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The presence of a gene can predict when a traumatic brain injury (TBI) will lead to early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study from neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Amyloid plaque deposits, known primarily for their role in Alzheimer's disease, are found in nearly one third of people who die from acute TBI, within just hours of a brain injury and in people of all ages. This build up of Alzheimer's-like deposits can be predicted by a variation in the gene that codes for the amyloid-busting enzyme, neprilsyin.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers, along with colleagues at the University of Washington and the University of Toronto, have received $8 million for stem-cell research. The Penn group is one of nine research hubs awarded $170 million over the next seven years by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to develop the high-potential field of stem- and progenitor-cell tools and therapies.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine investigators are among the 42 recipients of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) award that encourages investigators to challenge the status quo with innovative ideas. NIH expects to make competing awards totaling $30 million to the recipients of the new NIH Director's Transformative R01 (T-R01) Awards. Co-investigators Frank S. Lee, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Stephen Master, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will receive $1.97 million in total costs over the next five years. Robert B. Wilson, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will receive $1.57 million over the next four years.

Now, at the Penn Lung Center, a thoracic surgeon can upload a patient�s high-resolution CT scans to an imaging center 10 feet away from the exam room. There, the doctor can confer about the images with an expert chest radiologist, and together the two will help craft a personalized treatment plan for the patient. The care team will provide the patient with plans right away, paving the way for quick access to a team of other specialists � nutritionists and social workers, for instance � without leaving the department.

A study published in the October issue of Nature Genetics demonstrates that loss of the tumor-suppressor protein p53, coupled with elimination of the DNA-maintenance protein ATR, severely disrupts tissue maintenance in mice. As a result, tissues deteriorate rapidly, which is generally fatal in these animals. In addition, the study provides supportive evidence for the use of inhibitors of ATR in cancer therapy.

Four professors from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been elected as members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation's highest honors in biomedicine. The new members bring Penn's total to 72, out of a total active membership of 1,610. Overall, the IOM named 65 new members this year and five foreign associates.

Researchers today announced the opening for enrollment of the first ever study using patients' cells carrying an engineered T cell receptor to treat HIV. The trial may have important implications in the development of new treatments for HIV potentially slowing - or even preventing - the onset of AIDS.

In a first-of its-kind study, epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that, on average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. The study estimated that people with a gun were 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not possessing a gun.

Donations to Benefit Penn Wissahickon Hospice’s Camp Erin - Philadelphia

Aromatase inhibitors, the same drugs that have buoyed long-term survival rates among breast cancer patients, also carry side effects including joint pain so severe that many patients discontinue these lifesaving medicines. New University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research, however, has identified patterns that may help clinicians identify and help women at risk of these symptoms sooner in order to increase their chances of sticking with their treatment regimen. In a study published recently in the journal Cancer, researchers at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center found that estrogen withdrawal may play a role in the onset of joint pain, also known as arthralgia, during treatment: Women who stopped getting their menstrual periods less than five years before starting breast cancer treatment were three times more likely to experience these pains than those who reached menopause more than a decade earlier.