Red blood cells are the body’s true shape shifters, perhaps the most malleable of all cell types, transforming – among many other forms -- into compressed discs capable of going through capillaries with diameters smaller than the blood cell itself. While studying how blood clots contract John W.

Karen Kreeger ・January 9, 2014

A new study from Penn Medicine epidemiologists that looked at four years of bed bug reports to the city of Philadelphia found that infestations have been increasing and were at their highest in August and lowest in February. The findings, published ahead of print on January 8 in the Journal of Medical Entomology, point to two possible peak times to strike and eliminate the bugs.

Steve Graff ・January 9, 2014

One of the primary social motivations for scientific research is the ability to make better decisions based on the results.

Evan Lerner ・January 8, 2014

Increasingly, biologists have come to realize that RNA is not merely a transitional state between DNA and proteins but plays a major role in determining whether and how genes are turned into a protein product. Gaining a deeper understanding of RNA regulation can help scientists shed light on diseases that arise when this function goes awry.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・January 7, 2014

Despite a national consensus among policy makers and educators to train residents to be more conscious of the cost of care, less than 15 percent of internal medicine residency programs have a formal curriculum addressing it, a new research letter published today in JAMA Internal Medicine by a Penn Medicine physician found.

Steve Graff ・December 17, 2013

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a devastating illness that gradually robs sufferers of muscle strength and eventually causes a lethal, full-body paralysis. The only drug available to treat the disease extends life spans by a meager three months on average.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・December 16, 2013