Graduate School of Medical Sciences
A partnership with the Sloan Kettering Institute

Hypertension Affects the Brain Much Earlier than Expected

Hypertension impairs blood vessels, neurons and white matter in the brain well before the condition causes a measurable rise in blood pressure, according to a new preclinical study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The changes help explain why hypertension is a major risk factor for developing cognitive disorders, such as vascular cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists Identify a Trigger for Obesity-Linked Inflammation

Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have identified an early step in a cellular process that leads to inflammation in fat cells and may result in type 2 diabetes in people with obesity.

Common-Cold Coronavirus Could be the Key to a Better COVID-19 Vaccine

Prior exposure to coronaviruses that cause ordinary colds can boost the immune system’s ability to attack a vulnerable site on the COVID-19-causing coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The finding suggests a new vaccination strategy that might provide broader and more durable protection against SARS-CoV-2 strains compared with existing vaccines—and might also protect against other emergent coronaviral threats.

Researchers Unveil a Powerful New Gene-Switch Tool

Investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a versatile and non-toxic technology for controlling the activity of any gene in a cell. Such “gene-switch” tools allow scientists to “turn on” or “turn off” a target gene to study how it works, model diseases and design new therapies. The tool potentially could be adopted throughout biomedical research, including in the development of gene therapies.

NIH Awards $10 Million for the New York Regional Diabetes Research Center

New York, NY (October 23, 2025) Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $10.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create the New York Regional Diabetes Research Center (NYR-DRC), a newly expanded multi-institutional center co-led with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Weill Cornell Medicine. The center will focus on discovering scientific knowledge and translating it into improved care for people with diabetes and related metabolic disea

Galvanizing Blood Vessel Cells to Expand for Organ Transplantation

Scientists have discovered a method to induce human endothelial cells from a small biopsy sample to multiply in the laboratory, producing more than enough cells to replace damaged blood vessels or nourish organs for transplantation, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. Endothelial cells form the inner lining of blood vessels and regulate blood flow, inflammation and healing. Traditional approaches for growing these cells in the lab have yielded only limited numbers before they lose their ability to function.

Cancer Progression Illuminated by New Multi-Omics Tool

A new tool developed by Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Adelaide investigators has enhanced the ability to track multiple gene mutations while simultaneously recording gene activity in individual cancer cells. The technology, which can now use diverse types of pathology samples and quickly process large numbers of cells, has enabled the investigators to glean new insights into how cancers evolve toward greater aggressiveness and therapy resistance.

Study Finds Restoring Order to Dividing Cancer Cells May Prevent Metastasis

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the most aggressive and hardest to treat breast cancers, but a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine suggests a way to stop it from spreading. Researchers have discovered that an enzyme called EZH2 drives TNBC cells to divide abnormally, which enables them to relocate to distant organs. The preclinical study also found drugs that block EZH2 could restore order to dividing cells and thwart the spread of TNBC cells.

NIH Grant Will Fund Autism Research Replication, Validation, and Reproducibility Center

Investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell’s Ithaca campus have received a $5.1 million, three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Autism Data Science Initiative (ADSI) to launch the Autism Replication, Validation, and Reproducibility (AR²) Center. The center aims to improve the reliability of autism research and foster public trust in the field.