News Releases

Using high-throughput sequencing to map the locations of a common type of jumping gene within a person’s entire genome, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found extensive variation in these locations among the individuals they studied, further underscoring the role of these errant genes in maintaining genetic diversity.

Cancer patients who’ve been told to rest and avoid exercise can – and should – find ways to be physically active both during and after treatment, according to new national guidelines.

Aromatase inhibitor-associated arthralgia (AIAA) is a major side effect in breast cancer survivors, producing joint pain so severe that as many as ten percent of women discontinue their therapy prematurely while undergoing treatment with these lifesaving drugs. New research presented by investigators from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center at the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology reveals a possible genetic basis for why these side effects occur and shows promise for treating these symptoms without interfering with the drugs’ efficacy. Additional research will also be presented shedding light on the physical and psychological factors that influence women’s decisions to stop taking the drugs.

Early trials using targeted monoclonal antibodies in combination with existing therapies show promise in treating pancreatic cancer and metastatic breast cancer, according to research that will be presented by investigators from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center at the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology June 4 through 8. One study uses an antibody to enhance the effectiveness of a breast cancer vaccine developed at Penn to treat women with advanced breast cancer, while a pancreatic cancer trial uses an immune-enhancing antibody to increase the effectiveness of a current standard drug used to treat pancreatic cancer.

Carrie Sims MD, MS, FACS, assistant professor of Surgery in the division of Traumatology and Surgical Critical Care at Penn Medicine, is the recipient of a $125,000 research grant from the National Trauma Institute (NTI). Sims’ study is one of seven awarded grants this month by NTI, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding trauma research in the United States. Sims will investigate the impact of using vasopressin vs. normal saline during the resuscitation of severely injured trauma patients.

Philadelphia Flyers’ Wives and Fun Patrol Visits Penn Medicine Rehabilitation and Hospice Patients

The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has renewed its funding to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET).

A University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researcher has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by James Shorter, MA, PhD, assistant professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics, titled “Unleashing Protein Disaggregases to Prevent HIV Infection.”

Penn researchers have discovered an intermediate state between early-stage fat cells and fully mature ones that is only present transiently during the fat-cell formation process. This intermediate state is induced by hormones related to cortisol, which are known to contribute to obesity and metabolic disturbances in people. The finding has potential implications for drug development.

In the most comprehensive study to date, neurologists have clearly identified significant differences in the ways that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects patients with and without a known genetic risk factor for the neurodegenerative disease, the apolipoprotein E ε4 gene (APOE ε4), using a combination of cognitive and neuroanatomic measures. The study found that this gene influences the way the disease manifests, even at its mildest clinical stages.