Penn Vet | News Stories

Penn Vet Puts Service into Action

Penn Vet will host a free dog and cat vaccination and wellness clinic from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Monday, January 15^th at Penn Vet’s Ryan Hospital at 3900 Spruce Street. The wellness clinic reflects the School’s commitment to honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy.

Foal Meets World – Tackling a True Equine Emergency

It’s been 11 months in the making. Your mare has been carefully bred, appropriately vaccinated, and closely monitored. As her due date approaches, anticipation of the new arrival begins to soar, with a twinge of anxiousness closing in.

Itchy Izzu

At age seven, Izzu had already been an itchy dog for a few years. His chronic skin disease had been treated with antibiotics, antifungals, and steroids. He was frequently bathed with an anti-microbial shampoo. He was even placed on multiple diet trials to determine if he suffered from a food allergy.

Penn Vet’s Boris Striepen Receives $1.8M Grant to Find Drugs against Deadly Diarrheal Disease in Infants

Boris Striepen, PhD, Professor of Pathobiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a $1.8-million, three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to enable the development of drugs for cryptosporidiosis, a diarrheal disease caused by microscopic parasites.

Diseases caused by parasites

Toxoplasma infection in humans is very common, but is largely asymptomatic unless the patient is immunosuppressed or infected in utero, in which case it can have devastating consequences.

Commonalities in Late Stages of Different Inherited Blinding Diseases Suggest Targets for Therapy

Gene therapy holds promise for treating a variety of diseases, including some inherited blinding conditions. But for a gene therapy to be effective, one must know the precise gene responsible for a given individual’s disorder and develop a tailored treatment. For diseases that may be caused by mutations in many different genes, developing individual gene therapy approaches can be prohibitively costly and time-intensive to pursue.

Dr. James Lok, A Lethal Parasite's Vulnerabilities

Finding a lethal parasite’s vulnerabilities

An estimated 100 million people around the world are infected with Strongyloides stercoralis, a parasitic nematode, yet it’s likely that many don’t know it. The infection can persist for years, usually only causing mild symptoms. But if the immune system is compromised by the use of immunosuppressing drugs such as steroids or chemotherapeutics, for example, the parasite can reproduce uncontrollably, leading to a potentially life-threatening infection.

Can Canines Sniff Out Smuggled Artifacts?

Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research and the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Vet Working Dog Center, in collaboration with the Penn Museum (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology), have launched the K-9 Artifact Finders research program. The project aims to fight cultural heritage crime with the help of working dogs.

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.

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