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In August, The University of Pennsylvania(Penn) announced a major new strategic alliance with a major pharmaceutical company to further develop novel immunotherapies using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology developed in the laboratories of Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Perelman School of Medicine and director of Translational Research in the Abramson Cancer Center. Penn recognizes the major role played by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) in enabling these discoveries to be developed and tested in patients to the point that Penn was able to attract a commercial partner.

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In a study of 400 healthy volunteers, researchers went looking for people who are truly resistant to the benefits of aspirin. They failed to find one case of aspirin resistance; rather, they found “pseudoresistance,” due to the coating found on most brands of aspirin, often preferred by patients for the protection it is claimed to provide the stomach. A urine biomarker of platelet stickiness was not able to find which volunteers were even pseudoresistant.

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As public health researchers continue efforts to understand the effects of neighborhood conditions on health, residents themselves can provide valuable insights regarding public health issues and potential solutions. A new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania uses in-depth interviews with local residents to examine perspectives on how vacant land affects community, physical, and mental health. The study highlights the importance of community engagement in promoting urban revitalization.

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In the case of such pathogens as hepatitis C, HIV, and malaria, the body and the pathogen essentially fight to a prolonged stalemate, neither able to gain an advantage. Over time, however, the cells become “exhausted” and the immune system can collapse, giving the pathogen the edge. A new study is showing how that happens, suggesting a novel approach that might shift the balance of power in chronic infections.

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H. Lee Sweeney, Ph.D., the William Maul Measey Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has been named the inaugural director of Penn’s Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy. The primary mission of the Center is to expedite the translational science and development of novel therapies for rare and orphan diseases.

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Most healthy cells rely on a complicated process to produce the fuel ATP. Knowing how ATP is produced by the cell’s energy storehouse – the mitochondria -- is important for understanding a cell’s normal state, as well as what happens when things go wrong, for example in cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and many rare disorders of the mitochondria.

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Research shows for the first time that the Unfolded Protein Response is active in patients with human lymphomas and mice genetically bred to develop lymphomas. Importantly, when the UPR is inactivated, lymphoma cells readily undergo cell death.

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Hsp104, an enzyme from yeast, breaks up both amyloid fibrils and disordered clumps. For stable amyloid-type structures, Hsp104 needs all six of its subunits, which together make a hexamer, to pull the clumps apart. By contrast, for amorphous, non-amyloid clumps, Hsp104 required only one of its six subunits.

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Understanding how any disease progresses is one of the first and most important steps towards finding treatments to stop it. This has been the case for such brain-degenerating conditions as Alzheimer's disease. Now, after several years of incremental study, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have been able to piece together important steps in how Parkinson’s disease (PD) spreads from cell to cell and leads to nerve cell death.

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Thanks to some careful detective work, scientist better understand just how iPS cells form – and why the Yamanaka process is inefficient, an important step to work out for regenerative medicine. The findings uncover cellular impediments to iPS cell development that, if overcome, could dramatically improve the efficiency and speed of iPS cell generation.

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Just north of Philadelphia, the communities of West and South Ambler are working to recover from the ramifications of their town’s long-closed asbestos factory. Today, residents in these communities remain at risk of environmental exposure and a potentially increased risk of developing mesothelioma, a rare cancer which is caused almost exclusively by exposure to asbestos. To help empower residents to shape the future of their communities, and explain the potential consequences associated with asbestos exposure, researchers at the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop an educational program using the communities’ history of asbestos products manufacturing and resulting asbestos exposure. Funding for the program is provided by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA), which is administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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In recognition of Veteran’s Day this November, Penn Medicine proudly sponsors Joining Forces – a national initiative to heighten awareness about the health needs of our nation’s veterans, service members and families, and elevate the role that medical schools, nursing schools and teaching hospitals play in serving their community.

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The cancer-causing form of the gene Myc alters the metabolism of mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouse, making it dependent on the amino acid glutamine for survival. Depriving cells of glutamine selectively induces programmed cell death in cells overexpressing mutant Myc. Using Myc-active neuroblastoma cells, a team three priotein executors of the glutamine-starved cell, representing a downstream target at which to aim drugs. Roughly 25 percent of all neuroblastoma cases are associated with Myc-active cells.

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Fat cells store excess energy and signal these levels to the brain. Deletion of the clock gene Arntl, also known as Bmal1, in fat cells, causes mice to become obese, with a shift in the timing of when this nocturnal species normally eats. These findings shed light on the complex causes of obesity in humans.

