A number of department faculty members were in the news this month:

•  The Lee Lab published a paper in Nature Neuroscience demonstrating how the brain immune system is key to recovery from motor neuron degeneration. The research suggests that microglia, immune cells in the brain, may protect against neuron damage associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
•  The Allman Lab published a study in Cell Host Microbe demonstrating that mice with higher levels of a certain bacteria in the gut had better survival against polymicrobial sepsis.
•  Zubair Baloch, MD, PhD, is co-editor of the new book The Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology (Springer 2018) that describes a uniform international approach for classifying and reporting salivary gland FNA samples. The new reporting system is evidence-based, using data from the literature as well as the experience of a multi-disciplinary group of leading experts involved in the field of salivary gland cytopathology.   
•  The Pear Lab collaborated with the Vahedi Lab on a new paper in Immunity describing how the lineage-determining transcription factor TCF-1 initiates the epigenetic identity of T cells.
•  The Philadelphia Business Journal profiles the partnership between the University of Pennsylvania and Novartis that ushered in a new era of oncological care through the development of the CAR-T cell therapy. Dr. Don Siegel, Director of Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility (CVPF) at the Center for Advanced Cellular Therapeutics (CACT), is featured. The Penn-Novartis collaboration and licensing partnership to manufacture CAR-T cells supports a network of 33 treatment centers (including CHOP and the Abramson Cancer Center) nationwide. Link to PBJ article (paywalled)
•  Wired UK highlights Dr. Bruce Levine, Deputy Director of Technology Innovation at the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, who explains how a single dose of infusion therapy can eradicate leukemia and destroy kilograms of cancer cells.
• Daniel Powell, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is the recipient of the Penn Center for Innovation 2017-2018 Emerging Inventor of the Year Award. (Powell Lab profile in Penn Today's feature on the Culture and Ecosystem of Innovation.)