Genetics

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Genetic testing beneficial in critically ill adults

Penn Medicine researchers have identified genetic conditions in a large percent of adults admitted to the intensive care unit, dispelling the belief that genetic testing only benefits a pediatric population.

3 min. read

How scientists made the first gene-editing treatment for a baby

Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas and Kiran Musunuru of the Perelman School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explain the implications of their treatment of a child with a rare genetic disorder using personalized gene-editing.

Leafcutter ants moving around a bright green leaf.

What can ants and naked-mole rats teach about societal roles?

PIK Professor Shelley Berger and colleagues explored the genetic basis of labor distribution in communal-dwelling species and discovered that pathways dating back hundreds of millions of years are conserved across animal kingdoms. Their findings offer fundamental insights into complex social behaviors.

5 min. read

Could gene therapy restore lost hearing?

Experts at Penn Medicine are working to understand the genetic architecture of hearing loss in adults at the Penn Center for Adult-Onset Hearing Loss.

2 min. read

Parents of baby saved by new gene editing therapy open up about his health journey

A team of researchers at CHOP and the Perelman School of Medicine developed a personalized gene-editing treatment for a baby’s rare disorder, using CRISPR to alter his DNA.

Determining the cause of cryopreservation fertility failures

A new study from Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine on germ cell gene regulatory networks offers a holistic understanding of complex male germ cell differentiation in meiosis and spermatogenesis.

2 min. read

World-first CRISPR therapy could ‘transform’ treatment for rare genetic diseases, but key challenges lie ahead

Kiran Musunuru and Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas of the Perelman School of Medicine led a team from Penn and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that used gene editing to heal a baby with a rare genetic condition.

A search for new antibiotics in ancient DNA

César de la Fuente of the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues are probing genetic remnants of Neanderthals and extinct animals to find new antibiotics.

My patient with a rare condition should have formed a ‘second skeleton.’ Why didn’t he?

Frederick Kaplan of the Perelman School of Medicine shares his experience treating a patient with an unusual case of FOP, a rare genetic condition that causes the growth of a “second skeleton.”

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