or pathogens.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn Medicine: Gene Search Reveals New Mutations, Drug Targets in Rare Adrenal Tumors

Casting one of the largest genomic nets to date for the rare tumors of the autonomic nervous system known as pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PCC/PGL) captured several new mutations driving the disease that could serve as potential drug targets, researchers from Penn Medicine and other institutions reported in 

John Infanti

Plant-made Hemophilia Therapy Shows Promise, Penn Study Finds

People with hemophilia require regular infusions of clotting factor to prevent them from experiencing uncontrolled bleeding. But a significant fraction develop antibodies against the clotting factor, essentially experiencing an allergic reaction to the very treatment that can prolong their lives.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn Genetics Researcher Receives Grant from Pharmaceutical Consortium to Study Diabetic Kidney Disease

Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Medicine and Genetics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a $3 million grant from a consortium of pharmaceutical companies to identify genes and other characteristics that are signs of rapid decline in kidney function in patients with diabetic kidney disease.​​​​​​​

Penn Medicine: New Zika Vaccine Candidate Protects Mice and Monkeys with a Single Dose

A new Zika vaccine candidate has the potential to protect against the virus with a single dose, according to a research team led by scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. As reported in Nature this week, preclinical tests showed promising immune responses in both mice and monkeys.



In the News


KFF Health News

Rural jails turn to community health workers to help the newly released succeed

According to Aditi Vasan of the Leonard Davis Institute and Perelman School of Medicine, evidence is mounting in favor of the model of training community health workers to help their neighbors connect to government and health care services.

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The New York Times

When it’s time for an aging driver to hit the brakes

Lauren Massimo of the School of Nursing says that losing the ability to drive is a major and dehumanizing loss for older adults.

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Everyday Health

What is food noise and how do you get rid of it?

According to Thomas Wadden of the Perelman School of Medicine, people taking GLP-1 drugs are finding that daily experiences that used to trigger a compulsion to eat or think about food no longer have that effect.

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Philadelphia Gay News

UPenn hosts free online panel for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion

The Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative, led by José Bauermeister and Jessica Halem of the School of Nursing, will host a free online panel in April on the integration of LGBTQ+ people in the workforce.

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The New Yorker

How to die in good health

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel says that incessantly preparing for old age mistakes a long life for a worthwhile one.

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