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- Daniel J. Rader, MD, professor of Medicine and chief, Division of Translational Medicine and Human Genetics, at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Clinical Research Prize for developing new methods to identify factors regulating the metabolism of fat particles in the bloodstream and testing their impact on the development of atherosclerosis.

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Penn Medicine announced today plans to begin the second part of an expansion project that will transform and modernize the advanced care services provided at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) campus. In addition to the recently announced Penn Center for Specialty Care, the new Advanced Care Hospital Pavilion will provide the infrastructure and programmatic support needed for PPMC to become Penn Medicine’s Level-I Regional Resource Trauma Center. With the completion of the expansion project – slated for January 2015 – the Trauma Center at Penn Medicine will transfer from its current base of operations at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

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Keeping arteries soft and supple might reduce disease risk, but the mechanisms of how arteries stave off hardening has remained elusive. Researchers have discovered that apolipoprotein E plays a major role in maintaining arterial softness by suppressing production of the extracellular matrix, a network of connective tissue.

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Documenting adverse events improves perceptions of safety and may decrease incidents in multi-site clinical practices, according to a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The results of the year-long study, which focused on the Radiation Oncology department’s workflow, show a strong correlation between the implementation of a Conditions Reporting System and increasingly positive responses to staff surveys focusing on the culture of safety within the department.

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Researchers have discovered an essential mechanism that regulates the flow of calcium into mitochondria.

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Cutting the expenses associated with “low-value” medical tests and treatments – such as unnecessary imaging tests and antibiotics for viral infections that won’t benefit from them – will require a multi-pronged plan targeting insurance companies, patients, and physicians, according to a JAMA Viewpoint article published this week by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. These efforts transcend economic impact, however, and may also be essential for improving health care quality and patient safety.

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A new study from a team of researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, reveals that a person’s ability to taste certain bitter flavors is directly related to their ability to fight off upper respiratory tract infections, specifically chronic sinus infections.

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Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have created a map of vision in the brain based upon an individual's brain structure, even for people who cannot see. Their result can, among other things, guide efforts to restore vision using a neural prosthesis that stimulates the surface of the brain.

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A team of researchers led by Samir Mehta, MD, chief of the Orthopaedic Trauma & Fracture Service at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a $2.5 million grant from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), provided through the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), to begin Phase 2 human trials of a study that examines the effective treatment of post-surgical orthopedic infections using Microbion Corporation’s topical BisEDT drug.

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Since the PI3K-Akt pathway is one of the most commonly activated oncogenic pathways in human cancer, its identification as an upstream regulator of prolactin production in the mammary gland has intriguing potential implications for understanding the pathology of human breast cancer and improving its treatment.

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Surgery causes a lasting increase in Alzheimer’s pathology in AD mice, via transient activation of brain inflammation. There was a clear and persistent decrement in learning and memory caused by surgery as compared with inhalational anesthesia – but only in the context of a brain made vulnerable by human Alzheimer-associated transgenes.

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Towards a better understanding of how tissue stiffness drives cancer, researchers show that epithelial cells lining the intestine of zebrafish with a mutation of the smooth muscle myosin gene form protrusions called invadopodia that allow the cells to invade surrounding tissue. The protrusions form in response to contractions in surrounding smooth muscle cells.

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Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in a new study that thickening of the heart’s right ventricle is associated with an increased risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death in patients without clinical cardiovascular disease at baseline. The study is published online ahead of print in the journal Circulation.

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Despite the national consensus on the need to improve the value of health care while reducing unnecessary spending, teaching hospitals often struggle to design curricula to train future physicians to deliver such care to their patients. Working to fill this gap, Mitesh Patel, MD, MBA, a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, developed the VALUE framework for teaching-hospitals, academic medical centers, and residency programs.

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Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC) has earned the Gold Seal of Approval™ from The Joint Commission for its hip and knee joint replacement services. PPMC’s certification is the first of its kind for Penn Medicine, and demonstrates the hospital’s high level of compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety.

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A popular class of diabetes drugs increases patients’ risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study published online this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking thiazolidinedione (TZDs) drugs – which account for up to 20 percent of the drugs prescribed to diabetics in the United States -- are two to three times more likely to develop bladder cancer than those who took a sulfonylurea drug, another common class of medications for diabetes.

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Researchers have developed and validated a new technology in which composite nanofibrous scaffolds provide a loose enough structure for cells to colonize without impediment, but still can instruct cells how to lay down new tissue.

