Health Sciences

Penn Team Maps First Comprehensive Profile of Non-Protein-Coding RNAs to Provide Clinicians with New Way to Diagnose Array of Cancers

Growing insights about a significant, yet poorly understood, part of the genome – the “dark matter of DNA” -- have fundamentally changed the way scientists approach the study of diseases. The human genome contains about 20,000 protein-coding genes – less than 2 percent of the total – but 70 percent of the genome is made into non-coding RNA.

Karen Kreeger

Mother’s Stress Alters Babies’ Gut and Brain

Stress during the first trimester of pregnancy alters the population of microbes living in a mother’s vagina. Those changes are passed on to newborns during birth and are associated with differences in their gut microbiome as well as their brain development, according to a study by Penn researchers.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Slate.com

What’s going on with tranq?

Jeanmarie Perron of the Perelman School of Medicine says that the appearance and progression of skin ulcers and tissue loss on xylazine users is different than with other intravenous drugs.

FULL STORY →



The Hill

It’s time to end the Medicare-Medicaid merry-go-round

In an opinion essay, Rachel M. Werner of the Leonard Davis Institute, Wharton School, and Perelman School of Medicine says that Medicare and Medicaid fail to integrate coverage and coordinate care across their two plans.

FULL STORY →



Philadelphia Inquirer

Inside Penn’s transfer center

Penn Medicine’s transfer command center gets patients from affiliated hospitals and hospitals outside Philadelphia to specialized care that can save lives, with comments from CEO Kevin Mahoney.

FULL STORY →



The Wall Street Journal

The quest for treatments to keep weight off after Ozempic

Researchers at Penn are conducting a co-authored study of the brains, fat and muscle cells, and eating patterns of people trying to maintain new body sizes.

FULL STORY →



Philadelphia Inquirer

Operating rooms are major sources of greenhouse gasses. Penn is eliminating a form of anesthesia that hangs in the air for more than a decade after use

Penn Medicine is phasing out the anesthesia desflurane at four of its six hospitals to eliminate harmful greenhouse gases, with remarks from Greg Evans.

FULL STORY →