Karen Kreeger

For rodent pups, bonding with mom isn’t hard-wired in the womb. It develops over the first few weeks of life, which is achieved by their maturing sense of smell, possibly allowing these mammals a survival advantage by learning to identify mother, siblings, and home.

Karen Kreeger ・March 11, 2011

The liver normally makes and stores fat, which is required in moderation for normal body function. However, if the process goes awry, excess fat in the liver can cause major liver damage.  In fact, fatty liver is a leading cause of liver failure in the United States, and is often brought on by obesity and diabetes.

Karen Kreeger ・March 10, 2011

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania explain how a class of RNA molecules is able to target the genetic building blocks that guide the functioning of a specific part of the nerve cell. Abnormalities at this site are in involved in epilepsy, neurodegenerative disease, and cognitive disorders.

Karen Kreeger ・March 9, 2011

New research on how tuberculosis (TB) bacteria develop multi-drug tolerance points to ways TB infections might be cured more quickly. The study was published online last week in Cell.

Karen Kreeger ・March 7, 2011

PHILADELPHIA - The gene for the protein p53 is the most frequently mutated in human cancer. It encodes a tumor suppressor, and traditionally researchers have assumed that it acts primarily as a regulator of how genes are made into proteins.

Karen Kreeger ・March 1, 2011

The launch of the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP) – a collaboration formed to discover and map the genes that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease – was announced Feb. 1 by a multi-national group of researchers.

Karen Kreeger ・February 15, 2011

John Lambris, PhD, the Dr.

Karen Kreeger ・February 15, 2011

PHILADELPHIA - So-called barrier sites -- the skin, gut, lung – limit the inner body’s exposure to allergens, pollutants, viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Understanding how the immune system works in these external surfaces has implications for understanding such inflammatory diseases as asthma, psoriasis, IBD, and food allergies, all of which occur at the body’s barriers.

Karen Kreeger ・February 4, 2011

PHILADELPHIA – Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) are characterized by protein clumps in brain and spinal-cord cells that include an RNA-binding protein called TDP-43. This protein is the major building block of the lesions formed by these clumps.

Karen Kreeger ・January 4, 2011

PHILADELPHIA – Given the amount of angst over male pattern balding, surprisingly little is known about its cause at the cellular level.

Karen Kreeger ・January 4, 2011