https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us provides the latest news from University of Pennsylvania A new study on sepsis training in Ghana builds on prior research showing the impact of Annenberg Hotkeys, a free platform developed in 2020. It is being used in other medical settings—and its co-creator sees potential in nonmedical uses. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-free-medical-telesimulation-platform-children.html Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:40:01 EDT news696075312 Researchers led by Henry Daniell of the School of Dental Medicine have shown that extracts from bioengineered chewing gum reduce the levels of three microbes known to be associated with head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), paving the way for more effective and affordable therapies. Their findings are published in Scientific Reports. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-bioengineered-gum-cancer-linked-mouth.html Tue, 21 Apr 2026 08:04:34 EDT news695977339 Gravity, as most people understand it, is the familiar force that pulls a falling apple toward Earth. But for astronomers and theoretical physicists, it is also a vexing invisible architect that guides the shape and evolution of the largest cosmic structures across the universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-gravity-newton-einstein-cosmic-scales.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:40:04 EDT news695485862 By using AI to analyze more than 400,000 Reddit posts, Penn researchers have identified patient-reported symptoms associated with GLP-1s, the popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide, that may not be fully captured in clinical trials or regulatory documents. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-scans-reddit-flag-overlooked.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:00:03 EDT news694973341 Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus type 2 is a terrible way for any animal to die, especially creatures as gentle as these. Highly contagious and lethal, it threatens wild and domestic rabbits. First detected in the United States in 2020, it has rapidly spread throughout the western states, becoming endemic as far as South Dakota, Kansas, and Texas. Two years later, Pennsylvania had its first two cases at a Fayette County domestic farmed rabbit facility. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deadly-virus-pennsylvania-rabbits-hares.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:40:02 EDT news694942622 Sitting above each kidney are two small endocrine glands about the size of walnuts. These are the adrenal glands, responsible for producing hormones that help control some of the body's most critical functions. Among these hormones, cortisol is particularly critical for survival. Often referred to as the "stress hormone," it helps the body adapt to a wide range of challenges—both emotional and physical, such as trauma or infection—by regulating overall metabolism. Despite its central role in stress and endocrine biology, how the adrenal gland is built and how it functions remains poorly understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-stress-organoid-adrenal-gland.html Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:00:04 EDT news694258157 Artificial intelligence has already proven it can perform specific medical tasks, such as interpreting X-rays or flagging risks in patient data. But caring for patients is a dynamic process that unfolds over time, requiring clinicians to interpret signals from multiple sources and intervene as a patient's condition changes. Stabilizing a patient may require a physician to synthesize lab values and medical images, listen to lung or heart sounds, observe physical responses, and decide when to escalate care—often under severe time pressure. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-entire-medical-decision.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:30:02 EDT news694355204 Periodontitis is a serious chronic inflammatory form of gum disease that affects millions worldwide. It can lead to tooth loss and the destruction of supporting bone. This disease has also been linked to other health problems, including diabetes, respiratory infections, and heart disease, impacting quality of life and increasing health care costs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-stiff-defense-physical-rigidity-healthy.html Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:40:01 EDT news694258168 Often diagnosed when surgery is no longer an option, pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat and has one of the lowest rates of survival among major malignancies. Like many solid tumors, the most common type of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is shielded by the desmoplastic matrix—a dense barrier of connective tissue, structural proteins, and specialized cells called cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)—that also suppresses the immune response. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-tumor-cells-lipid-nanoparticles-advance.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:30:02 EDT news694194962 Penn Engineers have redesigned a key component of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), the delivery vehicles behind mRNA vaccines, to steer the particles toward lymph nodes while reducing off-target delivery to the liver. The advance could make mRNA vaccines more efficient, potentially achieving strong immune protection at lower doses. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-lipid-nanoparticle-precision-mrna-vaccine.html Tue, 24 Mar 2026 08:00:03 EDT news693489121 Penn-led researchers have shown for the first time that multiple, information-carrying light signals can be safely guided through chip-based, reconfigurable networks using topology, the esoteric branch of mathematics that says donuts and mugs are identical. Because topological properties remain stable even when objects are deformed—hence the field equating mugs and donuts, since both have one opening—the advance could help make light-based technologies for computing and communications more powerful and reliable. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-multi-lane-highway-topology-robust.html Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:40:06 EDT news693134439 Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed a new type of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) that could one day serve as a universal immunotherapy for cancers that form solid tumors, including common variants such as cancers of the breast, liver, and colon. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-prodrug-lipid-nanoparticle-universal-immunotherapy.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 06:00:07 EDT news692960101 The most common side effects of mRNA vaccines like the COVID-19 shot are well known: soreness, mild fever, and general malaise. Those symptoms, which typically resolve within days, are the natural result of the immune system activating. But what if they could be avoided? https://phys.org/news/2026-03-lipid-nanoparticles-reprogram-immune-metabolism.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 06:00:01 EDT news692900401 AI has designed candidate drugs for antibiotic-resistant infections and genetic diseases. But efforts to incorporate AI into the design of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), the revolutionary delivery vehicles behind mRNA therapies like the COVID-19 vaccines, have been much more limited. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-robotic-microfluidic-platform-ai-lipid.html Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:00:01 EDT news692285017 Research led by Penn Dental's Henry Daniell investigates the use of a lettuce-based, plant-encapsulated delivery platform as a new oral delivery of two GLP-1 drugs previously approved by the FDA in injectable form. