Faculty in the News
June 2025
Researchers crack the code of body’s ancient immune defense
How does your body distinguish friendly visitors, like medications and medical devices, from dangerous invaders such as viruses and other infectious agents? The answer lies in a protein network dating back half a billion years—before humans diverged from sea urchins, notes Jake Brenner, a physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.
March 2025
Marengo Therapeutics Enters Multi-Year Collaboration With University of Pennsylvania Institute for Immunology and Immune Health to Advance Next Wave Precision T Cell Immunology Research in Oncology and Autoimmune Diseases
Marengo Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering novel discovery of reprogramming T cell repertoire for precision immunotherapy in oncology and autoimmune diseases, today announced a multi-year research collaboration in oncology and autoimmune diseases with E John Wherry, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Immunology and Immune Health (I3H) at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (Penn).
July 2024
New Mouse Models Help Find Gene Therapy for Severe Alpha Thalassemia
Alpha thalassemia, a chronic anemia caused by inherited mutations affecting the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin protein, is a severe and potentially lethal condition whose lack of good preclinical models has hampered efforts to find treatments for it. However, a team led by Hamideh Parhiz, PharmD, PhD, of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, and Stefano Rivella, PhD, of Pediatrics, developed a new mouse model of the condition using targeted lipid nanoparticle (tLNP-mRNA). The model demonstrated the effectiveness of a novel gene therapy.
April 2024
Lunch with Leaders - E John Wherry, PhD
John was fantastic at Lunch with Leaders sharing his experience with great insights. We would love as many people as possible to learn from him.
March 2024
A Clue Why Lupus and Other Autoimmune Diseases Strike Far More Women Than Men
An estimated 50 million Americans have an autoimmune disorder—such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and dozens more. New research has found a possible culprit for why about four of every five of those patients are women: how the body handles females’ extra X chromosome. This “transforms the way we think about this whole process of autoimmunity, especially the male-female bias,” said E. John Wherry, PhD, chair of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics.
February 2024
Penn Medicine researchers receive $2.1 million grant to fund long COVID research
Funds support studies to characterize mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 persistence in the gut, including determining the impact of viral reservoirs on gut microbiome ecosystems.
The new funding will also enable Penn’s Department of Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics to extend ongoing research on T cell activity in long COVID. Led by E. John Wherry, PhD, the Richard and Barbara Schiffrin President's Distinguished Professor and chair of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, this research expands efforts to determine if CD8 T cells specific for SARS-CoV-2 proteins can be used as blood-based biosensors of viral persistence. “Dr. Wherry is a legend in the field and boasts decades of experience studying the intersection of T cell activity and chronic viral infection,” Proal said. “It is incredible that his laboratory continues to pivot this expertise to long COVID, which could eventually inform immunotherapy treatment for long COVID patients.”
January 2024
Understanding the Persistence of Long COVID
Four years after the first reports surfaced on COVID-19, the aftereffects of the illness, known commonly as long COVID, continues to confound researchers. While many theories persist on the causes, E. John Wherry, PhD, chair of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, added that there is not a direct, causal link between the virus persisting in the body and symptoms of long COVID.