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20 breakthroughs of 2025
Masoud Akbarzadeh holding up one of the fabricated materials.

The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.

(Image: Eric Sucar)

20 breakthroughs of 2025

From ancient tombs and tiny robots to personalized gene editing and AI weather models, Penn’s 2025 research portfolio showed how curiosity—paired with collaboration—moves knowledge into impact and stretches across disciplines and continents.

5 min. read

An overdose prediction tool for cocaine and other stimulants

An overdose prediction tool for cocaine and other stimulants

To treat stimulant use disorder more like other chronic diseases, researchers at Penn Medicine have created a prediction tool to identify who may be at risk and what they have in common.

Frank Otto

2 min. read

New rules for methadone doses at home did not increase overdoses

New rules for methadone doses at home did not increase overdoses

LDI senior fellows have studied the impact of the federal policy change for patients to access take-home doses and recommend that policymakers at both the state and federal levels should support the continued expansion of flexible take-home methadone policies, citing the benefits of patient autonomy and the evidence that take-home doses did not increase methadone-involved overdose deaths overall.

Uncovering key brain circuit in the fight against cocaine use disorder
Brain imaging.

Image: janiecbros via Getty Images

Uncovering key brain circuit in the fight against cocaine use disorder

A new study published in Science Advances by Penn Nursing’s Heath Schmidt has identified a critical brain circuit that plays a pivotal role in regulating cocaine-seeking behavior.

From Penn Nursing News

Science behind genetic testing for identifying risk of opioid misuse remains unproven
A scientist with a pipette and a test tube with a computer screen in the background.

Image: iStock/Cavan Images

Science behind genetic testing for identifying risk of opioid misuse remains unproven

A new report from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and Crescenz VA Medical Center has evaluated a genetic test for opioid use disorder that recently received pre-marketing approval by the FDA, finding that the genes comprising it do not accurately identify individuals likely to develop the disorder.

Eric Horvath

Unveiling the brain’s reward circuitry
Microscopic view of brain neurons.

Image: iStock/onimate

Unveiling the brain’s reward circuitry

A new study from Penn Nursing identifies 34 subtypes of neurons in the brain that play potential roles in substance use disorders.

From Penn Nursing News