Penn Vet News

Amazing Cows Hold Promise in Pioneering Sustainable Food Systems of the Future

In today’s climate change narrative, animal-based agriculture often endures criticism for its alleged contributions to the global problem. With some naysayers ranking the industry second only to the population explosion as a root contributor to global warming and other weather-related devastation, the concern for how food is – and can be – produced has become even more pressing.

Penn Vet Clinicians Awarded Diplomate Status, Deepen New Bolton Center’s Emergency and Food Animal Clinical Expertise

The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) today announced the recognized achievement of board certification of two New Bolton Center clinicians.

Fingerprints of an invisible, restricted horseracing therapy

A treatment called extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is used in patients both human and equine to speed healing of injured tendons and ligaments. Using high-pressure sonic waves, ESWT is thought to increase blood flow to the treated area, and has been shown to reduce pain over the short term.

Penn Vet Scientists Receive Two of Six Penn Center for Innovation Annual Commercialization Awards

[December 9, 2019; PHILADELPHIA, PA – Three researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Vet) are among the recipients of the annual Innovation awards from the Penn Center for Innovation (PCI), which recognizes the six most significant scientific discoveries or partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania during the preceding twelve months.

Predicting treatment outcome for leishmaniasis

For patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, a skin infection transmitted by a sand fly that can lead to painful and disfiguring ulcers, treatment can be grueling. The first-line therapy offered to many requires daily infusions of the metalloid pentavalent antimony for three weeks, and half of patients don’t respond to just one round of therapy. Some fail two or even three courses. And the side effects of therapy can range from mere irritation to far more serious conditions.

This Penn heart patient is a 9-year-old boxer dog named Sophie

For Karen Cortellino, her 9-year-old dog Sophie is more than just a companion.

“There’s this bumper sticker that says, ‘Rescue dogs: Who rescued who?’” says Cortellino, a physician from New Jersey. “That’s exactly how I feel.” Eight years ago, she adopted Sophie, a boxer, two weeks after the death of the family’s first boxer, and “she’s been Mommy’s baby ever since.”

Dr. Christopher Hunter Named President-Elect of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society

[November 18, 2019; Philadelphia, PA] – Christopher A. Hunter, PhD, Mindy Halikman Heyer Distinguished Professor of Pathobiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Vet), has been elected President-elect of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society. Hunter officially began his term in November and will take office as President following the Cytokines 2021 Cardiff meeting in October 2021.

Penn Vet Announces Appointment of Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD, to Chair of the Department of Clinical Studies, Werner Professorship

Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACT, an internationally renowned expert in equine reproductive medicine, has been appointed the new chair of the Department of Clinical Studies at New Bolton Center in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Vet).

Stopping Disease in its Tracks: How Geospatial Mapping Protects Pennsylvania’s Producers

Tell a swine or poultry producer that their animals are sick and the first question they ask is, “How?”

Thanks to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet), producers can now get an answer to that pressing question fast – or even stop disease from encroaching past their property lines altogether.

Estrogen’s opposing effects on mammary tumors in dogs

Dogs that are spayed at a young age have a reduced risk of developing mammary tumors, the canine equivalent of breast cancer. Early spaying reduces levels of estrogen production, leading many veterinarians and scientists to cast estrogen in a negative light when it comes to mammary cancer.

Electronic sow feeding shows promise, despite challenges

It’s feeding time at the University of Pennsylvania’s Swine Teaching and Research Center in Chester County’s horse country.

Actually, it’s always feeding time in this loose pig environment. Sow gestation stalls are gone, free-roaming pig pens are in. The sow decides when she wants to eat, not the other way around.

The importance of wild animal health

Penn Vet and the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) recently initiated the Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program (WFP), a new science-based, wildlife health program that will increase disease surveillance, management and innovative research aimed at better protecting wildlife across the Commonwealth. 

Genes play a role in dog breed differences in behavior

Given the dazzling array of dog breeds, from dachshunds to mastiffs, from poodles to bloodhounds, it’s easy to forget that most of that diversity arose only in the last few centuries or so, thanks to human tinkering. People have bred dogs for their looks, but the lion’s share of breeding efforts have taken aim at eliciting particular behaviors, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s James A. Serpell.

Identifying a gene for canine night blindness

Creating an effective gene therapy for inherited diseases requires three key steps. First, scientists must identify and characterize the disease. Second, they must find the gene responsible. And finally, they must find a way to correct the impairment.

Speaking of Agriculture

State Veterinarian Dr. Kevin Brightbill and Dean Andrew Hoffman talk shop.

Exploring Regenerative Medicine’s Future at October First Tuesday Lecture

[KENNETT SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA] – Equine athletes of all ages and disciplines are susceptible to musculoskeletal injuries. Because of the limited healing capabilities of the tissues most often affected in these types of injuries – tendons, ligaments, and cartilage – avoiding continuous degeneration or re-injury can be challenging.

Vets Talk Treatment for ‘Mother of All Head Colds’

[STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA] — A Pennsylvania poultry farmer got an unwelcome Christmas present from his laying hens last year. Egg production dropped by a quarter, and some of his 36,000 chickens died.

Penn Vet Opens the First Academic Extracellular Vesicle Core Facility in the United States, Supports Investigators in the Growing Field of Extracellular Research

[PHILADELPHIA, September 12, 2019] - A new core facility, the first on the east coast to exclusively focus on the isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles, has opened at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet). The Extracellular Vesicle Core Facility at Penn Vet supports investigators with the necessary scientific and technical capabilities to define, standardize and monitor research in pathological and physiological conditions.

Is treatment forever? Success of gene therapy for inherited blindness depends on timing

Nearly two decades ago, a gene therapy restored vision to Lancelot, a Briard dog who was born with a blinding disease. This ushered in a period of hope and progress for the field of gene therapy aimed at curing blindness, which culminated in the 2017 approval of a gene therapy that improved vision in people with Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a rare, inherited form of blindness closely related to the condition seen in Lancelot. It represents the first FDA-approved gene therapy for an inherited genetic disease.

The diet-microbiome connection in inflammatory bowel disease

Much remains mysterious about the factors influencing human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but one aspect that has emerged as a key contributor is the gut microbiome, the collection of microorganisms dwelling in the intestines.