All posts tagged: UPenn

UPenn physicists make ‘light’ work of computing

UPenn physicists make ‘light’ work of computing

Published by Jenni Sidey

Eighty years after ENIAC helped launch the electronic age at the University of Pennsylvania, a new Penn-led advance points to a very different way of computing. Instead of relying on electrons, which lose energy as heat and become harder to manage as chips grow more complex, physicists are pushing light deeper into the job. Their latest work centers on a hybrid particle. This particle lets light do something it usually struggles with in computing: interact strongly enough to switch signals on and off. That hybrid, called an exciton-polariton, blends the speed of photons with the stronger interactions of matter. In the new research, Penn physicists built a system that uses these quasiparticles to perform all-optical switching with about 4 femtojoules of energy, or roughly 4 quadrillionths of a joule. Furthermore, the team says that figure sets a new benchmark for switching energy in two-dimensional exciton-polariton systems. The work, published in Physical Review Letters, could matter most in artificial intelligence, where hardware now spends huge amounts of energy moving data, processing it, and shedding heat. 2D …

UPenn researchers develop bioengineered chewing gum to fight head and neck cancers

UPenn researchers develop bioengineered chewing gum to fight head and neck cancers

Published by Jenni Sidey

A piece of chewing gum may sound out of place in a cancer lab. Yet in this case, it became the delivery system for two plant-based compounds. These were aimed at something doctors often struggle to control: the microbes tied to head and neck cancer. Researchers led by Henry Daniell of the UPenn School of Dental Medicine tested extracts from a bioengineered chewing gum against oral samples from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, or HNSCC. The gum was built from lablab bean powder and carried two active ingredients, FRIL, a naturally antiviral protein, and protegrin-1, an antimicrobial peptide. Together, they sharply cut levels of three microbes linked to these cancers. These microbes are human papilloma virus, known as HPV, and the bacteria Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum. That matters because HNSCC is a common cancer that forms in the lining of the mouth and throat. It can be aggressive, and outcomes are often poor when it is found late. Daniell said many recently approved cancer drugs have not made a major difference …

UPenn researchers trained dogs to sniff out canine cancer by scent

UPenn researchers trained dogs to sniff out canine cancer by scent

Published by Jenni Sidey

Cancer kills many people and pets each year. Studies suggest that between one-third and one-half of dogs will develop cancer during their lifetime. One of the most feared forms is hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive cancer that starts in blood vessel cells and can grow unnoticed until a crisis. Clara Wilson, a postdoctoral research fellow at Penn Vet’s Working Dog Center, explains what the dogs are keying in on. “We’re picking up on volatile organic compounds every time we smell something,” she told The Brighter Side of News. “The dogs have an ability to detect them at much lower levels than we can. These compounds are important because they seem to be the key to how dogs are able to smell things like cancer.” Dalton at the olfactometer lineup. (CREDIT: Shelby Wise) Why this disease is so hard to catch Hemangiosarcoma has earned a grim nickname as a “silent killer.” A dog can seem healthy, then suddenly collapse when a tumor ruptures and causes internal bleeding. Veterinarians often confirm the diagnosis only after invasive sampling and lab …