News Releases

For the third consecutive year, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) has been ranked among the top 10 hospitals in the nation in U.S.News & World Report’s rankings of the best hospitals in America. The publication’s annual ranking of hospitals placed HUP 9th out of the more than 4,800 facilities surveyed. HUP is the only hospital in the Philadelphia region, and one of only 14 hospitals nationwide, to be placed on the publication’s “Honor Roll” list in recognition of excellence in multiple specialties.

Researchers have discovered that AMP-activated protein kinase, or AMPK, a master regulator protein of metabolism, works not only by activating genes, but also via an epigenetic mechanism to slow down or stop cell growth.

Investigators have found that fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) males -- in which the activity of an Alzheimer’s disease protein is reduced by 50 percent -- show impairments in learning and memory as they age. What’s more, the researchers were able to prevent the age-related deficits by treating the flies with drugs such as lithium, or by genetic manipulations that reduced nerve-cell signaling.

Soccer referees may have an unconscious bias towards calling fouls based on a play’s direction of motion, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that soccer experts made more foul calls when action moved right-to-left, or leftward, compared to rightward action, suggesting that two referees watching the same play from different vantage points may be inclined to make a different call.

A novel therapy designed to attack tumors in patients with a genetic mutation in either BRCA1 or BRCA2, slowed tumor growth in 85 percent of advanced breast cancer patients treated in a small study, researchers report in the July 6 issue of The Lancet.

Over the past two years, researchers have been testing compounds found in ancient fermented beverages from China and Egypt for their anticancer properties. Several compounds showed promising and positive test tube activity against lung and colon cancers.

The Pew Charitable Trusts named Zhaolan (Joe) Zhou, PhD, assistant professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, as a 2010 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. The program enables scientists to take calculated risks, expand their research and explore unanticipated leads. Scholars receive $240,000 over four years and gain inclusion into a select community of scientists that includes three Nobel Prize winners, three MacArthur Fellows, and two recipients of the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the program has invested more than $125 million to fund close to 500 scholars. Dr. Zhou is one of 21 2010 Scholars.

Researchers have shown how a battle for survival at a microscopic level could leave humans as the unlikely victims. They modeled in mice how the common bacterium Streptococcus pneumonia interacts with other bacteria, showing that competition for space between rival bacteria can cause deadlier forms of bacteria to evolve.

Implications for Reducing Clotting in Kidney Disease Dialysis and Sepsis

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania will join other hospitals throughout the nation in support of National Time Out Day – a campaign to remind hospital staff the vital importance of performing the “Time Out” and assuring all team members are fully engaged and committed to this process. “At the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), patient safety is our highest priority. Hence we are committed to performing a “Time Out” before each and every procedure we perform,” said Victoria L. Rich, PhD, chief nurse executive and associate executive director of HUP.