In laboratories, clinics, libraries, and at field sites, Penn researchers had breakthroughs across a range of disciplines, discovering ancient tombs, treating the world’s first patient with personalized CRISPR gene editing therapy, and developing cleaner, greener concrete. These stories are a snapshot of the vibrant, innovative research at Penn. Penn Today organized 20 must-know breakthroughs from Penn in 2025.
The Office of Religious and Ethnic Interests (Title VI) reflected on accomplishments in its first year, including resolving discrimination concerns and launching a training module. OREI case manager Sarah Estey says the Penn community has not only been willing to engage in difficult conversations, but has wanted to do so. “We’ve really seen the power of dialogue in action,” she adds.
Sarah Rottenberg of the Weitzman School of Design, who also leads the Integrated Product Design Program, was instrumental in helping Penn Forward working groups optimize idea development by applying principles of design thinking. “I walked away feeling excited about Penn’s future,” Rottenberg says. “The combination of smart people with good energy and intent led to great ideas. There is still work to be done to go from ideas to implementation, but the incredible effort that the working groups have put in—showing up to every meeting, doing homework on weekends—has us set up for success.”
An $8 million gift from the RTW Foundation, led by Penn Medicine Board of Trustees member Rod Wong and Marti Speranza Wong, will support FRAME: Fueling Reimagination to Advance Medical Education. The project will create and implement a new curriculum built for the future of medicine: an era when gene therapies have reshaped the promise of cures for an array of diseases, artificial intelligence is putting new treatments closer at hand than ever, and the rise of remote monitoring and telemedicine are changing the ways in which doctors interact with patients.
To a full house at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, filmmaker Spike Lee and Africana Studies Professor Heather A. Williams spoke about the power of documentary, having the support of a team, and the fearlessness of leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. Lee was awarded the 25th MLK Jr. Social Justice Lecture & Award.
Carly Oniki, a fourth-year in the College of Arts & Sciences and a standout balance beam competitor on the Penn gymnastics team, balances rigorous training with leadership roles in student groups across campus. Oniki credits discipline, team culture, and mental focus for success, as the team aims for its fifth GEC championship in five years.
Fourth-year Stefan Hatch studies psychology and urban studies and worked in Philadelphia Landlord Tenant Court last year to understand how he could tackle homelessness and housing instability. “Stefan is unique in combining an interest in housing conditions with an interest in psychology,” says Sara Jaffee, a faculty mentor. “He wants to know whether individuals who are better connected to a broad social network experience more secure housing than individuals who are less well connected.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on collaborative research between Penn and the University of Michigan that has resulted the world’s smallest, fully programmable, autonomous robots, packing significant capacities into a device smaller than a grain of salt. The robotics breakthrough has potential medical functions. “Building robots that operate independently at sizes below one millimeter is incredibly difficult,” says Penn roboticist Marc Miskin. “The field has essentially been stuck on this problem for 40 years.”
Doris Wagner, a plant biologist at Penn, alongside her team, studied how plants are able to produce flowers in some parts and prevent flowering in others when the whole plant is exposed to the same environmental cues. The research “shows that certain plants aren’t making a single, all-or-nothing ‘decision,’” says Wagner. “They’re continuously measuring environmental signals and adjusting different parts of the shoot in different ways, which gives them resilience when conditions change.” The findings have implications for how farmers might select crops in the face of climate change.
In her new book “How the Cold War Broke the News: The Surprising Roots of Journalism’s Decline,” Barbie Zelizer of the Annenberg School for Communication argues against placing all the blame for journalism’s woes—such as inadequate funding and declining public trust—on big tech and market forces. Instead, she says, we need to focus on problematic journalistic practices dating to the beginning of American journalism that were solidified during the Cold War and persist today.
Thomas Paine published his famous pamphlet, “Common Sense,” 250 years ago in Philadelphia. A panel of Penn experts organized by Penn Alumni, Penn Libraries, and the School of Arts & Sciences gathered to share insights on Paine and the lasting impact of the document.
2023 President’s Innovation Prize winners Sonura were highlighted in CBS News for their beanie that mimics sounds in the womb and filters out high-frequency noises that are constant inside a hospital. The beanie is initially being tested in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine.
In Andi Johnson’s course Health in Philly: Past and Present, students visited and worked closely with leadership of the health-focused nonprofit Bebashi, which recently moved to West Philadelphia. Johnson taught students ethnographic interviewing techniques and how to analyze qualitative data. “I really wanted to give the students a radically different class, where they get the history, they learn from local experts, they don’t feel like they have to do it all themselves, and they also feel optimistic,” Johnson says.