News Releases

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.

Invitation to Cover: Among the 154 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine students taking the Hippocratic Oath for the first time as new doctors this weekend is Aura Obando, who is making a long trip to be at graduation: travelling 7700 miles over three days, she will be returning from a six-week trip working at Teule Hospital in Tanzania just in time to reunite with her class to march at graduation and receive her diploma.

The only overnight bereavement camp of its kind in the area, Penn Wissahickon Hospice’s Camp Erin - Philadelphia will host nearly 100 children May 14th – 16th. At Camp Erin – Philadelphia, children aged 6-17 who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or close friend will take part in the three-day camp which combines traditional, fun, high-energy camp activities with grief education and support, to help the children cope with the loss of a loved one.

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine demonstrate how mutations in the STRAD-alpha gene can cause a disease called PMSE (polyhydramnios, megalencephaly, and symptomatic epilepsy) syndrome, found in a handful of Amish children. PMSE is characterized by an abnormally large brain, cognitive disability, and severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy.The finding provides insights into how a signaling pathway involved in PSME may be associated with other neurological disorders.

Certain types of Parkinson’s disease medications are linked to impulse control disorders, such as pathological gambling, compulsive shopping and binge eating, according to a study of more than 3,000 Parkinson’s disease patients by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

A special event honoring a new, $25 million gift from Madlyn and Leonard Abramson will celebrate five decades of progress in cancer research and treatment at Penn Medicine, and highlight the promise of future work to conquer the disease.

Penn Medicine dermatologists will offer free skin cancer screenings on Saturday, May 22 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. The screening is sponsored by Penn Medicine’s Department of Dermatology and the Abramson Cancer Center.

Over 200 trauma professionals will gather to be recognized for their lifesaving and critical care efforts and celebrate the strides being made in patient care and injury prevention during Penn Medicine’s annual Trauma Reflections Ceremony on Thursday, May 6, 2010. The program will also celebrate “great saves,” with more than a dozen former Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania trauma patients and their families reuniting with the doctors and nurses who ensured their survival when they were critically injured.