News | Page 2 | Graduate School of Medical Sciences

illustration of bacteria floating over intestinal villi

Gut Microbiota Acts Like an Auxiliary Liver

Microbes in the mammalian gut can significantly change their hosts’ amino acid and glucose metabolism, acting almost like an extra liver, according to a new preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

The study, published April 23 in Cell Host & Microbe, adds to the growing list of ways in which the microbiome influences physiology, and could lead to new strategies to treat conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease...

pink macrophages engulfing orange rodlike bacteria

An Immune Powerhouse: Dr. Carl Nathan on the Potential of Interferon-γ

Dr. Carl Nathan, chair of the department of microbiology and immunology and the R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor of Microbiology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has co-authored a review in Science on the immune protein interferon-gamma. He answered questions about its history and prospects as a therapeutic.

How was IFN-γ's basic biological role discovered?

In 1969-1971, while I was in medical school, I addressed a central mystery of the period: How do lymphocytes recognizing a specific...

Meet This Year’s Champions of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Dr. Andrea Card, assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has always embraced diversity, equity and inclusion, starting in the 1990s when she was a medical student—long before it became a priority across the country. This year, Dr. Card received the Bruce Laine Ballard Award at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Celebration of Diversity, part of the institution’s sixth annual Diversity Week, held April 15 in Griffis Faculty Club.

She has used her...

Weill Cornell Initiative Continues to Bolster Diversity in Doctoral Programs

Cinthia Garcia was always passionate about science and medicine. The first in her family to complete post-secondary education, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Emmanuel College in Boston in 2018 and then became a laboratory manager at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Still, she dreamed of a career as a physician-scientist, pursuing translational research with the potential to improve patient care.

Cinthia Garcia

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image showing cells stained blue, tau aggregates in green and neuron cytoskeleton in red

Human Neuron Model Paves the Way for New Alzheimer’s Therapies

Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have developed an innovative human neuron model that robustly simulates the spread of tau protein aggregates in the brain—a process that drives cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. This new model has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets that could potentially block tau spread.

The preclinical study, published April 5 in Cell, is a significant advancement in Alzheimer's disease research.

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cyan strands of DNA wrapped around green histone proteins

Discovery Suggests New Strategy Against Follicular Lymphoma

A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine has identified important drivers of the transformation of a type of blood cancer called follicular lymphoma from a slow-growing form to the aggressive form it takes in some patients.

The study, published March 7 in Cancer Cell, showed that while mutations affecting a gene-regulating complex called BAF can put the cancer on a dangerous trajectory, they also make follicular lymphoma highly susceptible to experimental BAF-inhibitor drugs...

Stand Up To Cancer Dream Team Collective Seeks to Transform Care of Gastroesophageal Cancer

A collaboration between Dr. Jedd Wolchok, the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Dr. Yelena Janjigian, chief of the gastrointestinal oncology service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, is looking to transform the care of gastroesophageal cancer (GEC) patients with untreatable disease – earning the pair a grant from Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) as a part of the SU2C-Torrey Coast Foundation Gastroesophageal Cancer Dream Team...

2024 Health Hackathon Yields Innovative Solutions for Enhancing Patient Safety

The 2024 Health Hackathon brought together 185 students with diverse backgrounds from Cornell and 26 other universities—in just 36 hours, they addressed critical safety challenges facing patients today.

The competition, held in person from March 8-10 and organized by Weill Cornell Medicine’s Clinical & Translational Science Center (CTSC) and Entrepreneurship at Cornell, had multidisciplinary teams of future researchers, engineers, physicians, computer scientists and businessmen...

NSF Awards Grant for Evolution-inspired Design of Therapeutic RNAs

A team led by Dr. Samie Jaffrey, the Greenberg-Starr Professor of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a three-year, $1.65 million grant for RNA research under a biotechnology-development program run by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The competitive Molecular Foundations for Biotechnology program funds cutting-edge research that lays the groundwork for future clinical and industrial biotechnologies. The new award is one of nine that have been given to...

Photo of a hand holding a stethoscope on a man's arm with a blood pressure cuff

Peer Coaching Helps Marginalized Individuals Lower Blood Pressure

For younger Black patients living in rural parts of the Southeastern United States, peer coaching is more effective than traditional clinical care in controlling high blood pressure, according to a new study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. The investigators learned that for people under age 60 who have persistently uncontrolled hypertension, the benefits of working with a peer health coach were equivalent to what would be expected from taking a low...