Penn Vet News

Penn Vet Avian Expert to Share Infectious Coryza Insights at Annual Conference Focusing on Poultry, Diseases

The 2019 Pennsylvania Poultry Sales and Service Conference and the 91st Northeastern Conference on Avian Diseases (NECAD) will be held Sept. 11 and 12 in State College.

Lung cell transplant boosts healing after the flu

Some cases of the flu are so severe they cause lasting injury to the lungs. New research from the University of Pennsylvania now points to a strategy that may one day offer protection against this damage.

Game Commission and Penn Vet Partner to Protect Wildlife

White-nose syndrome has killed 99 percent of most cave-bat species.

Chronic wasting disease continues to spread to new parts of Pennsylvania, infecting and killing deer and threatening hunting tradition.

Pennsylvania Game Commission and Penn Vet form the Wildlife Futures Program

In August 2019, Penn Vet and the Game Commission announced the Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program, a new science-based, wildlife health program that will increase disease surveillance, management and research to better protect wildlife across the Commonwealth.

Straight from the Horse Doctor’s Mouth: Public Invited to Attend Equine Health Lecture Series

From navigating colic emergencies to pioneering the future of equine imaging, equine enthusiasts of all backgrounds and experience levels are invited to learn from New Bolton Center’s leading equine healthcare experts during the 2019-2020 First Tuesday Lecture series.

University of Pennsylvania Researcher Earns 100,000 Grant

The Leukemia Research Foundation is proud to announce a grant of $100,000 in blood cancer research funding to M. Andres Blanco, Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, for the research project titled Dual Targeting of LSD1 and KAT6A to Induce Therapeutic Differentiation in AML. The one-year grant is awarded through the Foundation’s Hollis Brownstein Research Grants Program for New Investigators.

Keeping parasites from sticking to mosquito guts could block disease transmission

A group of microorganisms known as kinetoplastids includes the parasites that cause devastating diseases such as African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis. They share an ability to adhere to the insides of their insect hosts, using a specialized protein structure. But what if scientists could prevent the parasite from adhering? Would the parasites pass right through the vectors, unable to be passed on to a human?

Annual Boehringer Ingelheim Awards Showcase Emerging Veterinary Talent

A veterinary student conducting research into stem cell repair, another studying the use of CAR T cells against canine B cell lymphoma, and a student with an interest in equine neuromuscular disorders and protein aggregate diseases are being recognized for their efforts -- and the promise they hold -- by Boehringer Ingelheim’s Animal Health business.

Small horned dinosaur from China, a Triceratops relative, walked on two feet

Many dinosaur species are known from scant remains, with some estimates suggesting 75% are known from five or fewer individuals. Auroraceratops rugosus was typical in this regard when it was named in 2005 based upon a single skull from the Gobi Desert in northwestern China. But that is no longer the case.

Dr. Dean Richardson to Illuminate the Surgical Possibilities for Fracture Repair During AAEP’s 2019 Milne Lecture

Renowned equine orthopedic surgeon Dean Richardson, DVM, DACVS, will impress upon practitioners the surgical opportunities available for fracture repair and the associated importance of improving emergency management when he delivers the Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture on Monday, Dec. 9 at the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ 65th Annual Convention in Denver, Colo.

New Bolton Center Welcomes Dr. Olivia Lorello to Equine Field Service Team

The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is pleased to announce the addition of Olivia Lorello, VMD, PhD, to New Bolton Center’s Equine Field Service team.

What about regenerative medicine?

While stem cells are often considered essential for regenerative medicine, many of our fully developed somatic tissues already possess great capacity for regeneration.

A new drug target for chemically induced Parkinson’s disease

More than three decades ago, scientists discovered that a chemical found in a synthetic opioid, MPTP, induced the onset of a form of Parkinson’s disease. In a new study led by scientists from the School of Veterinary Medicine, researchers found that an enzyme in the body can metabolize compounds formed in the brain from alkaloids present in certain foods and tobacco into MPTP-like chemicals, triggering a neurodegenerative condition in mice.

Meaningful science, with students at the helm

Shoulder to shoulder at a lab bench in the basement of Penn’s Levin Building, Sonia Luthra, Johanna Fowler, and Tracy Tran compare small microscope slides they’re preparing.

Fowler, a rising junior at Haverford College, and Tran, a rising sophomore at Penn, observed Luthra’s technique, drawing a sample of canine blood carefully across the slide to make a thin smear. The high school senior at Friends Central School had a leg up on the undergrads: whereas their 10-week project was only just beginning, Luthra had already logged a month in the lab.

Novel model for studying intestinal parasite could advance vaccine development

The intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium, which causes a diarrheal disease, is very good at infecting humans. It’s the leading cause of waterborne disease from recreational waters in the United States. Globally, it’s a serious illness that can stunt the growth of, or even kill, infants and young children. And people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV/AIDS, are also highly susceptible. There is no vaccine and no effective treatment.

Better prognosticating for dogs with mammary tumors

Mammary tumors in dogs are the equivalent of breast cancers in people, and, as in the human disease, the canine tumors can manifest in a variety of ways. Some are diagnosed early, others late, and they can be either slow growing or aggressive.

New Bolton Center Developing Biological Passports, With Help From Pennsylvania Breeders

It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: Rows of vials in a laboratory freezer, each containing detailed biological maps of what's going on inside the bodies of dozens of horses at specific moments in time. The frozen blood samples might one day hold the keys to making racing clean and drug-free, predicting injuries before they happen and helping veterinarians fight illness with new and powerful tools. Sound too good to be true? Researchers at Penn Vet's New Bolton Center hope it's not.

Exploring Equine Anatomy through an Artist’s Lens

While it is known that art imitates life, just how much can it influence our understanding of the world we live in, including our understanding of equine anatomy?

Penn Vet and the Wharton School Launching New Veterinary Entrepreneurship Program

Entrepreneurship, innovation and new business ventures – championed by schools of business and engineering across the country for the past two decades – have a new advocate. Veterinary schools. Yes, veterinary schools. And a new educational program is further evidence of the veterinary profession’s rising influence in a world characterized by globalization, population growth and rapid technological change.

A Link Between Mitochondrial Damage and Osteoporosis

New research from the School of Veterinary Medicine lays out a possible mechanism by which alcohol, cigarette smoke, and exposure to certain medications and toxins can weaken bone.

Some risk factors for osteoporosis such as being older and female or having a family history of the condition cannot be avoided. But others can, like smoking cigarettes, consuming alcohol, taking certain medications, or being exposed to environmental pollutants. But until now researchers haven’t gained a firm picture of how these exposures link up with bone loss.