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Celiac disease
Drew Weissman and Jilian Melamed of the Perelman School of Medicine are leading research into how to use mRNA therapies to treat or even prevent celiac disease. “I got into medicine to help people, and it makes me feel good...
Read Moreabout Celiac diseaseDeucravacitinib Improves Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Activity
Victoria Werth, MD, a professor of Dermatology, investigated repurposing a currently FDA-approved medication to treat cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), an autoimmune disease. The study, a phase 2 trial of the drug deucravacitinib already in use and approved to reduce...
Read Moreabout Deucravacitinib Improves Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus ActivityPurified T Cell Transplant Lowers Risk of Immune Reaction in Blood Cancer Patients
An experimental T cell therapy significantly reduced the risk of a debilitating immune reaction called chronic graft versus host disease in patients with several types of blood cancer. It’s one of the first examples of successfully engineering bone marrow grafts...
Read Moreabout Purified T Cell Transplant Lowers Risk of Immune Reaction in Blood Cancer PatientsH5N1 Immune Response Correlates with Birth Year
New research from Scott Hensley, PhD, a professor of Microbiology, suggests that younger populations could gain more from vaccination efforts if an H5N1 outbreak were to emerge. The study reveals that immunity to H5N1 may hinge on the year...
Read Moreabout H5N1 Immune Response Correlates with Birth YearMeasles Is Unlike Other Viruses: What to Know About Long-Term Complications
When we get sick with a virus, our immune systems can “remember” the virus and potentially fight it the next time it comes around. However, measles, unlike other viruses, can wipe out the immune system and that memory. When that...
Read Moreabout Measles Is Unlike Other Viruses: What to Know About Long-Term ComplicationsExperts Raise “Serious Doubt” About COVID Vaccine Study Claiming mRNA Harms
A new study from Yale University researchers, that has yet to be peer-reviewed, rapidly circulated online among vaccine skeptics. The study said a small group of patients reported lingering symptoms similar to long COVID after receiving the Pfizer or Moderna...
Read Moreabout Experts Raise “Serious Doubt” About COVID Vaccine Study Claiming mRNA HarmsThe Importance of Clinical Trial and Treatment Accessibility for Myeloma
At the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting, Marco Ruella, MD, an assistant professor of Hematology-Oncology, and colleagues presented findings from an analysis of treatment access and outcomes in minority health populations receiving commercial CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma.
Read Moreabout The Importance of Clinical Trial and Treatment Accessibility for MyelomaWithout Fundamental Science, How Would the Next Generation of Novel Therapies Emerge?
A commentary on how government funding supports basic science research cites the development of CAR T cell therapy by Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, as an example.
Read Moreabout Without Fundamental Science, How Would the Next Generation of Novel Therapies Emerge?Scientists Develop Bird Flu Vaccines in Preparation for Possible Pandemic
Five years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts turn their focus to a new pandemic threat: H5N1, or bird flu. Currently, the virus is circulating among birds and dairy cattle, and does not spread from human-to-human. Efforts are...
Read Moreabout Scientists Develop Bird Flu Vaccines in Preparation for Possible PandemicTanning Salon or Sun Spa? Why the Industry Is Expanding Spa Services
Some people are heading to tanning salons for red light therapy instead of to tan. Joel Gelfand, MD, the James J. Leyden, M.D. Endowed Professor in Clinical Investigation in the department of Dermatology and director of Penn’s Psoriasis and...
Read Moreabout Tanning Salon or Sun Spa? Why the Industry Is Expanding Spa ServicesThe Importance of Funding Medical Research
In a guest essay in the New York Times about the value of public funding for medical research, physician-scientist author Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, mentioned the groundbreaking research done decades ago by Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor...
Read Moreabout The Importance of Funding Medical ResearchStudy Suggests CAR T Cell Therapy May Work for Solid Tumors
New study results that used CAR T cell therapy to treat children with a rare nerve cell cancer showed long-term success, including one patient who remained cancer-free for 18 years. “Neuroblastoma is the first solid tumor where there looks like...
Read Moreabout Study Suggests CAR T Cell Therapy May Work for Solid TumorsInside the Debate Over the Origins of COVID-19
In the five years since the COVID-19 pandemic first developed, virology experts still debate the origins of the virus. Some believe the so-called “Lab Leak” theory, which suggests that the virus was accidentally leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, while...
Read Moreabout Inside the Debate Over the Origins of COVID-19Key Sessions at the AACR Immunotherapy Conference
The AACR Immunotherapy Conference 2025 is taking place this week in Los Angeles. Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, will discuss advancements in engineered T-cell therapies and the potential for new indications in a keynote...
Read Moreabout Key Sessions at the AACR Immunotherapy ConferencePenn-made AI Tool Aims to Treat Rare Diseases with Existing Drugs
Castleman’s disease is a lymph node disorder characterized by swelling that can damage internal organs. One patient was about to head into hospice care, after all treatments had failed. With the help of an artificial intelligence platform developed by David...
Read Moreabout Penn-made AI Tool Aims to Treat Rare Diseases with Existing DrugsTrillions of Viruses Live in Your Body. AI Is Trying to Find Them
Scientists estimate that tens of trillions of viruses live inside of us, though they’ve identified just a fraction of them. A vast majority are benign, and some may even be beneficial, but we don’t know for sure, because most of...
Read Moreabout Trillions of Viruses Live in Your Body. AI Is Trying to Find ThemScientists Describe Rare Syndrome Following Covid Vaccinations
The Covid-19 vaccines were powerfully protective, preventing millions of deaths. But in a small number of people, the shots may have led to a constellation of side effects that includes fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog, tinnitus, and dizziness, together referred...
Read Moreabout Scientists Describe Rare Syndrome Following Covid VaccinationsCAR T therapy
A study by Joseph Fraietta, Frederic Bushman, and Carl June of the Perelman School of Medicine found no evidence that CAR T therapy causes any type of secondary cancer in modified T cells, reaffirming the safety of a groundbreaking...
Read Moreabout CAR T therapyFlu Cases Are Surging This Year
Flu cases continue to surge across the nation and in our region, but those who haven’t gotten flu shots can still get protection from being vaccinated now. Scott Hensley, PhD, a professor of Microbiology, discussed efforts already underway at...
Read Moreabout Flu Cases Are Surging This YearCows Have Been Infected with a Second Form of Bird Flu
Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new form of bird flu that is distinct from the version that has been spreading through herds over the last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The finding indicates...
Read Moreabout Cows Have Been Infected with a Second Form of Bird Flu