News Archives

Clinical Trials for ‘Cytobrush' Detection Technique Show Promise in Fight against Oral Cancer

(Note: Dr. Greenberg is available for more indepth interviews and will help set up photo opportunities for interested photographers or videographers.) PHILADELPHIA  Dentists now have an easy-to-use, pain-free way to detect oral cancer at its earliest stages. Called the cytobrush biopsy, the technique underwent clinical trials at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine that showed it to be a significant advance over previous cytology (PAP smear-type) tests.

Nanotube ‘Peapods' have Tunable Electronic Properties, Penn and Illinois Scientists Report in Science

PHILADELPHIA  First came fullerenes, those cage-like molecules of 60 carbon atoms bound in a ball. Then came long, thin soda straws of carbon atoms called nanotubes. Now there are fullerenes nested within nanotubes, like so many peas in a pod.

UPM Arcgaeologist Keith Devries Asserts that Enigmatic Ivory Statuette, Uncovered in Greece in 1939, may be Part of the Throne of the Famed King Midas

JANUARY 2, 2002t isn made of gold, but a well-known and much-discussed ivory statuette of a lion-tamer, found in 1939 at Delphi, may very well be part of the throne given to the god Apollo by the famous King Midas of Phrygia.

Scientists Identify Key Risk Factor for Canine Arthritis; Method May Eventually Give Humans Similar Warning

PHILADELPHIA - Drawing upon an international database of some 16,000 dogs, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have pinpointed what believed to be the first solid predictor, in any species, of future arthritis. The scientists have found that laxity in the hip joint - several millimetersworth of excessive play between the ball of the femur and the hip socket - correlates strongly with the advent of hip arthritis later in a dog life.

Research: The play’s the thing on video, now

Try to write about the phenomenon that was Frank Sinatra without ever having seen him or heard him. Now apply the same issue to the musical theater of the past. That’s part of what David Fox has to do when researching old musicals. Fox, a lecturer in Theatre Arts, is probably most widely known on campus as associate director of College Houses and Academic Services. But musical theater is his first love. And a lot of the theater he talks about is theater he has neither seen nor heard.

Remembering the dream, living the vision

Instead of starting the semester, Penn’s observance of the Martin Luther King Day holiday comes at the start of its third week, meaning that the entire campus will be able to participate in all of the events planned to commemorate King’s life and his vision. And for the second year, everyone will have the day off to make participating easier.

Staff Q&A: Teresa Leo

Teresa Leo has enough material for 10 impressive resumes. There is no street on the Philadelphia literary map that she hasn’t covered, from columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer to editor of the Painted Bride Quarterly. And now, after 10 years as a technical writer for Penn’s Information Systems and Computing, she’s lending her creative energy to Penn’s literary arts hub, the Kelly Writers House, helping put together a jam-packed schedule of 150 programs per semester.

Just about all wrapped up

Wrapped wishes

The season of giving is upon us, but here at the Current we can’t help but indulge in a little selfishness and ask, “What do we really want for the holidays?” To get some ideas, we scoured the campus and got responses that ranged from the wild and wacky to the more simple and mundane. So don’t be shy. Ask yourself what you want—you might just get it. Happy holidays! YOKO MAKISHIMA Professor of Japanese “Accessories— from Tiffany. I am a typical Japanese person.”

Awards & Honors: Double honor a first

- Larry Hunter, an assistant professor of management at Wharton, has snagged two awards from the Industrial Relations Research Association, and is the first to be honored with both. He received the Young Scholar Award for the best contribution to research that addresses an industrial relations/employment problem of national significance. And he was the unanimous selection for the Excellence in Education Award for outstanding teaching in the academic area of human resources.