Penn Researcher Receives $2 million From NIH to Test Macular Degeneration Drug
John Lambris, PhD, the Dr. Ralph and Sallie Weaver Professor of Research Medicine in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Eye Institute to test a new class of drugs called complement inhibitors in a primate model of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The complement system is an evolutionarily ancient branch of the immune response. One of its key functions is to mark both bacterial and dying host cells for elimination by the body's cellular cleanup services; yet dysregulated complement has also been implicated in at least 30 diseases, including stroke, myocardial infarction, and AMD.
Complement inhibitors, discovered in the Lambris lab, were licensed by Louisville, KY-based Potentia Pharmaceuticals and are about to enter a Phase II clinical trial for the same disease (to be conducted by Alcon Inc.).
Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
New research involving Penn Engineering shows detailed variation in lipid nanoparticle size, shape, and internal structure, and finds that such factors correlate with how well they deliver therapeutic cargo to a particular destination.
A generous gift from alumni Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman brings the work of internationally acclaimed artist Jaume Plensa to the University of Pennsylvania. The latest addition to the Penn Art Collection expands Philadelphia's public art.
A massive chunk of ice, a new laser, and new information on sea-level rise
For nearly a decade, Leigh Stearns and collaborators aimed a laser scanner system at Greenland’s Helheim Glacier. Their long-running survey reveals that Helheim’s massive calving events don’t behave the way scientists once thought, reframing how ice loss contributes to sea-level rise.
