PHILADELPHIA — When a virus such as influenza invades our bodies, interferon proteins are among the first immune molecules produced to fight off the attack. Interferon can also play a role in suppressing tumor growth and the effects of autoimmune diseases, and doctors may use an artificial form of interferon to treat patients with certain cancers or multiple sclerosis.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・November 9, 2012

Cindy Nicoletti, a 2011 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, is one of those lucky people who has known since childhood what she wanted to do with her life. “I always wanted to be a teacher,” she says. “That was my main focus, ever since second grade.”

Katherine Unger Baillie ・November 9, 2012

As a student at Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, Stephanie Kelly decided on a career in nursing.  For her, it was not simply a desire to change the world through the science; it was much more personal.

Jill DiSanto ・November 2, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — To a room full of academics and Ph.D. students in the notoriously polluted city of Beijing, the University of Pennsylvania’s Iliana Sepúlveda presented ideas for increasing the use of energy-efficient technology that may one day help lessen the burden of fossil-fuel combustion in that city, as well as many others across the globe.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・November 2, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — The disease atherosclerosis involves the build up of fatty tissue within arterial walls, creating unstable structures known as plaques. These plaques grow until they burst, rupturing the wall and causing the formation of a blood clot within the artery.

Evan Lerner ・October 26, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — The extensive system of levees along the Mississippi River has done much to prevent devastating floods in riverside communities. But the levees have also contributed to the loss of Louisiana’s wetlands.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・October 22, 2012

Health-care reform and cultural competence in health-care delivery are hot topics.  Research has shown that cultural competence is a key strategy for bridging health and health-care disparities.

Jill DiSanto ・October 16, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — Six professors from the University of Pennsylvania, representing four schools, have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine.

Katherine Unger Baillie, Karen Kreeger ・October 15, 2012

It’s almost as far away from Philadelphia urban life as one can imagine. Or, to be precise, it’s a 14-hour plane ride followed by a 16-hour bus ride capped by a 40-minute ride in a truck away from the University of Pennsylvania campus.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・October 12, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — Making uniform coatings is a common engineering challenge, and, when working at the nanoscale, even the tiniest cracks or defects can be a big problem. New research from University of Pennsylvania engineers has shown a new way of avoiding such cracks when depositing thin films of nanoparticles.  

Evan Lerner ・October 11, 2012