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-weekly-lettuce-cells-glp-pills.html Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:40:01 EST news691839287 About one in eight U.S. adults are currently taking a GLP-1 drug such as Ozempic, Wegovy, or Zepbound to treat diabetes, obesity, or other conditions, according to a KFF Health Tracking poll. But many suffer from significant side effects including nausea or vomiting. And for diabetic patients who also have conditions such as cancer or HIV, achieving glycemic control to effectively manage their blood sugar levels while avoiding weight or appetite loss is especially critical. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-glp-path-therapies.html Fri, 27 Feb 2026 10:00:01 EST news691407971 The human genome is a rich, complex record of migration, encounters, and inheritance written over thousands of millennia. Genomic research by members of Sarah Tishkoff's lab at the University of Pennsylvania are revisiting a particularly intimate chapter, suggesting that ancient mating patterns between modern humans and Neanderthals shaped why Neanderthal DNA is largely missing from the human X chromosome. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-neanderthal-males-human-females-ancient.html Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:20:05 EST news691338961 Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania and Rice University have refined a technology for editing individual genetic "base pairs" to a new level of precision, opening the door to safer, more reliable therapies for a wide range of genetic diseases, and to potential treatments for some cystic fibrosis patients that may yield better outcomes than existing therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-sharpen-gene-tools-cystic-fibrosis.html Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:20:07 EST news691073041 Penn Engineers have developed a system that lets robots see around corners using radio waves processed by AI, a capability that could improve the safety and performance of driverless cars as well as robots operating in cluttered indoor settings like warehouses and factories. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-02-robots-radio-ai-corners.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:40:10 EST news690032057 Journalism in the United States is in crisis: Local newspapers are shuttering at an alarming rate, large cities that were once served by multiple daily local newspapers now barely sustain one or two major outlets, and the government has made concentrated attacks against public media. A new report from the Roosevelt Institute, co-authored by Victor Pickard, C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the Annenberg School for Communication, traces the roots of these crises and offers an evidence-based roadmap to rebuild public media. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-crises-american-journalism-solutions.html Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:41:19 EST news689427662 Three years ago, Penn Vet researchers reported a major breakthrough in equine assisted reproduction. Katrin Hinrichs, Harry Werner Endowed Professor of Equine Medicine, and colleagues developed a technique that would allow successful conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) with horses. In conventional IVF, the sperm does its job of finding and fertilizing a mare's egg, or an oocyte, in a Petri dish. Developing a method to motivate stallion sperm to do this—let alone do it consistently—had eluded researchers for decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-closer-true-equine-ivf-clinical.html Sun, 01 Feb 2026 15:50:01 EST news688988886 When a crowd gets something right, like guessing how many beans are in a jar, forecasting an election, or solving a difficult scientific problem, it's tempting to credit the sharpest individual in the room. But new research suggests focusing on the "expert" can lead groups astray. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-intelligence-incentivize-problem-groups.html Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:40:03 EST news688919630 Once a seed germinates, it is committed to one location. Plants are sessile—stuck where they started out—forced to cope with whatever conditions arrive next. The only way out of trouble is to rebuild themselves in place. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-environments-reproductive-success.html Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:40:01 EST news688919540 Penn Engineers have developed a novel design for solar-powered data centers that will orbit Earth and could realistically scale to meet the growing demand for AI computing while reducing the environmental impact of data centers. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-powering-ai-space-scale-passive.html Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:10:06 EST news688818718 In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass," Alice is stuck in a never-ending race with the Red Queen yet never gains a lead. "It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place," the Queen says. "Though we typically use this metaphor to describe evolutionary arms races between hosts and parasites or hosts and pathogens, the "Red Queen Hypothesis' also characterizes the ongoing battles within our genome," says Mia Levine, a biologist at the University of Pennsylvania. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-vital-dna-protein-complex-threats.html Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:48:16 EST news688744033 Winter Storm Fern, a rare convergence of Arctic cold and Southwest moisture, seems set to bring Arctic weather to many parts of the U.S. this weekend. With it, storm warnings included familiar messages: slow down, watch for black ice, and assume the sidewalk is plotting against you. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-qa-icy-surfaces-slippery.html Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:51:43 EST news688650662 Life expectancy in the United States has been rising over many decades, ushering in what experts describe as "an era of unprecedented longevity." This trend raises important questions about how people can best prepare for and navigate this extended lifespan. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-age-longevity.html Mon, 26 Jan 2026 09:39:42 EST news688642501 Drug-resistant bacteria are one of the most urgent health challenges of our time, affecting people, animals, and the environments they share. The University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is addressing this evolving challenge with comprehensive infection prevention and control measures, as well as biosecurity strategies, to protect the animals, people, and communities served by its hospitals and facilities. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-safeguarding-health-animals-people-veterinary.html Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:57:41 EST news688391821 For some, January is a time for resolutions, with the goal often tied to being fitter and healthier. And increasingly this has included a fixation on addressing aging at the cellular level, driven in part by the rise of "biohacking." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-aging-cellular.html Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:52:43 EST news688294227 Cancer is a leading cause of death in both humans and pets; studies suggest that between one-third and one-half of all dogs will develop cancer during their lifetime. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-sniffing-cancer-dogs-hemangiosarcoma-scent.html Sat, 17 Jan 2026 08:50:03 EST news687775311