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Internal Medicine

Nicotine-free e-cigarettes can damage blood vessels
Side-view of person against a wall exhaling smoke from an e-cigarette

Nicotine-free e-cigarettes can damage blood vessels

A single e-cigarette can be harmful to the body’s blood vessels—even when the vapor is entirely nicotine-free, according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn Today Staff

Lung cell transplant boosts healing after the flu
Colorful fluorescent labeled cells appear in a tissue sample of a lung

Researchers successfully transplanted a special type of lung cell called AT2 cells (labeled in green) from healthy mice into mice that had experienced a severe flu infection. The AT2 cells that engrafted (in red) appear to have helped the animals recover more robustly. (Image: Aaron Weiner/School of Veterinary Medicine)

Lung cell transplant boosts healing after the flu

A serious case of the flu can cause lasting damage to the lungs. In a study in mice, researchers found that transplanting cells from the lungs of healthy animals enhanced healing in others that had had a severe respiratory infection.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Treatment doctor tested on himself can put others into remission

Treatment doctor tested on himself can put others into remission

Five years ago, David C. Fajgenbaum both a Penn Medicine researcher and patient, tried an experimental treatment for Castleman disease based on his laboratory research findings in the hopes of saving his own life. He has been in remission ever since.

Penn Today Staff

Looking into the immune system to better fight disease
a gloved hand holds a glass film with blood sample underneath beneath a microscope

Looking into the immune system to better fight disease

A rare, short-lived population of immune cells in the bloodstream may serve as ‘periscopes’ to monitor immune status via lymph nodes deep inside the body, researchers say.

Penn Today Staff

A cohort study comes of age
illustration of kidneys

A cohort study comes of age

For nearly two decades, a major national study of kidney disease led and coordinated at Penn has defined key risk factors in an all-too-common silent epidemic.

Steve Graff

Keeping parasites from sticking to mosquito guts could block disease transmission
Glowing green, dozens of small ovals represent parasites in a microscopic image

Mosquitoes infected with the parasite Crithidia fasciculata may offer a valuable model for studying other parasite diseases, according to a study led by Penn Vet’s Michael Povelones and Penn State Brandywine’s Megan Povelones. Here, a microscopic image shows the hindgut of Aedes aegypti mosquito infected with Crithidia expressing green fluorescent protein. (Image: Michael Povelones)

Keeping parasites from sticking to mosquito guts could block disease transmission

Researchers at the School of Veterinary Medicine show how a new model for studying the way parasites known as kinetoplastids adhere to mosquitoes’ insides could illuminate strategies for curbing diseases.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A new drug target for chemically induced Parkinson’s disease
Grid of multiple brain scans

Findings from Penn Vet suggest a potential new target for treating Parkinson's, an enzyme that wreaks its damage on dopamine-producing neurons.

A new drug target for chemically induced Parkinson’s disease

An enzyme that modifies chemicals formed in the body by alcohol, tobacco, and certain foods may be a new target for treating Parkinson’s disease. The altered compounds may play a role in triggering the onset or advancing the progression of the neurodegenerative condition.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Novel model for studying intestinal parasite could advance vaccine development
Fluorescent microscopic images shows a section of intestine with blue, green, and red labels.

A section of intestine from an infected mouse shows Cryptosporidium tyzzeri parasites in red. The Penn Vet-led team is the first to sequence, study, and manipulate a naturally occurring mouse Cryptosporidium. (Image: Muthugapatti Kandasamy, Adam Sateriale, and Boris Striepen)

Novel model for studying intestinal parasite could advance vaccine development

The intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium causes frequent outbreaks in the U.S., and has been historically difficult to study. A novel model of infection from Penn Vet serves as a new tool to pursue a vaccine.

Katherine Unger Baillie

How to quell a cytokine storm
rendering of cells and a virus

How to quell a cytokine storm

An international team finds new ways to dampen an overactive immune system, and can influence new drug targets for lupus and other autoimmune disorders.

Penn Today Staff

We’re only as good as our microbiomes are happy
Colorful sketch of microorganisms

We’re only as good as our microbiomes are happy

Understanding the microbiome, the collection of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the gut, is helping to sort out the intricacies of diet, chronobiology, cancer treatment, and more.

Penn Today Staff