Highlights

Using an experimental technique whereby flowers can be coaxed to form from plant roots, biologists led by Doris Wagner uncovered a protein that enables for the initial loosening of chromatin that can allow new proteins to be made and plants to take on different forms. (Image: Courtesy of the Wagner laboratory)

First ever ‘pioneer’ factor found in plants enables cells to change their fate

To start the process of unpacking tightly bundled genetic material, plants depend on the LEAFY pioneer protein, according to work led by biologist Doris Wagner.
In mouse neurons deficient in the membrane protein TMEM175 (right panel), researchers found damage to lysosomes (green) and a build-up of alpha-synuclein (red), clumps of which are implicated in Parkinson’s disease pathology. (Image: Courtesy of the Ren laboratory)

Parkinson’s disease risk and severity is tied to the activity of a channel in cells’ ‘recycling centers’

Genetic variations associated with both increases and reductions in risk of the neurodegenerative disease alter the action of ion channels within cellular organelles called lysosomes, a new Penn study finds.
cloud forest

Climate change doesn’t spare the smallest

Changing conditions have taken a toll on insects in the tropics, according to research by School of Arts & Sciences biologists Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs. But education and science offer a path forward, they say.
Lab Kits at Home

Customized kits turn students’ dining rooms into biology labs

Students in introductory biology laboratory courses in the School of Arts & Sciences used customized laboratory kits to get hands-on practice with the scientific method.
Dr. Petraitis

Declines in shellfish species on rocky seashores match climate-driven changes

Two decades of data from a study of Swan’s Island in Maine co-led by biologists Peter Petraitis of the School of Arts & Sciences and Steve Dudgeon of California State University, Northridge, document a slow and steady dwindling of mussels, barnacles, and snails.