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Dogs of 9/11: Search and rescue canines worked tirelessly in the days following terror attacks
Fox News

Dogs of 9/11: Search and rescue canines worked tirelessly in the days following terror attacks

Cindy Otto of the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Penn Vet Working Dog Center praised the search and rescue dogs that assisted first responders on Sept. 11, 2001. Otto herself was deployed to Ground Zero to treat dogs returning from searches at the time.

Is treatment forever? Success of gene therapy for inherited blindness depends on timing
Top-and-bottom show fluorescent, microscopic images of layers of the eye's retina in blue, green, and red.

Canine retinas after successful gene augmentation therapy with RPE65 (red-labeling of the RPE cell layer). When eyes are treated at a stage when photoreceptor numbers are close to normal, there is an arrest of retinal degeneration, and cone (labeled in green) and rod photoreceptors retain normal structure for at least four years following treatment (upper image). If degeneration is ongoing at the time of treatment, there is substantial and progressive loss of photoreceptors in spite of robust RPE65 expression (lower image). (Image: Aguirre Laboratory/Penn Vet)

Is treatment forever? Success of gene therapy for inherited blindness depends on timing

An FDA-approved gene therapy for Leber congenital amaurosis, an inherited vision disorder with a childhood onset and progressive nature, has improved patients’ sight. But new research underscores the importance of further investigation to halt the progression of the disorder.

Katherine Unger Baillie

The diet-microbiome connection in inflammatory bowel disease
a dog and a toddler lay on a carpeted floor looking into each other's eyes.

The diet-microbiome connection in inflammatory bowel disease

Dogs with a Crohn’s-like disease fed a special diet were found to have characteristic changes in their gut microbiomes, paralleling changes seen in children with Crohn’s.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Where ethics, welfare, and sustainability meet swine
pigs in large stalls at new bolton center

Where ethics, welfare, and sustainability meet swine

At New Bolton Center’s model pig farm, free-roaming sows are implanted with RFID chips, nourished by organic feed, and powered by solar energy.

Gina Vitale

Breeding has shaped dogs’ brains, MRI scans reveal
Philadelphia Inquirer

Breeding has shaped dogs’ brains, MRI scans reveal

Wilfried Mai of the School of Veterinary Medicine weighed in on a study that analyzed cognitive differences between dog breeds. “The paper demonstrates very nicely differences in brain morphology with either reduction or hypertrophy [larger size] of certain brain areas that are known to be associated with specific behaviors,” he said.

Thanks to 3D-assisted surgery, this dog survived to comfort his grieving family
Philadelphia Inquirer

Thanks to 3D-assisted surgery, this dog survived to comfort his grieving family

Evelyn Galban of the School of Veterinary Medicine spoke about Penn’s use of 3D-printing technology to practice surgical procedures. “There’s a lot you miss when you’re looking at two dimensions and trying to build the three dimensions in your mind,” she said. “When you can see it and touch it, there’s a tremendous amount of knowledge you wouldn’t get from just looking at a screen.”

Game Commission and Penn Vet partner to protect wildlife
Six deer in a meadow

Game Commission and Penn Vet partner to protect wildlife

The Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program will increase disease surveillance, management, and research to better protect wildlife throughout the state from a spread of diseases, including chronic wasting disease and West Nile virus.

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

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