Dr. Henry Daniell a Featured Panelist at Power of Penn London Event

 

Penn President Amy Gutmann with Dr. Henry Daniell, a featured Knowledge for Good panelist at the London Power of Penn Kickoff.

Philadelphia – Dr. Henry Daniell, Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at Penn Dental Medicine, was among the featured panelist at the London Campaign Kickoff Celebration for The Power of Penn: Advancing Knowledge for Good, held November 15 in Plaisterers’ Hall, London.

Penn President Amy Gutmann hosted the event that drew Penn alumni, Trustees, and invited guests to learn about The Power of Penn campaign and how this historic campaign will grow inclusion, spark innovation, and accelerate impact both on campus and around the world.

The London celebration was the sixth in a series of eight campaign kickoff events planned since the official launch of the campaign in April 2018, each of which has featured a Knowledge for Good panel of distinguished Penn faculty.

As part of the London panel, Dr. Daniell was invited to share his revolutionary work aimed at tackling the oppressively high cost of medications using a novel, plant-based platform for the production and oral delivery of biopharmaceuticals. Dr. Daniell develops biopharmaceuticals by introducing therapeutic proteins into lettuce cells, then growing, harvesting, freeze-drying, and encapsulating these specially engineered plants. These shelf-stable capsules could then be taken orally, eliminating both the expense of injections and the refrigeration required to transport and store the drugs, as well as the costly fermentation process involved in traditional biopharmaceutical production. Using this plant-based platform, he has produced insulin to treat diabetes, as well as drugs targeting pulmonary hypertension, hemophilia complications,Alzheimer’s disease, dental caries, and retinopathy. He has also worked on booster vaccines for tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, and polio.

Dr. Daniell is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the 14th American member of Italy’s 240-year-old National Academy of Science. He has been recognized for his groundbreaking work by the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and is the recipient of the Bayer Healthcare Global Award.

“Henry truly is doing life-changing work that will impact lives around the world,” says Dr. Mark Wolff, Morton Amsterdam Dean of Penn Dental Medicine, who also attended the London Campaign Kickoff.

Dr. Daniell was joined on the London Knowledge for Good panel by Anjan ChatterJee, Frank A. and Gwladys H. Elliott Professor at Perelman School of Medicine, and Kathleen Morrison, Sally and Alvin V. Shoemaker Professor of Anthropology at Penn Arts and Sciences and Curator of the Asian Section at Penn Museum.

The program was followed by a reception that provided an opportunity for guests to share in the excitement of the University-wide Power of Penn campaign, which involves all of Penn’s 12 schools. Learn more about Penn Dental Medicine’s campaign initiatives at The Power of Penn Dental Medicine.

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