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School of Veterinary Medicine
Opioid Epidemic
Opioid drug misuse and addiction are epidemic in the United States. Every day, 90 people lose their lives to opioid overdose and the economic burden of the crisis has climbed to an estimated $80 billion a year. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are spearheading multi-faceted solutions to address the problem.
Four Penn Professors Among 2017 Class of AAAS Fellows
Four members of the University of Pennsylvania faculty have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon members of AAAS, the world’s largest general scientific society, by their peers.
Taking Blood Using ‘Push-Pull’ Method Gets Accurate Results With Fewer Pokes, Penn Study Shows
A new study by University of Pennsylvania veterinary researchers has found that blood samples collected from an intravenous catheter using a special “mixing” technique are as accurate as those collected via venipuncture, in which a needle is used to access the vein directly.
Penn Senior Barbara Biney Is Unlocking the Genetic Secrets of Heartworm-resistant Mosquitoes
By Erica AndersenCertain mosquitoes don’t get heartworm, and Barbara Biney was keen to find out why.
Slowing the spread of an insidious cancer
Cancer of the pancreas is rare, but deadly. Research from Penn Vet may slow its spread.
Targeting enzyme in ‘normal’ cells may impede pancreatic cancer’s spread, Penn Vet team shows
Cancer of the pancreas is a deadly disease, with a median survival time of less than six months. Only one in 20 people with pancreatic cancer survives five years past the diagnosis. The reason is the cancer’s insidiousness; tumor cells hide deep inside the body, betraying no symptoms until late in the disease, when the cancer has almost invariably spread to other organs.
Penn Study Shows How Female Immune Cells Keep Their Second X Chromosome Shut Off
Autoimmune diseases tend to strike women more than men and having multiple X chromosomes could be the main reason why. While a process called X chromosome inactivation serves to balance out gene dosage between males and females, some genes on the “inactive X” chromosome in immune cells can sometimes escape this process, giving women an extra dose of immunity-related gene expression.
Penn Team Shows How Seemingly Acute Viral Infections Can Persist
Infections caused by viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, measles, parainfluenza and Ebola, are typically considered acute. These viruses cause disease quickly and live within a host for a limited time. But in some cases the effects of the infection, and presence of the virus itself, can persist.
Confronted With Bacteria, Infected Cells Die So Others Can Live, Penn Study Finds
The immune system is constantly performing surveillance to detect foreign organisms that might do harm. But pathogens, for their part, have evolved a number of strategies to evade this detection, such as secreting proteins that hinder a host’s ability to mount an immune response.
Celebrating five years of working dogs at Penn
Celebrating five years of working dogs at Penn
The Working Dog Center began with just a few puppies, and now, five years later, has trained some of the best noses in the business. Canine graduates have gone on to police work, search and rescue, and explosives, narcotics, and diabetes detection.
In the News
The Washington Post
Dogs may be able to communicate by pressing buttons, research suggests
Postdoc Amritha Mallikarjun of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that dogs use buttons as a trained behavior to try and get the things they want.
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Popular Science
Dogs really are communicating via button boards, new research suggests
Postdoc Amritha Mallikarjun of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that dogs are using button boards to communicate non-randomly and with intent, although they don’t necessarily have formal language ability.
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
Saving Philly’s bats, one DIY condo at a time
The Wildlife Futures Program at the School of Veterinary Medicine has facilitated the design and construction of wooden bat boxes to be installed in campus parks, with remarks from Julie Ellis. The project is the brainchild of Penn undergraduate Nick Tanner.
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Voice of America
Can honeybees and dogs detect cancer earlier than technology?
Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center are training dogs to recognize certain cancer odors.
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The Scientist
Dogs engage in scent-sational science to sniff out staphylococcus bacteria
Meghan Ramos and Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues are training dogs to detect infections that accumulate on orthopedic implants after surgery.
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