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Genetics

What can ants and naked-mole rats teach about societal roles?
Leafcutter ants moving around a bright green leaf.

In eusocial superorganisms like leafcutter ant colonies, labor is divvied up according to body shape and size, but PIK Professor Shelley Berger and her team discovered that molecular signals can override that blueprint. Their findings reveal how simple neuropeptides can reprogram ant behavior, reshuffling roles in nature’s most disciplined workforce.

(Image: Courtesy of Tierney Scarpa)

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?
Soundwaves superimposed over an ear.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine Magazine

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.

From Penn Medicine Magazine

2 min. read

Determining the cause of cryopreservation fertility failures
Spermatogenesis at a microscopic level

Image: Ed Reschke via Getty Images

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.

Martin Hackett

2 min. read