Biology | Penn Today

A study in prenatal gene editing with DNA in utero

A Penn Medicine and CHOP team shows the first example of using base-editing tools to treat a disease in animal models in utero.

Making extinct dinosaurs move to build better robots

Making fossils move to build better robots

Aja Carter, a Ph.D. candidate in paleontology, builds robots based on fossilized animals that crawled out of the sea about 300 million years ago. She’s pioneering a new field that she calls paleo-bio-inspired robotics.

Seven Penn researchers receive NIH Director Awards

Seven researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, and School of Engineering and Applied Science are to receive National Institutes of Health Director Awards, highly competitive grants to support innovative biomedical research.

Life with no males? These termites show that it’s possible

Tanya Dapkey of the School of Arts and Sciences discussed asexual termites, saying there was much to learn from “societies in nature run without any input from males.”

Learn from the experts with the Penn Science and Lightbulb Cafes

The lecture series, hosted by the School of Arts and Sciences, offers a casual setting in which researchers can present their work and engage with the attendees during a Q&A period, giving a glimpse into the research at Penn.

New center will study the complex genomics within individual cells

Junhyong Kim and James Eberwine are leading a multi-disciplinary team in developing cutting-edge technologies that can assess the genetic material inside individual compartments of single cells. The new Center for Sub-Cellular Genomics aims to revolutionize therapies for diseases such as bipolar disorder, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease.

This tiny fish can recognize itself in a mirror. Is it self-aware?

PIK Professor Michael Platt commented on an animal sentience study. While he found the research “fascinating and well-executed,” he pointed out that the study doesn’t necessarily confirm that animals have a human-like sense of self.

Radio: Incredible dignity in the face of a terrible tragedy

Lauren Sallan of the School of Arts and Sciences discussed “mass extinction events,” defined as “an event that wipes out biodiversity at orders of magnitude far above what we call ‘background extinction’—wiping out, say, 60 percent of species or species that wouldn't be expected to die off.”

Cancer cells send out ‘drones’ to battle the immune system from afar

Checkpoint inhibitor therapies have made metastatic melanoma and other cancers a survivable condition, but only for some patients. Researchers uncovered a novel mechanism by which tumors suppress the immune system, raising the possibility that a straightforward blood test could predict which patients could respond to immunotherapy.

How Dad’s genes can prepare Mom for parenthood

The Perelman School of Medicine’s Marisa Bartolomei commented on a genetic study’s innovative design and novel findings.

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