Penn Vet | News Stories

Drs. Charles Bradley and Elizabeth Grice Receive 2017 One Health Award

Charles W. Bradley, V'09 was named one of the 2017 recipients of Penn’s One Health Award.

Tough Girl Genes

Dr. Mike Chovanes’s phone rang, piercing through the quiet morning. It was 6:15 am. The 1980 Penn Vet alumnus answered, his stomach twisting at the news trickling from the other end of the line. His homebred two-year-old Thoroughbred filly, Bucks Some, was down and unable to rise, trapped in her stall.

Dingus Revisited - Comprehensive Cancer Care at Ryan Hospital

Dingus, a 17-year-old cat, was already being treated at Ryan Hospital for small cell gastrointestinal (GI) lymphoma. Diagnosed in November 2016, he had responded well to medication, but through the following summer Dingus was slowly losing weight. He came back to Ryan for an examination where an abdominal ultrasound showed his intestinal tract was normal, but revealed something else.

Taking Blood Using ‘Push-Pull’ Method Gets Accurate Results With Fewer Pokes

A new study by University of Pennsylvania veterinary researchers has found that blood samples collected from an intravenous catheter using a special “mixing” technique are as accurate as those collected via venipuncture, in which a needle is used to access the vein directly.

Penn Vet’s Boris Striepen, PhD, Earns William Trager Award

Penn Vet’s Boris Striepen, Professor of Pathobiology, has earned the American Committee of Molecular, Cellular and Immunoparasitology’s prestigious William Trager Award for Basic Parasitology. Striepen received his award on November 5^th at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Named in honor of malaria research pioneer Dr. William Trager, the annual award recognizes scientists who have made a fundamental breakthrough in basic parasitology that allows for new areas of investigation.

Dr. Kathryn Wulster to Present Advanced Imaging Innovations During Free First Tuesday Lecture

One year after the EQUIMAGINE™ robotics controlled CT system installation, Dr. Kathryn Wulster, Clinical Assistance Professor of Diagnostic Imaging, will explore her team’s insights as part of New Bolton Center’s First Tuesday Lecture series.

Wolf Administration Announces State Veterinary Lab System Earns 5-Year National Accreditation

The Wolf Administration announced today that Pennsylvania’s Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS) has been recognized with a national quality credential. This puts Pennsylvania among the leading states to have earned this distinction, demonstrating the system’s ongoing commitment to animal health and food safety.

Penn Vet to Host Inaugural Cancer Center Symposium Featuring Research Professor Cheryl London

Over the past decade, new discoveries about cancer cell growth have enhanced our ability to prevent, diagnose, treat, and manage the disease. Recent breakthroughs, such as immunotherapy, have put scientists at the threshold of radically transforming care and potentially discovering a cure.

Targeting Enzyme in ‘Normal’ Cells May Impede Pancreatic Cancer’s Spread, Penn Vet Team Shows

Cancer of the pancreas is a deadly disease, with a median survival time of less than six months. Only one in 20 people with pancreatic cancer survives five years past the diagnosis. The reason is the cancer’s insidiousness; tumor cells hide deep inside the body, betraying no symptoms until late in the disease, when the cancer has almost invariably spread to other organs.

Penn Vet’s Dr. Oliver A. Garden Named to Endowed Professorship

Penn Vet’s Dr. Oliver A. Garden, BSc, BVetMed, PhD, has been named as the Corinne R. and Henry Bower Professor of Medicine. Candidates for endowed professorships are selected for their expertise, research, and high regard in the academic community.

Penn Vet to Host Translational Retinal Research & Therapies Symposium

The Translational Retinal Research & Therapies Symposium brings together a group of internationally recognized scientists and clinician scientists from the veterinary and human medical fields. They will present the latest research in areas of retinal disease gene discovery, disease mechanisms, viral vector development and applications, translational studies in animal models, and clinical applications.

Swine Production Facilities at New Bolton Center

Penn and Chinese pork producers swap ideas to share and learn

Pork is the world’s most consumed meat, thanks in large part to the Chinese. China consumes half of the planet’s pork and, accordingly, is home to roughly 50 percent of the world’s pigs.

Penn Study Shows How Female Immune Cells Keep Their Second X Chromosome Shut Off

Autoimmune diseases tend to strike women more than men and having multiple X chromosomes could be the main reason why. While a process called X chromosome inactivation serves to balance out gene dosage between males and females, some genes on the “inactive X” chromosome in immune cells can sometimes escape this process, giving women an extra dose of immunity-related gene expression.

Penn Vet to Host Fourth Annual Microbiome Symposium Featuring Science Journalist Ed Yong

Philadelphia, PA] – Microbes are ubiquitous and vital to humans: they sculpt our organs, defend us from disease, break down our food, educate our immune systems, guide our behavior, bombard our genomes with their genes, and grant us incredible abilities.

Penn Team Shows How Seemingly Acute Viral Infections Can Persist

Infections caused by viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, measles, parainfluenza and Ebola, are typically considered acute. These viruses cause disease quickly and live within a host for a limited time.

Developing a drug to fight a deadly childhood parasite

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 10 people around the world do not have a safe water supply close to home. Around the world, diarrheal diseases are responsible for one in 10 deaths of children under the age of 5. One of the leading causes is Cryptosporidium, a microscopic parasite that is typically transmitted through contaminated water and usually lives in the small intestine. Yet it doesn’t lend itself to easy laboratory investigation and, until recently, scientists have been flummoxed in their attempts to make progress toward finding a treatment.

Martin Hackett Joins Penn Vet as Director of Communications and Marketing

The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has named Martin Hackett Director of Communications and Marketing. In this role, Hackett will develop and implement a creative and comprehensive communications and marketing plan to enhance and broaden Penn Vet’s national and international visibility and reputation.

How breast cancer originates from normal cells

Dr. Chakrabarti is interested in the fundamental question of how breast cancer originates from normal cells and how molecular events in early tumorigenesis influence the course of disease, including metastatic progression.

Confronted With Bacteria, Infected Cells Die So Others Can Live, Penn Study Finds

The immune system is constantly performing surveillance to detect foreign organisms that might do harm. But pathogens, for their part, have evolved a number of strategies to evade this detection, such as secreting proteins that hinder a host’s ability to mount an immune response.

New online course teaches pet first aid

You may know CPR, but do you know how to give it to your cat?

Penn Vet News