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Keeping food safe and animals healthy
A lab technician injecting small eggs with a substance via syringe.

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Keeping food safe and animals healthy

As part of the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS), Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center helps to protect animals and humans from health threats and minimize agricultural economic loss.

7 min. read

Penn Medicine outreach addresses health-related social needs
A volunteer with Penn Medicine SHARE Food Program hands a box of food to a bike courier.

Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine Magazine

Penn Medicine outreach addresses health-related social needs

For five years, Penn Medicine’s Social Needs Response Team has connected patients to vital support foundational to good health.

From Penn Medicine Magazine

2 min. read

Innovative program jointly launched by Independence Blue Cross and Penn Medicine accelerates access to outpatient scans

Innovative program jointly launched by Independence Blue Cross and Penn Medicine accelerates access to outpatient scans

A joint program from Independence Blue Cross (IBX) and Penn Medicine gets patients on the path to care and a diagnosis faster and to save both providers and IBX time on prior authorization requests for outpatient scans (such as, CT, PET, and nuclear medicine scans, MRI and echocardiograms). Launched in 2023, the success of the program has driven IBX to expand the program to other network providers.

New rules for methadone doses at home did not increase overdoses

New rules for methadone doses at home did not increase overdoses

LDI senior fellows have studied the impact of the federal policy change for patients to access take-home doses and recommend that policymakers at both the state and federal levels should support the continued expansion of flexible take-home methadone policies, citing the benefits of patient autonomy and the evidence that take-home doses did not increase methadone-involved overdose deaths overall.

Nancy A. Speck honored for pioneering research in hematology

Nancy A. Speck honored for pioneering research in hematology

Speck, the John W. Eckman Professor in Medical Science II and chair of the department of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine, has been named the 2025 recipient of the E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize from the American Society of Hematology.

Expanding essential wound care for people who use drugs

Expanding essential wound care for people who use drugs

A new study from Penn’s School of Nursing, published in the Harm Reduction Journal, identifies critical factors and strategies for expanding low-barrier wound care services for people who use drugs. The research comes as the rise of xylazine, a tranquilizer found in the street opioid supply, has led to a significant increase in severe necrotic wounds among this population.

Decoding ancient immunity networks
Hand holding a blood vial that reads "complement (C3 + C4)"

A collaborative team from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Perelman School of Medicine have unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that acts like the body’s bouncer, “deciding” which foreign materials get degraded by immune cells and which are allowed entry.

(Image / iStock Md Saiful Islam Khan)

Decoding ancient immunity networks

A collaborative team from Penn Medicine and Penn Engineering have  unraveled the mathematics of a 500-million-year-old protein network that “decides” which foreign materials are friend or foe.

Nathi Magubane , Ian Scheffler , Holly Wojcik , Matt Toal

5 min. read

New chair of Orthopaedics starts a new chapter in a lifetime of service
Benjamin Potter holding a piece of prosthetic hardware.

Benjamin “Kyle” Potter demonstrates how the OPRA implant (Integrum LLC), which is FDA-approved for osseointegration following transfemoral amputation, fits into the AXOR II failsafe device, directly linking a patient's residual bone to an external prosthesis.

(Image: Courtesy of Penn Medicine News)

New chair of Orthopaedics starts a new chapter in a lifetime of service

Following a distinguished military career, Benjamin ‘Kyle’ Potter is bringing his battle-tested expertise to Penn.

From Penn Medicine News

2 min. read

What can ants and naked-mole rats teach about societal roles?
Leafcutter ants moving around a bright green leaf.

In eusocial superorganisms like leafcutter ant colonies, labor is divvied up according to body shape and size, but PIK Professor Shelley Berger and her team discovered that molecular signals can override that blueprint. Their findings reveal how simple neuropeptides can reprogram ant behavior, reshuffling roles in nature’s most disciplined workforce.

(Image: Courtesy of Tierney Scarpa)

What can ants and naked-mole rats teach about societal roles?

PIK Professor Shelley Berger and colleagues explored the genetic basis of labor distribution in communal-dwelling species and discovered that pathways dating back hundreds of millions of years are conserved across animal kingdoms. Their findings offer fundamental insights into complex social behaviors.

5 min. read