Biology

David Roos shifted his infectious disease course online, as required when Penn’s campus closed. But he also adapted its content to tackle some of what is happening in the world around the novel coronavirus. (Image: Courtesy of David Roos)

The activity of the Skp1 protein is crucial for sperm formation, Penn Vet scientists found. In a dividing sperm precursor cell, chromosomes (in purple) normally align in the middle, as shown on the left. But in cells lacking Skp1, as shown on the right, chromosomes fail to align and are instead distributed chaotically around the cell. (Image: Courtesy of the Wang laboratory)

Mutualistic interactions abound in nature, yet classical ecology models predicted they shouldn’t. With a new approach, biologists from Penn clarify what the old predictions missed. (Image: Erol Akçay)

In a mouse model of diabetes, a plant-grown compound helped bone fractures heal faster.

Aunifying game theory model describing the feedbacks that occur between strategic decision making and environmental change captured dynamics that occur in fisheries, in human social interactions, in soil-microbe interactions, and much more. (Image: Erol Akçay) 

Rainbow trout are the model organism of choice for immunologist Oriol Sunyer of the School of Veterinary Medicine. In a new report, Sunyer and colleagues shed light on the dual roles of a type of antibody in trout—to both defend against pathogens and sustain a healthy microbiome.

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