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Combating urban heat
Sarah Sterinbach

Combating urban heat

Through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program, rising junior Sarah Sterinbach has spent the summer learning about the policies Philadelphia has used to protect its citizens from extreme heat and how those efforts might improve in the future.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano

Inspired by nature, artificial microtubules can work against a current to transport tiny cargoes
graphic of microvascular networks showing how free-swimming microrobots disperse but a microcatheter propels robots against a flow to a target

W

hile free-swimming microrobots have been explored as a way to precisely deliver therapeutics within a blood vessel, they can disperse in the strong flows, failing to reach their target at high enough concentrations. In contrast, microrobots propelled along an artificial microtubule, developed by physicist Arnold Mathijssen and colleagues, can be transported precisely, even working against the current. (Image: Courtesy of Arnold Mathijssen/Nature Machine Intelligence)

Inspired by nature, artificial microtubules can work against a current to transport tiny cargoes

Technology developed by Arnold Mathijssen of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues could one day clear blockages in blood vessels or precisely target chemotherapy drugs to a tumor.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Deconstructing the mechanics of bone marrow disease
microscopic image of an immune cell labeled purple against a gray background

Acollaborative team developed an alginate-based hydrogel system that mimics the viscoelasticity of the natural extracellular matrix in bone marrow. By tweaking the balance between elastic and viscous properties in these artificial ECMs, they could recapitulate the viscoelasticity of healthy and scarred fibrotic bone marrow, and study the effects on human monocytes placed into these artificial ECMs. (Image: Adam Graham/Harvard CNS/Wyss Institute at Harvard University)

Deconstructing the mechanics of bone marrow disease

A new understanding of how mechanical features of bone marrow affect resident immune cells in a fibrotic cancer points to future therapeutic strategies for cancers and fibrotic diseases.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Music-making and the flow of aerosols
Person playing a tuba in a dark room with a green laser shedding light on water mist

Members of The Philadelphia Orchestra, including Carol Jantsch, principal tuba player, took part in a study led by Penn scientists Paulo Arratia and Douglas Jerolmack. Their investigation examined the aerosols professional musicians generate as they play. (Image: Courtesy of Paulo Arratia)

Music-making and the flow of aerosols

If simply breathing can spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus to others nearby, what about blowing into a tuba? Researchers from the School of Engineering the School of Arts & Sciences used fluid mechanics to study the movement of aerosols generated by musicians.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Shapeshifting microrobots can brush and floss teeth
Graphic shows how nanoparticle-based microrobots can remove dental plaque from teeth with their motion and the activity of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to kill microbes

Shapeshifting microrobots can brush and floss teeth

In a proof-of-concept study, researchers from the School of Dental Medicine and School of Engineering and Applied Science shows that a hands-free system could effectively automate the treatment and removal of tooth-decay-causing bacteria and dental plaque.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Identities in harmony: How Beth Burton integrates the personal with the professional
A woman with purple hair sits at a piano and stares off into the distance.

Beth Burton, a graduate student at the Perelman School of Medicine, has degrees in both music and science. Even as a full-time researcher, she still finds time to play piano. Image: Courtesy of Beth Burton.

Identities in harmony: How Beth Burton integrates the personal with the professional

The doctoral candidate in the Perelman School of Medicine is a scientist studying the genetic causes of Alzheimer’s. She’s also a musician, a queer woman, and a voice for those with genetic disorders.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano

A newly identified stem cell regulator enables lifelong sperm production
Illustration of different cell types that eventually give rise to sperm shows that blocking an early stage of cell development can prevent the formation of sperm

When the enzyme DOT1L is not functional, spermatogonial stem cells become exhausted, leading to a failure of sperm cell development. This crucial role for DOT1L places it in rarefied company as one of just a handful of known stem cell self-renewal factors, a Penn Vet team found. (Image: Courtesy of Jeremy Wang)

A newly identified stem cell regulator enables lifelong sperm production

Research led by Jeremy Wang of the School of Veterinary Medicine has discovered that the enzyme DOT1L, a stem cell renewal factor, is essential for mice to produce sperm throughout their adult lives.

Katherine Unger Baillie

University of Pennsylvania’s first NFT commemorates mRNA research
Lots of gold blobs, some larger and closer to the front of the image, some smaller and farther away, on a pinkish background.

A still image from the 3D animated video component of the non-fungible token, which will also include patent documents and a letter from Drew Weissman of Penn Medicine. (Image: Courtesy Penn Medicine and Christie’s)

University of Pennsylvania’s first NFT commemorates mRNA research

Proceeds from the July auction of the non-fungible token—a digital asset—will benefit ongoing research at Penn.

Penn Medicine, Brandon Lausch , Peter Winicov

A $365 million development will expand the life sciences hub at Pennovation Works
Rendering depicting aerial view of new life sciences building on Pennovation Works campus

A $365 million development will expand the life sciences hub at Pennovation Works

Penn Senior Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli speaks with Penn Today about the evolution of the research and manufacturing project, led by Longfellow Real Estate Developers, and its value for Penn and the region.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Lighting the way for rare disease
Magnolia Wang posing with Penn Pavilion with the roof lit up

To commemorate Rare Disease Day, Magnolia Wang organized a lighting of the Pavilion of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in support of the National Organization for Rare Disorders.

Lighting the way for rare disease

After finding out about STAC3, a rare disease without a cure, biology major Magnolia Wang of the College of Arts and Sciences set out to raise awareness and advocate for those struggling with the illness.

Luis Melecio-Zambrano