Penn Vet | News Stories

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?

Learn Equine Insights from Experts at Free 2017-2018 First Tuesday Lecture Series

Sharpen your equine know-how with Penn Vet experts at a series of public First Tuesday Lectures hosted by New Bolton Center located in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

Penn Vet Working Dog Center to Celebrate Five-Year Anniversary with Ceremony and Live Demonstrations

The Penn Vet Working Dog Center, widely recognized as the nation’s premier research and training facility dedicated to the health and performance of detection dogs, will celebrate its five-year anniversary on Sunday, September 10, 2017 at 1:00 p.m.

Penn Vet Researchers Contribute Expertise to Checklist for ‘One Health’ Studies

A growing body of scientific research is focused on One Health, the integration of knowledge concerning humans, animals and the environment. Yet there is no clear, unified definition of what a One Health study is or how such a study should be conducted.

Researchers on the Front Line in a ‘Gangbusters’ Year for Lyme Disease

Before winter had even ended, the warnings came in: 2017 was going to be a bad one for Lyme disease. Anecdotally, the experience of Anne Norris, an infectious disease physician and associate professor of clinical medicine at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, backs this up.

New therapies to prevent post traumatic osteoarthritis

Dr. Ortved’s research program at New Bolton Center is focused on joint disease, using the horse as a model for human disease. Specifically, she is interested in developing cell and gene therapies to improve cartilage repair and prevent the development of osteoarthritis.

A Perturbed Skin Microbiome Can Be ‘Contagious’ and Promote Inflammation, Penn Study Finds

Even in healthy individuals, the skin plays host to a menagerie of bacteria, fungi and viruses. Growing scientific evidence suggests that this lively community, collectively known as the skin microbiome, serves an important role in healing, allergies, inflammatory responses and protection from infection.

Penn Vet to Host Annual Conference of Veterinary Colleagues from Across the Country

Penn Vet will host the 117^th Penn Annual Conference from September 27-28, 2017, in Wilmington, DE. The event offers continuing education credit for small- and large-animal veterinarians and technicians from across the country. The conference is one of the largest gatherings of veterinary colleagues, alumni, and friends in the region.

Dr. Oliver Garden Wins International Canine Health Award for Outstanding Clinical Work and Research

Professor Oliver Garden, who recently left the UK to take up a prestigious position at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet), has won an international award as part of one of the largest and most distinguished veterinary awards in the world, the International Canine Health Awards. The award was given to Oliver in recognition of his tireless work as a small animal internist and immunologist.

Dr. Dean Richardson to Discuss New Bolton Center’s Unique Pool Recovery System

Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center is home to the only raft-pool recovery system for large animals in the world. This unique method of recovering high-risk horses from anesthesia has, unlike many innovations in surgery, withstood the test of time. Dr. Dean Richardson, the Charles W. Raker Professor of Equine Surgery, will discuss this pioneering system as part of the First Tuesday Lecture series.

New treatments for laminitis, a horse disease that felled Barbaro

Andrew van Eps, now an associate professor of equine musculoskeletal research at the School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center, was a resident at Penn Vet back in 2006 when Derby winner Barbaro was treated there for a broken leg sustained in the Preakness. Though Dean Richardson, Penn Vet’s Charles W. Raker Professor of Equine Surgery, was able to repair the jigsaw-puzzle-like fracture, the New Bolton Center team was not able to spare the horse from the laminitis that followed.

Penn Vet prof updates popular book on domestic dogs

Penn Vet professor James Serpell has updated his popular book “The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behavior and Interactions With People,” which was originally published in 1995. The new edition captures the latest scientific information about dogs and their relationship with humans.

On the farm with Penn Vet’s Field Service

The School of Veterinary Medicine’s Field Service offers both routine and emergency care for equine and food animal clients within a 30-mile radius of the New Bolton Center Hospital. This service treats more than 24,000 patients at local farms annually.

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