Penn Vet’s David Holt advances cancer care with a simple question asked in the operating room: ‘Have we removed it all?’
2 min. read
Small animal professor of surgery David Holt is redefining how cancer is seen and removed during surgery. A Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and member of the Penn Vet Cancer Center, Holt pioneered the use of near-infrared fluorescence imaging to illuminate cancerous tissue in dogs undergoing cancer surgeries, helping surgeons achieve cleaner margins while preserving healthy tissue. These techniques have been translated into human cancer surgery and will soon be featured in the national science exhibition, The Journey to End Cancer: From Cause to Cure, underscoring its far-reaching impact.
A longtime faculty advisor for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service student-run community clinic, Holt’s work reflects a career grounded in innovation, mentorship, and service, with implications that reach well beyond veterinary medicine.
Novel plant-based approach to a better, cheaper GLP-1 delivery system
Research led by Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell investigates the use of a lettuce-based, plant-encapsulated delivery platform as a new oral delivery of two GLP-1 drugs previously approved by the FDA in injectable form.
No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise
Research led by Penn neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley and collaborators finds that hypothalamic neurons are essential for translating physical exertion into endurance, potentially opening the door to exercise-mimicking therapies.
In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a way of fostering community in her Shakespeare in Love course, Becky Friedman took her students to the University Club for lunch one class period. They talked about the movie "Shakespeare in Love," as part of a broader conversation on how Shakespeare's works are adapted.
In Becky Friedman’s English course Shakespeare in Love, undergraduate students analyze language, genre, and adaptation in the Bard’s plays through the lens of love.
Beating the heat: Designing cooling for bodies in motion
Dorit Aviv, director of Weitzman’s Thermal Architecture Lab, studies how humans, technology, and design intersect, paving the way for the development of novel approaches to cooling people efficiently.
