News from

Genetics

Reset All Filters
187 Results
Solving medical mysteries with genetics: The Penn Neurogenetics Therapy Center
Janet Waterhouse practicing yoga.

After decades, Janet Waterhouse received a diagnosis from a genetic counselor at Penn Medicine. (Image: Penn Medicine News)

Solving medical mysteries with genetics: The Penn Neurogenetics Therapy Center

The Penn Neurogenetics Therapy Center works to achieve a genetic diagnosis for as many patients as possible, and establish clinical trials using novel gene and molecular therapies.

Kelsey Geesler

Proactive genetic testing for hereditary cancer risk can help improve outcomes
Kimyatta Frazier in scrubs standing in a hospital room.

Kimyatta Frazier at work taking care of NICU babies. (Image: Penn Medicine News)

Proactive genetic testing for hereditary cancer risk can help improve outcomes

Neonatal intensive care nurse Kimyatta Frazier found solace in a relationship with a genetic counselor at Penn Medicine who would be instrumental in helping her feel more in control of any future cancer diagnoses.

Caren Begun

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