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Better prognosticating for dogs with mammary tumors
Two veterinarians in white coats pose in an exam room, one holding a small dog wearing a black jacket and a pink collar.

Karin Sorenmo (left) and colleagues created a practical tool for assessing prognoses for dogs with mammary tumors. The research emerged from Penn Vet’s Shelter Canine Mammary Tumor Program, which assists in treating and then finding homes for dogs like Brownie, pictured with former oncology intern, Kiley Daube. 

Better prognosticating for dogs with mammary tumors

For dogs with mammary tumors, a course of treatment can depend on a variety of factors, some of which may seem to contradict one another. A new system developed by Penn Vet’s Karin Sorenmo and colleagues can make determining a prognosis and making treatment decisions an easier task.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Keeping rain out of the drain
A scientist kneeling on a lawn checks a well using electronic monitoring equipment

David Vann of the School of Arts and Sciences heads up the research efforts around Shoemaker Green’s stormwater management system. Using sensors placed around the site, he hopes to be able to closely monitor how much water drains out of the system, and how quickly. 

Keeping rain out of the drain

From cisterns beneath Shoemaker Green to the green roof on New College House, special features of campus buildings and landscapes are helping manage stormwater to keep rain from the sewer lines, and scholars are using the infrastructure as a research opportunity.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A unique perspective on renewable energy
Rachel Kyte stands at a podium speaking, the sign on the podium reads "Kleinman Center for Energy Policy."
  • Q&A

    • A unique perspective on renewable energy

    In a conversation with Rachel Kyte, the U.N. special representative and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All discusses how this energy sector has changed in the past decade and what happens when political will doesn’t match the science.

    Michele W. Berger

    Names prompt distinct brain activity in preschoolers
    A child wearing an electroencephalogram cap looking at a bright screen, with someone standing nearby.

    A child wearing the EEG cap participants used during trials of the study. This child is older than the study group, which ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old and skewed heavily male. (Photo: Suzanne Slattery)

    Names prompt distinct brain activity in preschoolers

    A study from Penn and CHOP found that when preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder hear their name, their neural patterns match those of their typically developing peers. The finding held regardless of whether the child’s mom or a stranger called the name.

    Michele W. Berger

    A link between mitochondrial damage and osteoporosis
    Yellow pointers indicate large cells against a background of other microscopic material. Left panel has two smaller cells indicated while the right panel has three larger cells indicated.

    Mitochondrial damage is linked to the bone degradation seen in osteoporosis, according to Penn Vet researchers. Macrophages, a type of immune cell, that had dysfunctional mitochondria (right) were more likely to become osteoclasts—cells that break down bone—than control macrophages (left). (Image: Courtesy of Avadhani Lab)

    A link between mitochondrial damage and osteoporosis

    In healthy people, a tightly controlled process balances the activity of osteoblasts, which build bone, and osteoclasts, which break it down. Damage to cells’ mitochondria can make that process go awry, meaning exposure to cigarette smoke, alcohol, environmental toxins can increase the risk of osteoporosis.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    Putting mussels to the test
    A student crouches in front of several aquariums full of water and collects a sample, surrounded by a park setting.

    Senior Ahsen Kayani checks on the tanks, set up alongside the BioPond.

    Putting mussels to the test

    With a mussel hatchery in the future for the Schuylkill River, students in Byron Sherwood’s field biology course used scientific rigor to ask how effectively these filter feeders might render the water clean.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    Cohort of PIP/PEP winners celebrate at luncheon
    Amy Gutmann standing with winners of the PIP and PEP 2019 prizes.

    Penn President Amy Gutmann with the winners of the 2019 Presidential Engagement Prize and Presidential Innovation Prize

    Cohort of PIP/PEP winners celebrate at luncheon

    Nine students received handcrafted certificates at the annual luncheon, held May 3, that recognizes the work of graduating seniors awarded the President’s Engagement and Innovation prizes.
    An army of microrobots can wipe out dental plaque
    Time lapse photo of green circle shows a progressively larger cleared off area where a robot has removed a biofilm

    With a precise, controlled movement, microrobots clear a glass plate of a biofilm in this time-lapse sequence.

    (Image: Geelsu Hwang and Edward Steager)

    An army of microrobots can wipe out dental plaque

    A swarm of microrobots, directed by magnets, can break apart and remove dental biofilm, or plaque, from a tooth, thanks to a partnership led by Dental Medicine’s Hyun (Michel) Koo and Engineering’s Edward Steager.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    Expanding opportunities to leverage science in the clinic
    Patricia Corby in an office smiling at the camera

    Patricia Corby has joined Penn Dental Medicine with a eye toward advancing clinical research at the School.

    Expanding opportunities to leverage science in the clinic

    Patricia Corby, who recently joined the School of Dental Medicine as associate dean for translational research, is bringing her research to bear for cancer patients undergoing radiation, while looking to advance clinical research School-wide.

    Katherine Unger Baillie

    Brain regions linked to memory and emotion help humans navigate smell
    A man in a blue plaid coat, pink shirt and purple tie standing in front of a blurry building.

    Jay Gottfried is a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and the Arthur H. Rubenstein University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Brain regions linked to memory and emotion help humans navigate smell

    The work points to the existence of a grid-like hexagonal structure in olfactory-related brain areas, similar to mapping configurations previously found to support spatial navigation in animals.

    Michele W. Berger