Biology | Penn Today

A microscopic image of a neuron labeled in fluorescent colorful markers

The immune link between a leaky blood-brain barrier and schizophrenia

Research from the School of Veterinary Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia points to the involvement of the immune system the brain as a contributor to mental disorders such as schizophrenia.

Gloved hand putting substance into a test tube with a pipette in a lab setting.

Penn Medicine awarded nearly $7 million to study influenza viruses

Penn Medicine is one of five institutions in the U.S. chosen by the National Institutes of Health as a Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response to improve pandemic preparedness.

What monkeys can teach humans about resilience after disaster

PIK Professor Michael Platt and Camille Testard, a Ph.D. student in the Perelman School of Medicine, spoke about their research on how rhesus macaques in Puerto Rico adapted in the wake of Hurricane Maria. “We see this massive surge in the time they spend in proximity to other partners, and their social tolerance increasing toward many different partners,” said Testard. “We saw active building of relationships with individuals that they didn’t really interact with before.”

Communicating change in a ‘land of extremes’

In Aurora MacRae-Crerar’s Penn Global Seminar, students are grappling with the impacts of a shifting and unpredictable climate in Mongolia.

Selfie of David Roos in front of two desktop computer monitors and a laptop.

David S. Roos on the future of COVID-19

The E. Otis Kendall Professor of Biology and infectious disease specialist discusses the virus, its variants, and vaccines in a Q&A.

molecules showing the cyclic assembly and disassembly of actin (in orange) on mitochondria (in blue) in dividing HeLa cells

Research reveals how a cell mixes its mitochondria before it divides

A team at Penn Medicine has discovered—and filmed—the molecular details of how a cell, just before it divides in two, shuffles important internal components called mitochondria to distribute them evenly to its two daughter cells.

Diagram of lungs comprised of microscopic dots.

Med study illuminates the molecular details of lung development

Researchers at Penn Medicine have produced a detailed molecular atlas of lung development, key for future studies of mammalian biology and of new treatments for diseases, such as COVID-19, that affect the lungs.

Three Goldwater Scholars for Penn

Penn’s newest Goldwater Scholars, awarded to sophomores or juniors planning research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering are sophomore Emma Keeler, junior Michele Meline and junior Max Wragan.

How female frogs tune out useless, noisy males

Amritha Mallikarjun, a postdoc in the School of Veterinary Medicine, weighed in on a study that found that female frog lungs can not only amplify the mating calls of male frogs but also muffle noises from other species. “It seems incredibly smart,” she said. “They’re taking sounds that aren’t interesting and trying to reduce them.”

Like humans, naked mole-rats have regional accents

Robert Seyfarth of the School of Arts & Sciences weighed in on a new study that found naked mole-rat colonies have unique vocal signatures. “Mole-rats have this incredible society,” he said. “It looks like their vocal communication, and the way their brain organizes vocalizations, has evolved to fit the demands of that society.”

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