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Additional challenges in bringing research online
researching working in simons observatory

The Devlin lab are working on creating an extremely cold environment (nearly -460 degrees Fahrenheit) so that the new Simons Observatory can detect cosmic microwave background (CMB), the residual radiation left behind by the Big Bang. Work done at the High Bay is essential for keeping the project from falling further behind after shutdown delays.

nocred

Additional challenges in bringing research online

As research on campus slowly restarts, those whose work requires field surveys, large-scale collaborations, or travel face additional challenges in bringing their research back online.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Parasites and the microbiome
scientists process samples in a field setting

Researchers Meagan Rubel and Eric Mbunwe process fecal samples in a hunter-gatherer village at dusk. (Image: Courtesy of the Tishkoff laboratory)

Parasites and the microbiome

In a study of ethnically diverse people from Cameroon, the presence of a parasite infection was closely linked to the make-up of the gastrointestinal microbiome, according to a research team led by Penn scientists.

Katherine Unger Baillie

At home, but still engaged with STEM classes
close up of tito device

At home, but still engaged with STEM classes

While instructional laboratories on campus are closed, students, faculty, and instructors are finding creative solutions for science, math, and engineering courses and projects.

Erica K. Brockmeier

Coming together to solve the many scientific mysteries of COVID-19
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample.

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (Image: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH)

Coming together to solve the many scientific mysteries of COVID-19

Putting some of their regular research projects on the back burner, researchers around Penn are digging into unknowns about the novel coronavirus from their deep and varied perspectives.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A link between obesity and sleep loss may lie in studying worm metabolism
Microscopic image of C. elegans.

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), seen here under a microscope. (Image: University of Nevada, Reno)

A link between obesity and sleep loss may lie in studying worm metabolism

Penn researchers find microscopic worms offer a surprisingly good model for studying how metabolism regulates sleep in humans and other mammals.

Penn Medicine

Penn labs get creative to stay productive, connected
thomas mallouk lab with researcher

Penn labs get creative to stay productive, connected

In the face of a pandemic that has shuttered most physical laboratories across campus, researchers have shifted gears, maintaining work and social ties through grant- and manuscript-writing, virtual journal clubs, online coffee breaks, and more.

Michele W. Berger

A quick pivot turns an infectious disease class into timely education
David Roos taking a selfie while teaching a class online, with scientific materials on the screen behind him

David Roos shifted his infectious disease course online, as required when Penn’s campus closed. But he also adapted its content to tackle some of what is happening in the world around the novel coronavirus. (Image: Courtesy of David Roos)

A quick pivot turns an infectious disease class into timely education

Students in David Roos’ upper-level biology course had been studying pandemics. Now they get to learn in real time how public health scientists attempt to understand COVID-19.

Katherine Unger Baillie