Genetics

What’s That? Black squirrels

Penn Today spoke to Sarah Tomke in the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Wildlife Futures Program about the black squirrels regularly seen on College Green. They are black because of a genetic mutation in the melanin receptor protein, which regulates pigment.

Louisa Shepard



In the News


Newsweek

Cancer breakthrough as ‘speckles’ may reveal best treatment

A paper co-authored by PIK Professor Shelley Berger finds that patterns of “speckles” in the heart of tumor cells could help predict how patients with a common form of kidney cancer will respond to treatment options.

FULL STORY →



NPR

For kids with rare genetic disorders, customized CRISPR treatments offer hope

Scientists at Penn are trying to develop a template for groups of rare conditions that are similar enough to be affected by a single, easily adaptable gene-editing treatment.

FULL STORY →



Philadelphia Inquirer

A Philly biotech got $60M from a TED initiative for AI in medicine

David Fajgenbaum of the Perelman School of Medicine helped found Every Cure, a biotechnology nonprofit that employs AI to help match existing treatments to new diseases.

FULL STORY →



Stat

Study of gender-affirming care reveals immune system sex differences

Montserrat Anguera of the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Veterinary Medicine comments on the work to comprehensively examine the impact of gender-affirming care on the immune system.

FULL STORY →



The New York Times

A disease that makes children age rapidly gets closer to a cure

Kiran Musunuru of the Perelman School of Medicine says there’s no guarantee that gene editing which worked well in mice will also work with human patients.

FULL STORY →



USA Today

She’s fighting to stop the brain disease that killed her mother before it gets her

Kiran Musunuru of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on shutting off genetic signals in the brain to hold off diseases.

FULL STORY →