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Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production
A car at a hydrogen refueling station.

Image: David McNew via Getty Images

Mapping catalyst failure to advance clean hydrogen fuel production

A new study co-led by computational Penn engineering professor Aleksandra Vojvodic and collaborators offers an unprecedented view of the complicated degradation process of a material based on one of the rarest elements, iridium. Their findings, which show how this catalytic agent breaks down at the atomic scale, pave the way for better hydrogen fuel production.

3 min. read

Stress tested, testing stress: Novel organoid models how the adrenal gland develops
Michinori Mayama (left) is showing a culture dish to Kotaro Sasaki (right) in a lab.

Michinori Mayama (left) and Kotaro Sasaki (right). 

(Image: Courtesy of Kotaro Sasaki)

Stress tested, testing stress: Novel organoid models how the adrenal gland develops

Researchers led by Penn Vet’s Kotaro Sasaki and Michinori Mayama have developed an organoid system that faithfully mimics how the human adrenal gland develops and forms complex tissue structures, providing a powerful tool to study adrenal biology and laying the groundwork for regenerative therapies targeting adrenal diseases.

3 min. read

Annenberg Scholars awarded Information and Democracy Research Grants from the Penn Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy

Annenberg Scholars awarded Information and Democracy Research Grants from the Penn Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy

The 16 awardees will conduct research that unpacks how media ecosystems shape public understanding, examine AI’s expanding role as an information intermediary, and investigate communication strategies that enable persuasion and common ground.

How a postwar research push changed Penn
Three men and one woman look at an item through a microscope in a HUP laboratory.

Researchers look through a microscope in a lab at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania around 1940.

(Image: Courtesy of University Archives)

How a postwar research push changed Penn

In the second of a limited series, “Chapters of Change” showcases another transformational moment in Penn’s past shaped by changes in society—World War II—during which the U.S.’s drive for knowledge sparked massive investments in research.

5 min. read

Targeting tumor supporting cells: Advancing CAR T success in pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer cells.

Image: Nemes Laszlo/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Targeting tumor supporting cells: Advancing CAR T success in pancreatic cancer

Research led by Penn Vet’s Ellen Puré has used lipid nanoparticles to generate CAR T cells directed at a type of tumor support cells—cancer-associated fibroblasts—melting away the protective barrier around pancreatic tumor cells and paving the way for a potentially safer, more accessible, and cost-effective method to treat solid tumors.

3 min. read

Analyzing the news with AI
A person standing inside multicoloured data sheets and social media chat icons organised into circular pattern.

Image: Andriy Onufriyenko via Getty Images

Analyzing the news with AI

Annenberg School for Communication postdoctoral fellow Baird Howland looks at prominent narratives in the news media and how they shape Americans’ worldviews.

Hailey Reissman

2 min. read

A stiff defense: Rethinking gum disease
A section of healthy human gum tissue captured using an imaging technique called Second Harmonic Generation microscopy. In this sample, collagen fibers (shown in yellow), which give healthy gums their firm, resilient stiffness, are dense and well-organized—acting as a supportive scaffold for the surrounding cells (shown in teal).

A section of healthy human gum tissue captured using an imaging technique called Second Harmonic Generation microscopy. In this sample, collagen fibers (shown in yellow), which give healthy gums their firm, resilient stiffness, are dense and well-organized—acting as a supportive scaffold for the surrounding cells (shown in teal).

(Image: Hardik Makkar)

A stiff defense: Rethinking gum disease

Penn Dental Medicine’s Kyle H. Vining and Hardik Makkar take a biomaterials approach to understanding periodontal disease, using a hydrogel system to investigate how the physical properties of the gum tissue impact inflammation.

3 min. read

When bone behaves like a sponge
Three members of the Tertuliano lab looking at a computer in the lab.

To visualize the nanoscale structures, the Tertuliano lab often uses large-scale models like the one pictured.

(Image: Sylvia Zhang)

When bone behaves like a sponge

Penn Engineers in the Tertuliano Lab have developed a nanoengineered 3D-printed scaffold for observing how cells feel force.

Melissa Pappas

2 min. read

Mapping the expanding cosmos: Dark Energy Survey unveils clearest picture yet
Terrestrial telescope in Chile under a starlit sky.

The Dark Energy Survey used a 570-megapixel camera mounted on the 4-metre Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile to image 5,000 square degrees of southern sky. The survey discovered more than 1,000 supernovae and mapped millions of galaxies to help astronomers better understand the accelerating expansion of our universe.

(Image: Courtesy of Dark Energy Survey Collaborative)

Mapping the expanding cosmos: Dark Energy Survey unveils clearest picture yet

The Dark Energy Survey collaborative, including Penn researchers, recently released an analysis that gives the clearest picture yet of how dark energy is driving the universe’s expansion and how matter—including galaxies and groups of galaxies—has been organized over cosmic time.

3 min. read