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School of Veterinary Medicine
Penn Vet Study Identifies New Mechanism for Antibacterial Immunity
The innate immune system serves as a first-line defense, responding to infections almost immediately after a pathogen makes its way into the body.
Penn Doctoral Students and Postdoc Appointed Health Policy Research Scholars
Two doctoral students from the University of Pennsylvania were selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as inaugural Health Policy Research Scholars. They are Jasmine L. Blanks Jones and Sondra Calhoun.
Penn Vet Professor Assists in Effort to Empower Smallholder Farmers
To ensure the global population is food secure, it’s estimated that food production must increase at least 50 percent by 2050. One of the best means to achieve that increase is by boosting yield, that is, producing more food on existing cropland with fewer resources.
Penn: Blinding Disease in Canines and Humans Shares Causative Gene, Pathology
Ciliopathies are diseases that affect the cilia, sensory organelles that most mammalian cells possess and which play a critical role in many biological functions. One such disease is Senior Løken Syndrome, a rare condition that can involve both a severe kidney disease and the blinding disease Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA.
Penn Team Identifies Strategy to Reverse the Disease Dyskeratosis Congenita
Dyskeratosis congenita, or DC, is a rare, inherited disease for which there are limited treatment options and no cure. Typically diagnosed in childhood, the disorder causes stem cells to fail, leading to significant problems including bone marrow failure, lung fibrosis, dyskeratosis of the skin and intestinal atrophy and inflammation.
New Multi-photon Microscope at Penn Vet Offers Faster, Deeper Images
By Patrick Ammerman You can’t study what you can’t see.
Penn Vet Students Bring Expertise and Supplies to Rural Haiti
By Patrick Ammerman
Penn Team Finds Mitochondrial Stress Induces Cancer-related Metabolic Shifts
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.
Gustavo Aguirre of Penn Vet Awarded Proctor Medal for Blindness Research
By Patrick Ammerman
Penn-led Study Resolves Long-disputed Theory About Stem Cell Populations
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
In the News
Nature
Bird flu virus has been spreading in U.S. cows for months, RNA reveals
Louise Moncla of the Veterinary School of Medicine says that the bird flu virus is clearly being transmitted to cows in some way.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Fentanyl overdoses hit a surprising group of San Franciscans: the city’s dogs
Cynthia Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that fentanyl can be absorbed across the mucous membranes in canine noses, causing dogs to face a life-threatening overdose.
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The Washington Post
How to (responsibly) let your cat outside
James Serpell of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that some cats are perfectly happy within the confines of the home, while others have a greater desire to wander, explore, and investigate.
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The Washington Post
Cats aren’t jerks. They’re just misunderstood
James Serpell of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that the domestic cat suffers from its legacy of being a not-quite-wild animal on the margins of society.
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Newsweek
Dog respiratory illness map update: Mystery disease spreads to more states
Deborah Silverstein of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that the dogs most at risk for respiratory illness are those with low immunity, such as young puppies, the unvaccinated, or older dogs, and potentially short-nosed breeds.
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