News & Events

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University’s Ithaca campus.

The human body has co-evolved with the beneficial microbes that live in the gut (termed the microbiota), resulting in mutually favorable relationships that aid in the digestion of food and...

Dr. Jim Castellanos (M.D. ’20, Ph.D. ’18), an instructor in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been selected as a 2024 Hanna H. Gray Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Dr. Castellanos is one of 25 early-career scientists in the United States selected this year for this prestigious program, which aims to recruit and retain...

People with diabetes who were taking GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs such as tirzepatide and semaglutide had significantly lower rates of hospital readmission, wound re-opening and hematoma after surgery, according to a large study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian.

The ...

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a five-year, $2.3 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to improve equitable access to care, quality of life and survival outcomes for young people with all stages of breast cancer.

The grant will enable Weill Cornell Medicine to enhance care coordination for patients and caregivers to optimize support of physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual needs, while offering culturally relevant resources and targeted...

The hormone estrogen regulates binge drinking in females, causing them to “pregame”—consume large quantities of alcohol in the first 30 minutes after it’s offered, according to a preclinical study led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine. The study establishes, for what is thought to be the first time, that circulating estrogen increases binge alcohol consumption in females and contributes to known sex differences in this behavior.

The...

Immune cells in the brain called microglia can partially break down large amyloid plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease by latching on to them, forming a sort of external stomach and releasing digestive enzymes into the space, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings could ultimately lead to therapies that boost the ability of microglia to break down amyloid plaques.

The...

Neuroscientist Dr. Gary Gibson keeps a framed picture of a cell derived from the skin cells of a person with Alzheimer’s disease on his office wall.

The image is a memento of Dr. Gibson’s breakthrough hypothesis about an underlying cause of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s – that an insufficiency of vitamin B1 called thiamine alters the ability of mitochondria in brain cells to properly use...

A multicenter randomized, controlled clinical trial aims to test whether a minimally invasive treatment can relieve chronic pelvic pain and improve the quality of life for women with pelvic venous disease (PeVD). Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine will lead the study. Having definitive, quantitative evidence of health benefits may increase insurance coverage for the procedure and ensure access for more women. 

The condition,...

Reinforcement Learning, an artificial intelligence approach, has the potential to guide physicians in designing sequential treatment strategies for better patient outcomes but requires significant improvements before it can be applied in clinical settings, finds a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and Rockefeller University researchers.

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a class of machine learning algorithms able to make a series of decisions over time. Responsible for recent AI...

Prostate cancer hijacks the normal prostate’s growth regulation program to release the brakes and grow freely, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. The discovery, published Dec. 13 in Nature Communications, paves the way for new diagnostic tests to guide treatment and could also help drug developers identify novel ways to stop the disease.

A protein called the androgen receptor...

Glutamate transporters pump glutamate from the synaptic cleft back into brain cells after its release during neurotransmission. A new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has found that free fatty acids, including an omega-3 fatty acid called DHA, can reduce the amount of glutamate uptake by diminishing the sodium ion gradient that powers the transporters.

The study, published Dec. 6...

A newer vaccine against hepatitis B virus was clearly superior to an older vaccine type in inducing a protective antibody response among people living with HIV who didn’t respond to prior vaccination, according to the results of an international study led by a Weill Cornell Medicine investigator.

The...

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a $1.4 million, four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to investigate a new therapeutic approach for the most common form of kidney cancer.

The grant is one of 10 Idea Awards the department funded this year to support innovative, high-risk, high-reward science that could lead to a paradigm shift in cancer care. The funding will enable principal investigators Dr. Lorraine Gudas...

An emerging class of anticancer drugs called EZH2 inhibitors may greatly enhance the potency of some cancer immunotherapies, according to a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine lymphoma researchers.

The inhibitors target the EZH2 enzyme, whose activity in tumor cells is now recognized as a significant factor in many cancers. The study, published Dec. 5 in Cancer Cell, found that EZH2 inhibition...

Many individuals seeking asylum in the United States show increased stress and pain symptoms that are associated with indications of cardiovascular disease, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.  

“We would not have expected the rates of these illnesses or conditions to be this high in such a young, otherwise healthy population,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Gunisha Kaur,...

Specially packaged DNA secreted by tumor cells can trigger an immune response that inhibits the metastatic spread of the tumor to the liver, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Korea’s Yonsei University. The discovery improves the scientific understanding of cancer progression and anticancer immunity, and could yield new clinical tools for assessing and reducing metastasis risk.

In the...

Weill Cornell Medicine has recently promoted longtime institutional leaders Thomas W. Stokes, Michael T. Murphy and Eric M. Saidel to elevated administrative posts.

Stokes Leads Financial Operations

Severe COVID-19 arises in part from the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s impact on mitochondria, tiny oxygen-burning power plants in cells, which can help trigger a cascade of organ- and immune system-damaging events, suggests a study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, along with other members of the COVID-19 International Research Team.

Severe COVID-19 has been considered an...

Increasing the levels of chemicals naturally produced in the body called endocannabinoids may thwart the highly addictive nature of opioids such as morphine and oxycodone while maintaining the drugs’ ability to relieve pain, according to Weill Cornell Medicine investigators working with researchers from The Center for Youth Mental Health at NewYork-...

Inhibiting an immune signaling protein called TLR7 may help preserve the protective layer surrounding nerve fibers in the brain during both Alzheimer’s disease and ordinary aging, suggests a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Most nerve fibers in vertebrates are encased in sheaths made largely of a protein called myelin, which protects the fibers and greatly enhances the efficiency of their signal conduction. The destruction of myelin sheaths—demyelination—can occur in...