Week of June 24-30, 2019

Weekly Edition

June 24-30, 2019
For more News from Penn, visit the Penn Today website

With the next cinematic iteration of Marvel’s friendly neighborhood superhero coming to theaters this week, Shu Yang from the School of Engineering and Applied Science discusses the science behind Spider-Man’s superpowers. She talks about her group’s latest research findings that could be used to climb walls and how engineers take inspiration from biology to create “super” materials.

Alzheimer’s awareness

In light of Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, Penn Memory Center’s Sanjeev Vaishnavi discusses recent advances, such as amyloid imaging, and the progress to come. “I wouldn’t go as far as saying we’ll cure Alzheimer’s in five years; I think that’s unlikely,” he says. “But I think something that has an impact on day-to-day function is possible in the next few years.”

Laments for Sudan

Since December, the people of Sudan have been involved in a nonviolent protest against the military dictatorship that has ruled the country since the late 1980s. Ali Ali-Dinar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Africana Studies who is from the Darfur region of Sudan, discusses the ongoing uprising in the East African country, the Sudan massacre, and why he is optimistic despite the bloodshed.

First weeks

Ethan Boyer, a rising junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, writes about his summer internship in Aachen, Germany. Boyer, from Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, has been working at a local university’s hospital where he 3-D prints blood vessels for in vitro experiments. “Overall,” he writes, “my first two weeks in Europe have been amazing both academically and also personally as I have met a great group of people and made memories that will last a lifetime.”

Second chances

In Pennsylvania, a life sentence means no chance of parole, something Kathleen M. Brown of the Ortner Center and the Quattrone Center is working to change with help from Penn student volunteers. Her program, From Cell to Home, recently had its first success, securing the release of a 69-year-old woman who had been incarcerated for 35 years.

Emerging concern

In Pennsylvania and hundreds of other locations around the country, synthetic chemicals known as PFAS, short for poly- and per-fluoroalkyl substances, have been showing up in drinking water. Howard Neukrug, executive director of the Water Center at Penn and former commissioner of the Philadelphia Water Department, discusses the potential risks, how local and federal agencies are responding, and the many unanswered questions.

Parkinson’s target

An enzyme that modifies chemicals formed in the body by alcohol, tobacco, and certain foods may be a new target for treating Parkinson’s disease, according to a team led by Narayan Avadhani and postdoc Mrittika Chattopadhyay of the School of Veterinary Medicine. The altered compounds may play a role in triggering the onset or advancing the progression of the neurodegenerative condition.

Beyond tourism

Kushal Modi, a rising junior in the School of Arts and Sciences, is spending his summer interning with the U.S. Embassy in Paris. The Reading, Pennsylvania, native advises other long-term visitors to foreign places to practice the local language, travel beyond the “tourist comfort zone,” and take time to explore alone.

Inclusive talks

Parent-child discussions about sexual health are complicated, particularly with a male teen who identifies as gay, bisexual, or queer. Research from Dalmacio Dennis Flores (not pictured) of the School of Nursing found that even when such conversations avoid heteronormative stereotypes, outside factors like mass media and religion—those beyond the parents’ control—can reinforce them.

One book

This summer, the School of Social Policy & Practice will collectively read Charlene A. Carruthers' "Unapologetic: "A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements" as part of One Book, One SP2. The initiative aims to encourage students, faculty, and staff to engage in ongoing discussion around the book's premise: dismantling racism, prejudice, ableism, homophobia, and the patriarchy.

Complex networks

Danielle Bassett and postdoc Max Bertolero of the School of Engineering and Applied Science co-authored a Scientific American article about network neuroscience, which allows us to see the origins of mental activity in the brain. One day, they write, “a neuroscientist who knew all the principles of brain function and everything about someone’s brain could predict that person’s mental conditions—the future, as well as the past, would be present inside the person’s mind.”

