Perelman School of Medicine

In a study with potentially major implications for the future treatment of autoimmunity and related conditions, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found a way to remove the subset of antibody-making cells that cause an autoimmune disease, without harming the rest of the immune system.

University of Pennsylvania engineers have developed a rapid, low-cost genetic test for the Zika virus. The $2 testing device, about the size of a soda can, does not require electricity or technical expertise to use. A patient would simply provide a saliva sample. Color-changing dye turns blue when the genetic assay detects the presence of the virus.

Adult stem cells represent a sort of blank clay from which a myriad of different cell and tissue types are molded and as such are of critical importance to health, ageing and disease.  In tissues that turn over rapidly, such as the intestines, the self-renewing nature of stem cells and their susceptibility to cancer-causing mutations has led researchers to postulate that

Switching to reduced nicotine content (RNC) cigarettes may not necessarily reduce harm to smokers, according to new research conducted by Penn’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction (CIRNA). Smokers also tend to ignore cautions contained in warning box labels, the authors found in a separate study.

Donita C.

Vaccines are usually medicine’s best defense against the world’s deadliest microbes. However, HIV is so mutable that it has so far effectively evaded both the human immune system and scientists’ attempts to make an effective vaccine to protect against it.

The University of Pennsylvania has co-founded and structured BluePen Biomarkers in collaboration with BluePrint Bio, Inc. and Emerald Logic, Inc. to conduct biomarker research and identification.  BluePen is creating a comprehensive biomarker measurement and discovery pipeline for the acceleration of personalized medicine.

Marsha Lester, Andrea Liu and Amita Sehgal of the University of Pennsylvania have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, consid

Incorporating omega-3, vitamins and mineral supplements into the diets of children with extreme aggression can reduce this problem behavior in the short term, especially its more impulsive, emotional form, according to University of Pennsylvania researchers who published their findings in the Journal of

This is the first of two features introducing the University of Pennsylvania’s 2016 President’s Innovation Prize winners. A rough estimate of the amount of steps taken in a day might be enough for the average fitness tracker or smartwatch user, but, for people with movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, more fine-grained data could be life changing.