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Many genetic mutations have been found to be associated with a person s risk of developing Parkinson s disease. Yet for most of these variants, the mechanism through which they act remains unclear.
Now a new study in
Nature led by a team from the University of Pennsylvania has revealed how two different variations one that increases disease risk and leads to more severe disease in people who develop Parkinson s and another that reduces risk manifest in the body.
The work, led by Dejian Ren, a professor in the School of Arts & Sciences Department of Biology, showed that the variation that raises disease risk, which about 17% of people possess, causes a reduction in function of an ion channel in cellular organelles called lysosomes, also known as cells waste removal and recycling centers. Meanwhile, a different variation that reduces Parkinson s disease risk by about 20% and is present in 7% of the general population enhances the activity of the same ion channel.
While Philadelphia places higher-education employees in phase 1C of vaccine distribution, the Medical School sent an email to its staff on Jan. 12 stating that the school is placing employees in phase 1B.
Campuses are safe, lonely places to live for some students
Susan Svrluga, The Washington Post
Dec. 29, 2020
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1of3Omaya Torres walks through the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia on Dec. 20, 2020.Photo for The Washington Post by Eileen BlassShow MoreShow Less
2of3Omaya Torres looks out the window of her dorm room at the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia on Dec. 20, 2020.Photo for The Washington Post by Eileen BlassShow MoreShow Less
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To see friends this fall, Omaya Torres had to improvise. She couldn t bring them into her dorm on campus, a pandemic rule that was strictly enforced. While a security guard watched at the entrance, a card-operated gate would open, then swiftly lock closed behind her, and a sensor would set off a warning alarm if another person tried to slip through.