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The Department of Health and Human Services has selected the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) as one of five hospitals that will take part in a nationwide initiative designed to train more nurses at a higher level. Funded by the Affordable Care Act, the Graduate Nurse Education (GNE) Demonstration will award HUP approximately $36 million over four years to increase training opportunities for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs).

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Greening vacant lots may make neighborhood residents feel safer and may be associated with reductions in certain gun crimes, according to a new study from Penn Medicine. Results show that residents living near greened vacant lots feel safer than those near non-greened sites.

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A new risk management plan from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help clinicians properly prescribe drugs with addiction potential aims to help reduce the growing epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States. With deaths associated with these drugs, often sold illegally, now reaching toward 14,000 each year – including the fatal shootings of two Philadelphia teenagers last week in a house where police found large quantities of Percocet and morphine, prescription drug pads, and more than $100,000 in cash -- the authors of a Viewpoint piece in the new issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association say the new plan represents a promising opportunity to cut the amount of addictive prescription drugs in circulation for sale and abuse.

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Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia has been selected to participate in Best Fed Beginnings, a first-of-its-kind national effort to significantly improve breastfeeding rates in states where rates are currently the lowest.

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The percentage of HIV patients taking antiretroviral drugs who experienced the full benefit of the drugs jumped from 45 percent of 72 percent during the past decade, a figure that is lower than previous estimates. The findings, considered important for HIV prevention efforts, since patients whose virus is in tight control are less likely to transmit the infection to others, are published this week in JAMA by a team of researchers led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Silymarin, an extract of milk thistle commonly used to treat chronic liver disease by millions of people around the World, does not offer significant improvements for patients, according to a new study conducted by a nationwide group of researchers including faculty at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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An HIV drug that redirects immune cell traffic significantly reduces the incidence of a dangerous complication that often follows bone marrow transplants for blood cancer patients, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings represent a new tactic for the prevention of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), which afflicts up to 70 percent of transplant patients and is a leading cause of deaths associated with the treatment.

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New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington Medical Center, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, indicates that radial access for cardiac catheterization and intervention may offer a significant cost savings benefit to hospitals.

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In a Perspective piece published Online First this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, a group of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania propose a multi-pronged approach to the new practice of so-called “automated hovering” that aims to improve patients’ compliance with medication and dietary regimens and other positive health behaviors. These approaches combine newly discovered principles of behavioral economics that offer better ways to motivate patients to improve and protect their own health, technologies such as cell phones and wireless devices, and new reimbursement strategies for health care providers that require them focus more closely on patients’ health outside of office visits and hospitalizations.

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In a study of more than 18,000 patients having surgery for hip fracture, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that the use of regional anesthesia versus general anesthesia, was associated with a significant reduction in major pulmonary complications and death. The new study will be published in the July issue of the journal Anesthesiology.

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In a new study published in PLoS Biology this week researchers address an urgent need to find ways to promote beneficial amyloid fiber assembly or to reverse its pathogenic assembly, at will.

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Commensal bacteria are essential to fight off viral infections.

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In a first of its kind study in the U.S., researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that the addition of graphic warning labels on cigarette packaging can improve smokers' recall of the warning and health risks associated with smoking. The new findings are published online-first in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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Frances E. Jensen, MD, has been named Chair of the Department of Neurology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Resident immune cells in intestinal tissues of healthy humans, mice, and non-human primates are critical in limiting the location of commensal bacteria. If the cells are depleted commensal bacteria move to peripheral tissues and promote inflammation. The bacteria were all members of a group called Alcaligenes, indicating a selective pathway to contain commensal bacteria.

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In a recently published article, a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with peers and colleagues from across the nation, says that effective strategies to target pregnancy, infancy, and toddlers are urgently needed to stop the progression of childhood obesity. The call to action comes just weeks after the release of a recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and an HBO documentary, “The Weight of the Nation,” both of which focused on the nation’s growing obesity epidemic. The full text of the article is available in the June issue of Childhood Obesity.

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A Perspective piece published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine outlines a plan for an “ideal” prescription-drug monitoring program that would enable doctors, dentists, pharmacists, researchers and law enforcement officials to access real-time data on patients’ prescription drug histories to help cut abuse of these drugs.

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A team from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania found that the FDA-approved drug daclizumab improved the survival of breast cancer patients taking a cancer vaccine by 30 percent, compared to those patients not taking daclizumab.