A new collaborative study describes a way that lung tissue can regenerate after injury. The team found that lung tissue has more dexterity in repairing tissue than once thought.

The laboratory of David Weiner, PhD, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the 2015 V

Robert L.

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvaniadescribe the first set of genes important in learning in a zebrafish model in the journal Neuron this week. “Using an in-depth analysis of one of these genes, we have already revealed an important relevant signaling pathway,” says senior author Michael Granato, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology. “The proteins in this pathway could provide new insights into the development of novel pharmacological targets.”

The heart tissue of mammals has limited capacity to regenerate after an injury such as a heart attack, in part due to the inability to reactivate a cardiac muscle cell and proliferation program. Recent studies have indicated a low level of cardiac muscle cell (cardiomyocytes) proliferation in adult mammals, but it is insufficient to repair damaged hearts.

Two of the four known groups of human AIDS viruses (HIV-1 groups O and P) have originated in western lowland gorillas, according to an international team of scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Montpellier, the University of Edinburgh, and others.

The topical eczema medicine pimecrolimus appears unlikely to be associated with an increased risk of cancer in children, based on a group of children who were followed for 10 years, according to study published online this week in JAMA Dermatology.

Tens of millions of people around the world have abnormal, leak-prone sproutings of blood vessels in the brain called cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). These abnormal growths can lead to seizures, strokes, hemorrhages, and other serious conditions, yet their precise molecular cause has never been determined. Now, cardiovascular scientists at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have studied this pathway in heart development to discover an important set of molecular signals, triggered by CCM-linked gene defects, that potentially could be targeted to treat the disorder.

Workhorse molecules called heat-shock proteins contribute to refolding proteins that were once misfolded and clumped, causing such disorders as Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. James Shorter, PhD, an associate professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been developing ways to "reprogram" one such protein – a yeast protein called Hsp104 -- to improve its therapeutic properties.

Jason H. Moore, PhD, has been named the first permanent director of the Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI), at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. His appointment starts March 1, 2015.