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How HIV infection shrinks the brain’s white matter
Fluorescent microscopic image of a brain cell stained in blue and yellow

How HIV infection shrinks the brain’s white matter

Researchers from Penn and CHOP detail the mechanism by which HIV infection blocks the maturation process of brain cells that produce myelin, a fatty substance that insulates neurons.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A quick pivot turns an infectious disease class into timely education
David Roos taking a selfie while teaching a class online, with scientific materials on the screen behind him

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)

A quick pivot turns an infectious disease class into timely education

Students in David Roos’ upper-level biology course had been studying pandemics. Now they get to learn in real time how public health scientists attempt to understand COVID-19.

Katherine Unger Baillie

A new way to study HIV’s impact on the brain
colorful rendering of different brain cells in blue, green, and red

By culturing astrocytes, microglia, and neurons—all derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells—in one dish, researchers have created an effective model to study the cognitive impacts of HIV and other diseases. (Image: Sean Ryan)

A new way to study HIV’s impact on the brain

Using a newly developed laboratory model of three types of brain cells, Penn and CHOP scientists reveal how HIV infection—as well as the drugs that treat it—can take a toll on the central nervous system.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Lifelong no longer: New research on TB infection rarely leads to active disease
x-ray of lungs in purple

Lifelong no longer: New research on TB infection rarely leads to active disease

A Penn-led study suggested majority will not develop disease even if a test shows positive results, citing that the infecting organism, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is likely dead, wiped out naturally by people’s immune systems.

Penn Today Staff

With a second patient free from HIV, what’s next?
stem cell pipette

With a second patient free from HIV, what’s next?

Scientists have succeeded in sending an HIV patient into long-term remission, only the second time such a feat has been documented. Pablo Tebas and Bridgette Brawner discuss what this means for HIV research and for people living with the virus.

Katherine Unger Baillie

To prevent HIV, start online
Person pressing one of three large digital buttons with a happy, neutral, and frown face.

To prevent HIV, start online

A team led by José Bauermeister at Penn Nursing designed the My Desires & Expectations tool to address cognitive and emotional factors that influence sexual decision-making when seeking partners online.

Penn Today Staff

World AIDS Day: What’s happening with the epidemic today
SERO HIV/AIDS activists together The SERO Project, one of six community organizations featured in this year’s Day With(out) Art program at the Institute of Contemporary Art, is pictured at a workshop event earlier this year. The group advocates for people living with HIV and fights laws that criminalize sexual partners for non-disclosure of HIV status. (Photo courtesy: The Institute of Contemporary Art.)
  • Q&A

    • World AIDS Day: What’s happening with the epidemic today

    Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief of the Infectious Diseases Division Ian Frank explains progress made and challenges still faced in the world of HIV/AIDS research, prevention, and treatment.
    Simple solutions help children in Mexican orphanage fight infectious disease
    Alaina Hall, one of the 2018 President’s Engagement Prize winners and a School of Nursing senior.

    Alaina Hall, one of the 2018 President’s Engagement Prize winners and a School of Nursing senior. She is beginning her initiative, “Healthy Pequeños,” or “Healthy Little Ones,” at one of the homes of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos orphanage, but has hopes it will expand to all 15 others within the organization. If that happens, she’ll reach nearly 3,200 children. 

    Simple solutions help children in Mexican orphanage fight infectious disease

    With the President’s Engagement Prize, senior Alaina Hall, is building a project she calls “Healthy Pequeños,” or “Healthy Little Ones,” which aims to help children in a Mexican orphanage fight infectious disease.

    Michele W. Berger