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Modeling the most common form of vision loss in older adults
Older man has eye examined

As the population ages, cases of age-related macular degeneration are forecast to skyrocket. New research led by a team from Penn may help make inroads into understanding its roots and possible therapies.

Modeling the most common form of vision loss in older adults

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in people older than 50. Kathleen Boesze-Battaglia and colleagues have developed a model system that mimics many features of the human condition, giving scientists a platform to gain a deeper understanding of risk factors and possible treatments.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Keeping campus trees—all 6,800 of them—healthy and vibrant
Looking down on campus through a variety of colorful treetops, people walk by holding umbrellas

The changing foliage of Penn’s trees make even a gray and rainy day look bright. Campus staff take a proactive approach to maintaining the trees’ health.

Keeping campus trees—all 6,800 of them—healthy and vibrant

Caring for the trees on Penn’s campus—an official arboretum since last year—is no small undertaking. Staff from Facilities and Real Estate Services and the Morris Arboretum lead the way in ensuring that the University’s trees remain safe, vibrant, diverse, and beautiful.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Dry conditions may have helped a new type of plant gain a foothold on Earth
Pots on a table in a greenhouse filled with grasses in various stages of growth

Biochemical and paleoclimate modeling revealed that plants with a new photosynthetic pathway known as C4, present in several important crop species today, emerged when atmospheric carbon dioxide was still quite high, roughly 30 million years ago. Water limitations, rather than Co2, drove its initial spread, a Penn-led team found.

Dry conditions may have helped a new type of plant gain a foothold on Earth

Plants reap energy from the sun using two photosynthesis pathways, C3 and C4. A new study led by Haoran Zhou, Erol Akçay and Brent Helliker suggests that water availability drove the expansion of C4 species, which may help to explain how different plant lineages came to be distributed on the planet today.

Katherine Unger Baillie

This startup wants to revolutionize the future of biofabrication
Biorealize's reactor in action

This startup wants to revolutionize the future of biofabrication

Before the fall of 2012, Orkan Telhan and Karen Hogan didn’t even know each other. Fast forward six years, and the Penn duo has created budding startup Biorealize, with not one—but two—transformative products.

Lauren Hertzler

Widening the lens on language study
illustration of speech

Widening the lens on language study

Penn Arts and Sciences faculty use language to unravel mysteries of culture, cognition, and communication.

How plants cope with stress
an irrigation field with minimal crops growing

Irrigated crops can grow with less water but are typically subject to increased salts leached out of the surrounding soil, which can put a dent in productivity. A new study led by Penn biologists has uncovered a way plants respond to salt stress—a pathway that could be manipulated to engineer more tolerant crops.

How plants cope with stress

With climate change comes drought, and with drought comes higher salt concentrations in the soil. Brian Gregory and graduate student Stephen Anderson have identified a mechanism by which plants respond to salt stress, a pathway that could be targeted to engineer more adaptable crops.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Future fertility: Giving hope to men who received childhood cancer treatment
father-kissing-newborn-son-on-head

Future fertility: Giving hope to men who received childhood cancer treatment

Researchers have discovered a way to grow human stem cells destined to become mature sperm in an effort to provide fertility options later in life to males who are diagnosed with cancer and undergo chemotherapy and radiation as children.

Penn Today Staff

New scholars named to promote research into the influence of gender on health
icons-for-womens-health

iStock

New scholars named to promote research into the influence of gender on health

Melanie Kornides of the School of Nursing, Jennifer Lewey of the Perelman School of Medicine, and C. Alix Timko of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are pursuing research that examines the role of sex and gender on health, supported by the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health program.

Katherine Unger Baillie

To improve dunes, plant more beach grass
beach grass

Volunteers can protect dunes by planting grasses like the American beachgrass, and it's easy if they can remember "D-P-F-N: Dig, Plant, Firm, Name."

To improve dunes, plant more beach grass

Pairing biology and cinema studies, Bianca Charbonneau and Yoni Gottlieb have produced a light-hearted, informative video that teaches the proper method for planting dune grasses to build a healthier dune ecosystem.

Jacob Williamson-Rea

Immune cells involved in triple-negative breast cancer could offer future therapeutic target
Chakrabarti teaser image

Immune cells involved in triple-negative breast cancer could offer future therapeutic target

New research led by Rumela Chakrabarti reveals how immune cells called myeloid-derived immunosuppressor cells contribute to the progression of triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive cancer. Pairing chemotherapy with a drug that blocks these cells may one day help stem its growth.

Katherine Unger Baillie