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From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19
emulsions of oil and water separated by a layer of nanoparticles.

Bijels, or bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels, are structured emulsions of oil and water that are kept separated by a layer of nanoparticles. Penn Engineering researchers will develop a way of using them to manufacture mRNA-based therapeutics. (Image: Penn Engineering Today)

From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19

Pivoting to study SARS-CoV-2, many scientists on campus have launched new research projects that address the challenges of the pandemic but also prepare us to confront future challenges.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Rapid adaptation in fruit flies
Fruit fly perched on a plant stem

In a controlled field experiment on Penn’s campus, biologists tracked fruit fly evolution over the course of four months, documenting some of the fastest rates of adaptation ever in animals. (Image: Seth Rudman)

Rapid adaptation in fruit flies

New findings from School of Arts & Sciences biologists show that evolution—normally considered to be a gradual process—can occur in a matter of weeks in fruit flies in response to natural environmental change.

Katherine Unger Baillie

The pandemic’s psychological scars
swirly painting of faces and heads

(Homepage image) “What we needed to do for our physical health—quarantining, staying away from other people and social situations—even when that kind of avoidance is the right thing to do, it makes people more anxious,” says Elizabeth Turk-Karan of the Center for the Study and Treatment of Anxiety. What remains to be seen is how these emotions and many others will play out as the pandemic recedes.

The pandemic’s psychological scars

It’s been a long and uncertain road, with some groups shouldering a disproportionately greater burden of mental anguish from COVID-19. Yet now there’s a glimmer of hope. Has the page finally turned?

Michele W. Berger

Improving access to at-home health care
Aris Saxena and Yiwen Li

Improving access to at-home health care

With their company Mobility Health, President’s Innovation Prize winners Aris Saxena and Yiwen Li have created a program which connects patients with on-demand health care at their homes.

Dee Patel

Why unions matter for nursing
A nurse seated at a work station in a large hospital room with patient beds.

Image: Amir Arabshahi on Unsplash

Why unions matter for nursing

A new study examines nursing’s relationship to union organizing and feminism, as well as the profession’s unique organizing challenges.

Alina Ladyzhensky

From wearable light to tech startup
innovation prize portrait of anthony scarpone

From wearable light to tech startup

Lumify Care, supported by the 2021 President’s Innovation Prize and co-founded by May graduate Anthony Scarpone-Lambert and NICU nurse Jennifferre Mancillas, launched an app in January and expects version 2.0 of its uNight Light later in 2022.

Michele W. Berger

Interaction with lung cells transforms asbestos particles
Side-by-side panels labeled with 1 nanometer scale bar show atomic structure of asbestos

Interaction with lung cells transforms asbestos particles

To better understand what happens once asbestos enters a human body, researchers in the School of Arts & Sciences took a nanoscale look at the mineral.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn receives momentous gift to support Korean studies, neurovascular surgery, and the Wharton School 
James Kim.

Penn alum James Joo-Jin Kim.

Penn receives momentous gift to support Korean studies, neurovascular surgery, and the Wharton School 

The $25 million gift from James Joo-Jin Kim and Agnes Kim, and the James and Agnes Kim Family Foundation will support a range of initiatives at Penn, including the James Joo-Jin Kim Center for Korean Studies in the School of Arts & Sciences.
Perceptions shaped social behavior during the pandemic
A movie marquee with the words "1. Elbow Bumps 2. Foot Shakes 3. Just Wave!"

Perceptions shaped social behavior during the pandemic

Research from Penn psychologists found that Americans who most feared losing their connections continued interacting with others, paradoxically acting in ways that risked prolonging disease-mitigating social restrictions.

Michele W. Berger