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Innovation

How Henry Daniell weds dental research with global health and sustainability
Researcher in lab coat standing in lab.

Henry Daniell, faculty fellow of Penn’s Environmental Innovations Initiative and the W.D. Miller Professor and vice chair in the Department of Basic & Translational Services at Penn’s School of Dental Medicine.

(Image: Kevin Monko)

How Henry Daniell weds dental research with global health and sustainability

Daniell, a faculty fellow of the Environmental Innovations Initiativ and the W.D. Miller Professor and vice chair in the Department of Basic & Translational Sciences at Penn’s School of Dental Medicine, explains his research and its connections to sustainability and the environment.

From the Environmental Innovations Initiative

2 min. read

A Penn Medicine nurse who donated her uterus helps another family’s dream come true
Emma Dolezal holding infant Emma Dolezal and Sara Leister.

Emma Dolezal (left) and her infant daughter Emma met Sara Leister, who donated her uterus through Penn Medicine’s Uterus Transplant Program.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)

A Penn Medicine nurse who donated her uterus helps another family’s dream come true

A Lancaster General Health nurse’s uterus donation transformed a woman’s dream of motherhood.

From Penn Medicine News

1 min. read

How discoveries become cures
Two doctors in white lab coats in a lab.

Image: Margo Reed

How discoveries become cures

Public investments in biomedical research have an outsized effect, driving new scientific insights, economic growth, and ultimately treatments and cures.

3 min. read

Wensi Wu uses digital twins to explore the hidden mechanics of the human heart
computational mapping of a human heart.

Image: Floriana via Getty Images

Wensi Wu uses digital twins to explore the hidden mechanics of the human heart

Wu, a research faculty member at Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, develops “digital twins” of the human heart through computational modeling that capture both the visible and invisible aspects of cardiac function.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

Teaching robots to build without blueprints
A simulation of the mathematics of a bee colony.

Researchers at Penn Engineering have developed mathematical rules to simulate robots to behave like bees, building complex shapes without instructions, pointing to a new manufacturing frontier.

(Image: Courtesy of Jordan Raney and Mark Yim)

Teaching robots to build without blueprints

Researchers at Penn Engineering have developed mathematical rules to simulate robots who behave like bees, building complex shapes without instructions, pointing to a new manufacturing frontier inspired by nature.

Ian Scheffler

2 min. read

A mothers’ meetup like no other for families formed through uterus transplant
Two people embrace at a uterine transplant meetup lunch with a baby in a stroller and gifts on a conference table.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News

A mothers’ meetup like no other for families formed through uterus transplant

One week before Mother’s Day, those who gave birth through uterus transplant gathered for a special brunch with those who donated their uteruses for the procedure, and their respective families.

Alex Gardner

2 min. read

Adventures in innovation: Penn Engineering startups lead Venture Lab Challenge

Adventures in innovation: Penn Engineering startups lead Venture Lab Challenge

A trio of Penn Engineering startups took home more than $100,000 at the annual Venture Lab Startup Challenge. Sync Labs, whose AI assistant, Alice, is enhancing caregiving for seniors, claimed the Richard and Ellen Perlman Grand Prize, as well as three other awards. Quok.it, which helps customers leverage unused computing power around the world for tasks like AI training, earned the William G. Simpson and R. Drew Kistler Runner Up Prize.

New 3D-printing enables color-changing, stress-responsive materials for smart sensing, displays, and robotics
A Penn engineering student holds up an array of different structures made with a new, 3D-printed material

Alicia Ng, a Ph.D. student in materials science and engineering holds up an array of different structures made with a new, 3D-printed material that changes color when stretched.

(Image: Penn Engineering Today)

New 3D-printing enables color-changing, stress-responsive materials for smart sensing, displays, and robotics

Penn engineers have developed a transparent silicone shell to preserve cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers—color-changing materials that can respond to mechanical stress—while supporting intricate 3D designs.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read