Top of the world

Climbing Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, is an arduous task. A few members of the Penn community who have made the ascent spoke with Penn Today about their expeditions. Among them are several graduates of the Wharton School and a Penn Medicine professor who conducted research projects on the mountain in 2008. Called Sagarmatha by the Nepalese and Chomolungma by the Tibetans, Mount Everest rises to 29,029 feet.

Nature Rx

Chloe Cerwinka of the Office of the University Architect is spearheading the Nature Rx initiative, which encourages medical clinicians to prescribe time in nature as a means to ease stress. “If you talk about it as a prescription, people will start to take it more seriously,” she says. The project is one of three winners of spring’s Your Big Idea Wellness Challenge.

On the road

Oliver Osei-Asibey, a rising sophomore in the Wharton School, reflects on his time in Medellín, Colombia, where he is interning for the summer. Navigating transit and traffic has presented its own set of unique challenges, the London native writes. “Medellín is an interesting place to be because although many would describe the people as having a more relaxed way of life, it seems this way of life is definitely abandoned as soon as one sits behind the steering wheel.”

Science in the studio

Research scientific glassblower Karen Carraro (above) manages Penn’s glass shop, where she is responsible for maintaining, repairing, and creating custom scientific glassware for students, researchers, and faculty across campus. “This is a great resource that a lot of places don’t have anymore,” Karen Goldberg of the School of Arts and Sciences says. (Video)

Dynamic locomotion

With a two-legged robot in the lab, Michael Posa (right) of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and his students can spend their research time pushing robotic locomotion forward rather than building equipment. “It offers us capabilities that are really unlike anything else on the commercial market,” he says.

SCOTUS decision

PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts and John Hollway of the Law School penned responses to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the conviction and death sentence of Curtis Flowers based on racially motivated exclusions of potential jurors. While Roberts and Hollway believe the Court’s decision is sound, they question whether the ruling on the narrow context of one case alone weakens the institution of peremptory challenge itself.

Health risks

Bans on affirmative action reduce the chances of underrepresented students’ admission to college and may increase their likelihood of smoking or drinking to excess. “What this study shows us is that reducing their chances to attend a top college and potentially undermining their expectations of upward mobility, more generally, may also increase their risk of engaging in unhealthy behaviors,” says lead author Atheendar Venkataramani of the Perelman School of Medicine.

Values in action

In an op-ed for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Janet Weiner of the Leonard Davis Institute writes about the opioid epidemic and an encounter Jeanmarie Perrone of the Perelman School of Medicine recently had on public transit. Aided by the Narcan she carries in her purse, Perrone and a group of strangers saved the life of a young man who had overdosed. “What if our national policy reflected the values in that subway car?” Weiner asks.

Predicting health

According to a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine, the language used in social media posts is more reliable in predicting conditions such as diabetes, anxiety, and depression than demographic data. “This work is early, but our hope is that the insights gleaned from these posts could be used to better inform patients and providers about their health,” says lead author Raina Merchant.

Learning opportunity

Shreyoshi Das (center), a rising sophomore in the Wharton School from Flower Mound, Texas, reflects on the beginning of her summer internship at Shahi, an apparel manufacturer in Bangalore, India. “The fact that I came from a prestigious university in the U.S. with a reputable program gave me the opportunity to meet staff at high levels of the company, something not many interns at other companies are able to do,” she writes.

Achilles heel

Kathryn O’Connor of the Perelman School of Medicine gives the ins and outs of Achilles tears. The Achilles tendon functions to help maintain ankle strength and push-off of the foot during gait. Professional athletes who rupture their Achilles face a year-long recovery process.

Horse care

Unlike in dogs and cats, equine cancer is less common, and often diagnosed at more advanced stages, making treatment options expensive and, ultimately, less studied in veterinary medicine. To help, Daniela Luethy of New Bolton Center studied 15 horses with lymphoma to determine whether equine chemotherapy was truly effective. “The results are encouraging,” she says.