News Archives

Growing plants to save lives

Tucked behind old factory buildings on Penn’s South Bank campus stands a gleaming greenhouse. The $2 million structure, completed late last year, is state-of-the-art. Drip irrigation ensures each pot receives just the right amount of water. Humidity and temperature are precisely monitored and can be accessed and modified remotely.

Fourth annual Philly Science Festival returns April 25

The fourth annual Philadelphia Science Festival runs from Friday, April 25, to Saturday, May 3, at various sites across the city. Organized by The Franklin Institute, the nine-day festival of discovery and innovation is a collaboration between the city’s leading universities, museums, research centers, and high-tech companies.

"On the Wings of Eagle and Raven" Opens at Penn's Arthur Ross Gallery

On the Wings of Eagle and Raven: Tlingit and Haida Traditions (Photos) April 11 – July 6, 2014 On the Wings of Eagle and Raven: Tlingit and Haida Traditions opens on Friday, April 11 at the Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania.

Staff Q&A with Katie Huber

Once upon a time, Katie Huber was skeptical of group exercise classes. Before signing up for a BODYPUMP class in her early 20s, she says she wasn’t quite convinced that the classes would give her the strenuous, endorphin-filled workout she favored.

Objective lens

The Motion of the Medium Matters for Self-assembling Particles, Penn Research Shows

By attaching short sequences of single-stranded DNA to nanoscale building blocks, researchers can design structures that can effectively build themselves. The building blocks that are meant to connect have complementary DNA sequences on their surfaces, ensuring only the correct pieces bind together as they jostle into one another while suspended in a test tube.        Now, a University of Pennsylvania team has made a discovery with implications for all such self-assembled structures.

Penn Medical Student’s Work to Heal Others Extends Beyond Health Care

Leah Seifu, a second-year University of Pennsylvania medical student, says that her Ethiopian heritage and Catholic school education instilled in her a deep cultural awareness and drive to help others through social activism.

Wendell E. Pritchett Named Interim Dean of Penn Law School

Wendell E. Pritchett has been named interim dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School for the 2014-15 academic year.

Penn Medicine Receives $1.45 Million to Speed Research for Rare Neurodegenerative Diseases

Two Penn Medicine research teams have received a total of $1,450,000 in funding commitments from CurePSP, the Foundation for PSP | CBD and Related Brain Diseases, to study rare neurodegenerative disorders that cause motor, balance and cognitive impairment.

Penn Medicine: New Cell Models for Tracking Body Clock Gene Function will Help Find Novel Meds

The consequences of modern life -- shift work, cell phone addiction, and travel across time zones -- all disturb internal clocks. These are found in the brain where they regulate sleep and throughout the body where they regulate physiology and metabolism. Disrupting the clocks is called circadian misalignment, which has been linked to metabolic problems, even in healthy volunteers.