News & Events

When Nila Charles was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was the mother of two young children, working long hours and caring for a family member who was also diagnosed with cancer.

"It was a tough time, but I rallied through it," Charles recalled...

An experimental mRNA vaccine against human cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common virus that can infect babies during pregnancy, elicited some of the most promising immune responses to date of any CMV vaccine candidate, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

The study, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases on Feb. 7, provided evidence...

More than a decade ago, the anticoagulant apixaban, trade name Eliquis, was shown to be superior to aspirin for preventing recurrent stroke in patients with a heart condition called atrial fibrillation. But a multi-center, phase 3 clinical trial has found that apixaban is no more effective than aspirin at preventing a second stroke in patients diagnosed with a milder, related condition called atrial cardiopathy, according to results reported by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia...

Dr. Alessio Accardi, professor of physiology and biophysics in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $2.7 million grant by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for fundamental research on cell membrane proteins that have critical roles in biology and are involved in numerous human diseases.

The grant is a much-sought...

NEW YORK (Jan. 31, 2024)—Dr. Bernhard Kühn, a leading physician-scientist who specializes in heart regeneration, has been named chief of the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital, effective Feb. 1.

In his role as chief, Dr. Kühn will lead a skilled team of physicians and scientists committed to enhancing the division’s...

Dr. Jeannine Gerhardt, an assistant professor of stem cell biology in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has received a five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, for the study of repetitive DNA and RNA sequences and the mechanisms by which they cause cell dysfunction and diseases.

The NIGMS Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award is intended to...

Structural insights into a potent antimalarial drug candidate’s interaction with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have paved the way for drug-resistant malaria therapies, according to a new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Van Andel Institute.

The antimalarial molecule, TDI-8304, is one of a new class of experimental therapeutics that targets the proteasome, an essential, multiprotein complex in P. falciparum...

A new study reported that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, can infect dopamine neurons in the brain and trigger senescence—when a cell loses the ability to grow and divide. The researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons suggest that further research on this finding may shed light on the neurological symptoms associated with long COVID such as brain fog, lethargy and depression....

Non-cancerous cells called stromal cells, which are found in and around prostate tumors, may be useful in assessing these tumors’ potential to spread, and may even be targets for future prostate cancer treatments, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Stromal cells, found in all organs, contribute to wound-healing, blood vessel formation and structural support for tissues. Scientists know that tumors often co-opt stromal cells to create a more supportive...

A new study reported that patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with a combination of low-dose radiation and immunotherapy had higher progression-free survival compared to patients who received immunotherapy alone two years after treatment. The findings from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons offer hope to those affected by NSCLC, the most common type of lung cancer in the United ...

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have painstakingly catalogued the cellular response to stroke in a preclinical model, identifying the immune cells involved and the roles they may play in the days and weeks following a stroke. During a stroke, loss of oxygen leads to brain damage and cell death. It also triggers a powerful inflammatory response in which the brain’s resident immune cells, along with cells recruited from the blood, infiltrate the injured tissue.

The...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program to validate a new blood test for the early detection of breast cancer.

Researchers are evaluating Syantra DX Breast Cancer (Syantra Inc.), an experimental diagnostic test that detects specific biomarkers in blood associated with breast cancer. The test uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to determine whether a patient is positive for cancer as soon...

A common type of brain bleed in older adults, known as subdural hemorrhage, is associated with the presence of amyloid deposits in cerebral blood vessels, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and Yale School of Medicine. The study is the first to link cerebral vessel amyloid to subdural hemorrhages and should lead to a better understanding of both conditions.

For the...

A drug screening system that models cancers using lab-grown tissues called organoids has helped uncover a promising target for future pancreatic cancer treatments, according to a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

In the study, published Dec. 26 in Cell Stem Cell, the scientists tested more than 6,000 compounds on their pancreatic tumor organoids, which contain a common pancreatic cancer...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers and the TB Drug Accelerator have received two grants totaling $6.8 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study tuberculosis (TB) drug development. This effort will expediate finding new drug targets within the bacteria and identifying new lead compounds, two significant bottlenecks in TB drug development.

“These grants allow us to apply the assays we’ve developed in the last few years...

In the nucleus of cells, long strands of DNA are tightly wrapped around a scaffolding of proteins in a complex called chromatin, like a rolled-up ball of yarn. A new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators reveals that beyond providing a convenient way to store DNA in a tight space, the 3-dimensional (3D) organization of noncoding gene regulators in chromatin contributes to the control of key cell identity programs in early embryonic development. The results have implications for...

The end of 2023 will mark the close of several longstanding careers at Weill Cornell Medicine, including three senior administrators who total more than 80 years of distinguished service to the institution. They are L. Jeanie Faulkner, deputy secretary in the Office of the Secretary, whose tenure spanned 20 years; Angela Lent, senior director of staff and organizational development, who has been at the institution for 18 years; and Scott Puccino, chief financial officer, who...

Important signaling molecules called phospholipids are active throughout cells in small compartments called condensates, rather than functioning primarily in cell membranes as previously thought, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The finding helps open a new avenue of investigation in cell biology and may also be relevant to the study of neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease.

Condensates in cells,...

San Francisco and New York — Dec. 13, 2023 — The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), the largest concentration of immuno-oncology (IO) expertise in the world, announced it has added Weill Cornell Medicine to its network of preeminent academic and medical research institutions at the forefront of the fight against cancer. Under the agreement, Weill...

Hard-to-detect colorectal pre-cancerous lesions known as serrated polyps, and the aggressive tumors that develop from them, depend heavily on the ramped-up production of cholesterol, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The finding points to the possibility of using cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent or treat such tumors.

In the study, published Dec. 13 in Nature Communications,...