The student-led project will reimagine the campus of West Philadelphia’s Andrew Hamilton School, including vegetable gardens, a food forest, and other green stormwater-management tools.
A genetic condition known as 22q.11.2 deletion syndrome is associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia. A Penn Vet-led team found that a leaky blood-brain barrier, allowing inappropriate immune involvement in the central nervous system, may contribute to this or perhaps other neuropsychiatric conditions. (Image: Courtesy of Jorge Iván Alvarez)
The immune link between a leaky blood-brain barrier and schizophrenia
Research from the School of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia points to the involvement of the immune system the brain as a contributor to mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
Nina Morris, Penn's sustainability director, hopes to engage more members of the campus community by “meeting people where they are, showing up to support them and their interests, and then finding out how their passions connect to sustainability.”
A ‘human-focused approach’ to sustainability
Sustainability Director Nina Morris, who started at Penn in October, aims to build on the University’s strengths in creating a more sustainable campus and community.
In her work and her teaching, historian of science Elly Truitt challenges assumptions. “The people who lived in the Middle Ages were definitely no less intelligent than we are, and they didn’t think they were living in the middle of anything,” she says.
From ‘Indiana Jones’ to medieval robots
Historian of science Elly Truitt’s multidisciplinary investigations of the Middle Ages challenge assumptions about the period as a dark time in innovation and prompt a rethink of notions of ‘modern’ science.
A mutation in the NPHP5 gene leads to a severe blinding disorder, Leber congenital amaurosis. Dogs with the condition that were treated with a gene therapy regrew normal, functional cone cells, labeled in red, that had previously failed to develop. The treatment led to a recovery of retinal function and vision. (Image: Courtesy of Gustavo Aguirre and William Beltran)
Turning back the clock on a severe vision disorder
Gene therapy triggered the regrowth of healthy photoreceptor cells and restored vision in dogs with a severe form of Leber congenital amaurosis.
Penn Today brings together noteworthy stories and images from the past year and highlights ways for individual members of the Penn community to share their personal experiences.
Results of the experiments so far, along with insights from Penn Medicine’s P.J. Brennan, have helped inform the arrangement of members of The Philadelphia Orchestra as they have resumed performances that are captured and later streamed on their new “Digital Stage.” (Image: The Philadelphia Orchestra)
The Philadelphia Orchestra is playing safe
Penn experts are working with The Philadelphia Orchestra to study the aerosol droplets that wind and brass musicians produce when playing. Their findings, aimed at reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission, could help the Orchestra once again play together.
