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Genomic differences selected through evolution may offer clues as to why COVID-19 outcomes vary widely
two DNA double helixes next to an illustration of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

COVID-19’s hard-to-predict effects likely owe in part to genetic differences. A Penn-led study analyzing the genomes of a diverse set of populations globally points to genetic variants that may help explain some of the variability in disease severity.

Genomic differences selected through evolution may offer clues as to why COVID-19 outcomes vary widely

A team from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed genomic data from global populations, including thousands of ethnically diverse Africans, to identify genetic variants that may be associated with clinical COVID-19 outcomes.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Both nature and nurture contribute to signatures of socioeconomic status in the brain

Both nature and nurture contribute to signatures of socioeconomic status in the brain

Gideon Nave of the Wharton School and Martha Farah of the School of Arts & Sciences are quoted on their work that found evidence that both genetics and environmental influences contribute to the impact of socioeconomic status in a complex interplay with effects that span a variety of brain regions.

Elizabeth Heller’s lab uncovers how drug addiction can create lasting changes in genes
Elizabeth Heller.

Elizabeth Heller, assistant professor of pharmacology and head of the Heller Lab.

Elizabeth Heller’s lab uncovers how drug addiction can create lasting changes in genes

Leading a neuroepigenetics lab at her alma mater, Heller and the work of her 10-person lab is focused on molecular brain mechanisms, aiming to uncover chronic changes that can happen and keep happening in the brain long after exposure to addictive substances ends.

Alex Gardner

Correcting night blindness in dogs
Three panels show fluorescent images of therapeutic gene LRIT3, which corrects a form of night blindness

Correcting night blindness in dogs

Researchers in the School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues have developed a gene therapy that restores dim-light vision in dogs with a congenital form of night blindness, offering hope for treating a similar condition in people.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A new study finds genome refolding contributes to resistance to cancer therapy
Two cartoon hands holding lines of yarn, twisted into genetic shapes.

If you stretched the DNA fiber packed inside of a single cell, it would reach six feet long from end to end—that’s like fitting a ball of yarn twice the size of Manhattan into a tennis ball. Penn researchers have discovered that the misfolding of DNA can reposition transcription factors and lead to cancer drug resistance. (Image: Penn Medicine News)

A new study finds genome refolding contributes to resistance to cancer therapy

While gene mutations can lead to drug resistance, researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine have identified an important, non-genetic adaptation that could also drive resistance to targeted therapy in T cell leukemia, a type of blood cell cancer.

Lauren Ingeno

First gene-editing treatment injected into the blood reduces toxic protein for up to 1 year

First gene-editing treatment injected into the blood reduces toxic protein for up to 1 year

Kiran Musunuru of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on an experimental gene-editing treatment for a condition that has already responded well to approved drugs. “I think people are generally assuming that the clinical outcomes [from the gene-editing treatment] will follow,” he said.