News | Graduate School of Medical Sciences

How Vessels in the Lungs Switch Gears to Promote Healing

A protein called PAR1 helps lymphatic vessels structurally transform to boost fluid drainage and support healing when the lungs are injured according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine. Injury—whether by infection, toxins, or trauma—can cause fluid buildup in the lungs, making it hard to breathe. In response, the body’s lymphatic system, a network of vessels, tissues and organs, ramps up to clear inflammation. Excess fluid called lymph is removed from the body's tissues and returned...

Fat May Play an Important Role in Brain Metabolism

While glucose, or sugar, is a well-known fuel for the brain, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have demonstrated that electrical activity in synapses—the junctions between neurons where communication occurs—can lead to the use of lipid or fat droplets as an energy source.

The study, published July 1 in Nature Metabolism, challenges “the long-standing dogma that the brain doesn’t burn fat,” said principal investigator Dr. Timothy A. Ryan, professor of biochemistry and of biochemistry...

Immunofluorescent image of cells tagged with red, green and blue labels

Small Molecule Treatment Could Make Islet Transplantation Therapy More Effective

A pretreatment step could help transplanted pancreatic islets survive longer in patients with type 1 diabetes, according to a new preclinical study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. One combination of small molecules extended the cells’ lives in female mice, and adding two molecules to the mixture boosted cell survival in male mice.

The findings, published on June 24 in Cell Stem Cell, could allow physicians to treat more patients with fewer cells.

In type 1 diabetes,...

Immunofluorescent image of mouse hippocampus stained for tau

Alzheimer’s Protective Mutation Works by Taming Inflammation in the Brain

A rare gene mutation that delays Alzheimer’s disease does so by damping inflammatory signaling in brain-resident immune cells, according to a preclinical study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The finding adds to growing evidence that brain inflammation is a major driver of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s—and that it may be a key therapeutic target for these disorders.

In the study, published June 23 in Immunity, the researchers examined the effects of...

purple and pink stained intestinal cells

Immune Tolerance to Gut Microbes Is Initiated by a Key Bacterial Sensor

Thousands of bacterial and other microbial species live in the human gut, supporting healthy digestion, immunity, metabolism and other functions. Precisely how these microbes are protected from immune attack has been unclear, but now a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has found that this immune “tolerance” to gut microbes depends on an ancient bacterial-sensing protein called STING—normally considered a trigger for inflammation. The surprising result could lead to new...

A man in a suit giving a presentation at a podium

Dr. Nikolaos Koundouros Wins 2025 Tri-Institutional Breakout Award

Dr. Nikolaos Koundouros, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a 2025 Tri-Institutional Breakout Award for Junior Investigators.

Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and The Rockefeller University present the awards to up to six exceptional investigators each year—at least one from each institution—who are recognized for their notable research achievements,...

Helen and Robert Appel Institute Symposium

Looking Beyond Beta-Amyloid: New Paths in Alzheimer's Research

At the 12th annual Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute Symposium, scientists and clinicians shared their latest research which is advancing how Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed and treated. Held at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Griffis Faculty Club, the symposium gave investigators and community members the opportunity to learn and ask questions about new directions in neurodegenerative research. Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 7 million Americans, a...

illustration of DNA double helix and chromosomes

Study Provides New Insights into the Genetic Complexity of Cancer Metastasis

When cancer spreads from a primary tumor to new sites throughout the body, it undergoes changes that increase its genetic complexity.

A new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) provides fresh insights about how cancers evolve when they metastasize — insights that could aid in developing strategies to improve the effectiveness of treatment.

Dr. Xi Kathy Zhou

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New Insights into Bladder Cancer Treatment Could Help Improve Immunotherapies

More than three decades ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as the first immunotherapy against cancer. And it is still used today to treat early-stage bladder cancer.

Now, a team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is expanding the understanding of how the treatment works — an understanding that could help improve the effectiveness of immunotherapies more broadly.

...

Novel Maneuver Helps Malaria Parasite Dodge the Immune System

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered how a parasite that causes malaria when transmitted through a mosquito bite can hide from the body’s immune system, sometimes for years. It turns out that the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, can shut down a key set of genes, rendering itself “immunologically invisible.”

Dr. Francesca Florini

“This finding provides another piece of the puzzle as to why...

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