News Releases

Jonathan A. Epstein, MD, Chairman of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Co-director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine, is available for comment to the media on stem cell research.

Patients who have had a colonoscopy can play a life-saving role by encouraging other patients to follow through with their own colorectal cancer screenings, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

The roundworm C. elegans, a staple of laboratory research, may be key in unlocking one of the central biological mysteries: why we sleep. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine report that the round worm has a sleep-like state, joining most of the animal kingdom in displaying this physiology.

For over 10 years, Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been pursuing a cancer-targeting molecule called TRAIL and its molecular partners. TRAIL is normally produced by immune cells and curtails tumor spread by binding to a specialized receptor on a tumor's surface.

A new brain imaging study by researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania shows that cigarette cravings in smokers who are deprived of nicotine are linked with increased activation in specific regions of the brain.

Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania reported today that students who participate in high school sports or individual physical activity are less likely to smoke than their classmates. The protective effect of participation extends at least three years beyond graduation.

PHILADELPHIA- Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered how low-oxygen conditions can worsen chronic kidney disease (CKD). The key player is a protein called hypoxia-inducible-factor (HIF-1) that, as its name suggests, is active when the kidney does not get enough oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. The findings appear in a December issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The 13th Annual Holiday Tree Decorating Contest at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP).

Patti LaBelle is supporting the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania through her participation in the Clash of the Choirs singing competition.

Researchers at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and other sites have found that doctors and other health care providers can better their chances of identifying and helping victims of domestic violence by changing the way they ask patients questions.