Katherine Unger Baillie

In humans, it’s well documented that having a healthy social life is associated with better physical health. The same is true for baboons: females who have close bonds with other females live longer and have greater reproductive success.

The bacteria that live in dental plaque and contribute to tooth decay often resist traditional antimicrobial treatment, as they can “hide” within a sticky biofilm matrix, a glue-like polymer scaffold.

Now until July 29, the University of Pennsylvania Office of Development and Alumni Relations is hosting two interns for the CASE Advancement Internship Program.

By Patrick Ammerman You can’t study what you can’t see.

Summer is often equated with relaxation and a slower pace. But for animal shelters, the long days of summer can be the most stressful of the year.

[vimeo]175598576[/vimeo]Growing up in Parsippany, N.J., Bianca Reo Charbonneau adored visiting the beach and imagined she would one day live there full-time. She remembers, however, her parents cautioning, “It’s better to know someone with a house down the shore than to have one yourself.”

It has remained frustratingly difficult to develop a vaccine for HIV/AIDS, in part because the virus, once in our bodies, rapidly reproduces and evolves to escape being killed by the immune system.

Jonas Salk created a vaccine against polio that has been used since 1955; Albert Sabin created another version that has been on the market since 1961. Together, these two vaccines have nearly eliminated polio from the face of the earth.

By Patrick Ammerman

Cancerous tumors must be fed. Their unregulated growth requires a steady stream of blood flow and nutrients. Thus, one way that researchers have tried to wipe out cancer is to target cells undergoing the metabolic shifts that enable a tumor’s rapid growth.