Internal Medicine

On the biomed menu: Mini-organs, organ-on-a-chip

Since the first paper describing a brain organoid—a miniature, simplified version of a human organ—published in 2013, many new technologies, from organs-on-a-chip to organoids, have continued biomedical science down the innovative path.

Penn Today Staff

Seven Penn researchers receive NIH Director Awards

Seven researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, and School of Engineering and Applied Science are to receive National Institutes of Health Director Awards, highly competitive grants to support innovative biomedical research.

Penn Today Staff

Targeting a viral vulnerability to treat disease

Robert Ricciardi company ViRAZE utilizes interdisciplinary approaches to drug discovery. Its first target is molluscum contagiosum, a disease that targets children and immune-compromised adults with no current FDA-approved therapy.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Regrowing dental tissue with stem cells from baby teeth

In a clinical trial led by Songtao Shi of the School of Dental Medicine, stem cells extracted from baby teeth were used to regrow the living tissue in teeth damaged by injury. The promising findings highlight the potential of dental stem cells, which could be used in a wide range of dental procedures, or treating certain systemic diseases.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Making hepatitis C-infected organs safe for transplantation

Twenty patients at Penn Medicine have been cured of the hepatitis C virus following lifesaving kidney transplants from deceased donors who were infected with the disease. The kidney transplants for these patients, too, are functioning just as well as kidneys that are transplanted from similar donors without HCV.

Penn Today Staff

Low-calorie diet enhances intestinal regeneration after injury

Dramatic calorie restriction, diets reduced by 40 percent of a normal calorie total, have long been known to extend health span, the duration of disease-free aging, in animal studies, and even to extend life span in most animal species examined.

Katherine Unger Baillie



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

Mayor Parker’s plan to ‘remove the presence of drug users’ from Kensington raises new questions

Shoshana Aronowitz of the School of Nursing and Ashish Thakrar of the Perelman School of Medicine comment on the lack of specificity in Philadelphia’s plan to remove drug users from Kensington and on the current state of drug treatment in the city.

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Fox 29 (Philadelphia)

Potential mpox exposure at school in Port Richmond causes parents to worry: What to know about the virus

Michael Cirigliano of the Perelman School of Medicine says that monkeypox spreads mostly through skin-to-skin contact, though the risk of exposure in normal settings is low.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Marc Satalof donated 35 gallons of blood in more than 50 years. At 76, the Montco retiree just rolled up his sleeve for the last time

A longtime Philadelphia schoolteacher has completed his final donation of blood at Penn’s Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, with remarks from Kristin G. Christensen and Donald Siegel of the Perelman School of Medicine.

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Newsweek

Why is my dog sneezing a lot? What’s normal and when to worry

Paolo Silvestrini of the School of Veterinary Medicine says that the most frequent reasons for abrupt, sudden canine sneezing may involve a foreign body or allergic reactions to environmental allergens.

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WHYY-Radio (Philadelphia)

1 in 4 inmate deaths happens in the same federal prison. Why?

David Vaughn of the Perelman School of Medicine says a delay in diagnosis of testicular cancer of more than six months is an independent predictor of a lower chance of survival.

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CNN

Millions of people enter later life carrying an extra 10 to 15 pounds. Should they lose the weight?

Mitchell Lazar of the Perelman School of Medicine says distribution of fat plays a major role in determining how deleterious added weight is.

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