Perelman School of Medicine

Vacant lot remediation work from Penn and Columbia researchers found that cleaning up blighted spaces could reduce crime and make neighborhoods safer.

Cleaning up vacant lots makes neighborhoods safer

Removing trash and debris, grading land, planting new grass, and maintaining lots resulted in a 29 percent reduction in gun violence, 22 percent decrease in burglaries, and 30 percent drop in nuisances.

Michele W. Berger ・

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Penn chemists develop 'motion capture' technology for tracking protein shape

In many modern animated movies, the trick to achieving realistic movements for individual characters and objects lies in motion-capture technology. This process often involves someone wearing a tracking suit covered in small, colored balls while a camera captures the position of those colored balls, which is then used to represent how the person is moving.

Ali Sundermier

Triple-negative breast cancer heat map

Study uncovers therapeutic targets for aggressive triple-negative breast cancers

As part of a breast-cancer diagnosis, doctors analyze the tumor to determine which therapies might best attack the malignancy. But for patients whose cancer is triple-negative — that is, lacking receptors for estrogen, progesterone and Her2 — the options for treatment dwindle. Triple-negative cancers, or TNBC, also tend to be more aggressive than other cancer subtypes.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Midshipman Rome fish

Penn-led Team Uncovers the Physiology Behind the Hour-long Mating Call of Midshipman Fish

According to the Guinness World Records, the longest any person has held a continuous vocal note is just shy of two minutes. That’s quite an achievement.Compared to the Pacific midshipman fish, however, the endurance of the human vocal cord is no match. Midshipman fish can generate a mating call that emits continuously from their bodies for a full hour.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Weekly Fish Consumption Linked to Better Sleep, Higher IQ

Children who eat fish at least once a week sleep better and have IQ scores that are 4 points higher, on average, according to new findings from the University of Pennsylvania published in Scientific Reports.

Michele W. Berger ・



In the News


CNN

Vaping immediately affects vascular health and oxygen levels, study shows, even without nicotine

Research published by Marianne Nabbout while a resident at the Perelman School of Medicine finds that vaping has an immediate effect on blood vessels even if an e-cigarette doesn’t contain nicotine.

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Fox 29 (Philadelphia)

Former patient gives thanks to PA hospital staff after surviving coma, COVID-19 battle

A former COVID patient who spent six months in a coma returned to thank the Penn Medicine team that contributed to his survival, including Megan Carr-Lettieri.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Is there a chemical link to memory loss? Penn researchers get $11M to study dementia causes

The National Institutes of Health have awarded $11 million to Aimin Chen of the Perelman School of Medicine to study the link between chemical exposures and dementia.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

COVID patient who survived coma reunites with Penn care team

A COVID patient who survived his coma recently reunited with the Penn Medicine care team that helped save his life, including Jennifer Olenik of the Perelman School of Medicine.

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Forbes

Insomnia may be more common than you think. Here’s what to know

According to Penn Medicine, about 1 in 4 Americans experiences difficulty with sleep each year.

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