Spending time in nature has proven calming effects. Though not everyone can currently access campus green spaces like the scenic Kaskey Park, there are many other ways to safely interact with nature even while adhering to social distancing practices. (Image: Eric Sucar)
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Nature as a refuge in unsettling times
Even before the pandemic, campus initiatives like NatureRx@Penn and the 30x30 Challenge encouraged time outside. These efforts are continuing, now that restorative outlets are more important than ever.
Researchers from Penn Vet found that that the protein Elf5 in mammary tumors plays a role in the disease’s progression and spread. Cells with Elf5 are noted in green above. (Image: Snahlata Singh and Rumela Chakrabarti)
Tailoring treatment for triple-negative breast cancer
Research led by the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Rumela Chakrabarti identified a molecular pathway responsible for the disease’s progression and spread.
David Roos shifted his infectious disease course online, as required when Penn’s campus closed. But he also adapted its content to tackle some of what is happening in the world around the novel coronavirus. (Image: Courtesy of David Roos)
A quick pivot turns an infectious disease class into timely education
Students in David Roos’ upper-level biology course had been studying pandemics. Now they get to learn in real time how public health scientists attempt to understand COVID-19.
While the world works to flatten the curve, scientists at Penn and Wistar hope to deliver the COVID-19 pandemic’s silver bullet: a vaccine that effectively protects people from infection.
By culturing astrocytes, microglia, and neurons—all derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells—in one dish, researchers have created an effective model to study the cognitive impacts of HIV and other diseases. (Image: Sean Ryan)
A new way to study HIV’s impact on the brain
Using a newly developed laboratory model of three types of brain cells, Penn and CHOP scientists reveal how HIV infection—as well as the drugs that treat it—can take a toll on the central nervous system.
Dineobellator notohesperus is the name of a newly discovered species of dinosaur, that lived near the end of the reign of dinosaurs (Image: Sergey Krasovskiy)
New feathered dinosaur was one of the last surviving raptors
Dineobellator notohesperus lived 67 million years ago. Steven Jasinski, who recently earned his doctorate from the School of Arts and Sciences working with Peter Dodson, also of the School of Veterinary Medicine, led the effort to describe the find.
Telemedicine is a critical tool in the COVID-19 epidemic. Clinicians at the medical, dental, and veterinary schools are making use of virtual encounters to keep providing patients with safe, timely, quality care.
The activity of the Skp1 protein is crucial for sperm formation, Penn Vet scientists found. In a dividing sperm precursor cell, chromosomes (in purple) normally align in the middle, as shown on the left. But in cells lacking Skp1, as shown on the right, chromosomes fail to align and are instead distributed chaotically around the cell. (Image: Courtesy of the Wang laboratory)
A critical enzyme for sperm formation could be a target for treating male infertility
The protein, SKP1, drives a key transition step in male meiosis, the type of cell division process that results in sperm, School of Veterinary Medicine researchers found.
As many labs go quiet, research to find a coronavirus therapy ramps up
Virologists Susan Weiss, Sara Cherry, and others at the Perelman School of Medicine are collaborating to inform the search for therapies against SARS-CoV-2.
