News Releases

Kidney stones—solid, pebble-like grit that forms when too much of certain minerals like calcium are in the urine—can strike men, women, and increasingly, children, and the presence and pain of stones afflicts more than 12 percent of the world’s population.

A class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors could be useful for treating and preventing brain disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, and some forms of frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), by halting the misplacement of specific proteins that affect nerve cells, according to a study published in Molecular Cell by researchers in the the School of Arts and Sciences and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

In citing DiRienzi, the organization noted that “Joe is a prolific provider of exceptional-quality biospecimens for NRDI research partners, having shipped tissues to researchers in virtually every state and all over the world.” DiRienzi received the award as part of a ceremony at which, among others, U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health, were also honored by the NRDI.

A collaborative effort between investigators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Medical School provides new insights into how Notch drives the growth of B-cell cancers.