Health Sciences

Penn: Plant-made Antimicrobial Peptide Targets Dental Plaque and Gum Tissues

Protein drugs, which derive from biological sources, represent some of the most important and effective biopharmaceuticals on the market. Some, like insulin, have been used for decades, while many more based on cloned genes are coming to market and are valued for their precise and powerful functions.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Penn Medicine: New Activity-Tracking App Could Improve Concussion Care

A new app may offer new insights for millions of Americans diagnosed with a concussion each year. Patients are usually advised to rest for the first several days after sustaining a concussion, based on what is known about the metabolic cascade that happens shortly after an injury.

Greg Richter

Targeting Mosquito Immunity to Fight Disease

Before a mosquito can transmit a disease like dengue fever, Zika, or malaria to a human, the mosquito itself must get infected. That means the parasite or virus must find a way around the natural defenses of the insect’s immune system.

Penn Study: Lengthy ER Visits for Psychiatric Patients Often Result in Transfer, Not Treatment

Cutbacks in capacity at state and county mental hospitals have forced more and more psychiatric patients to seek treatment . But a new study led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, found that people who visit emergency rooms for mental health care were transferred to another facility at six times the rate of people who visit ERs for non-psychiatric conditions, and could wait almost two hours longer.

Katie Delach

Penn Research Identifies Brain Network that Controls Spread of Seizures

A flurry of coordinated activity in a brain-spanning network of neurons may sound like the formation of a brilliant new idea, but it is actually the description of a seizure. Understanding why and how this synchronization spreads would be a critical tool in treating severe epilepsy.

Evan Lerner



In the News


KFF Health News

Rural jails turn to community health workers to help the newly released succeed

According to Aditi Vasan of the Leonard Davis Institute and Perelman School of Medicine, evidence is mounting in favor of the model of training community health workers to help their neighbors connect to government and health care services.

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The New York Times

When it’s time for an aging driver to hit the brakes

Lauren Massimo of the School of Nursing says that losing the ability to drive is a major and dehumanizing loss for older adults.

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Everyday Health

What is food noise and how do you get rid of it?

According to Thomas Wadden of the Perelman School of Medicine, people taking GLP-1 drugs are finding that daily experiences that used to trigger a compulsion to eat or think about food no longer have that effect.

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Philadelphia Gay News

UPenn hosts free online panel for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion

The Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative, led by José Bauermeister and Jessica Halem of the School of Nursing, will host a free online panel in April on the integration of LGBTQ+ people in the workforce.

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The New Yorker

How to die in good health

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel says that incessantly preparing for old age mistakes a long life for a worthwhile one.

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