News & Events

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...

A fungus discovered in the mouse stomach may hold a key to fungal evolution within the gastrointestinal tract, according to new research led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The finding suggests that preclinical studies until now have overlooked a major influencer of mouse physiology.

Scientists recently have come to appreciate the importance, for human health and disease, of microbes—often called “commensals”—that naturally dwell in the gut. Bacterial commensals, for example,...

Tirzepatide, a new injectable weight-loss drug with the trade name Zepbound, reduced the risk of diabetes in patients with obesity and prediabetes by more than 90% over a three-year period, compared with placebo, according to the results of a new study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Yale School of Medicine and other institutions.

The study, published Nov. 13 in the New England...

The secret to cellular youth may depend on keeping the nucleolus—a condensed structure inside the nucleus of a cell—small, according to Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings were elucidated in yeast, a model organism famous for making bread and beer and yet surprisingly similar to humans on the cellular level.

The study, published Nov. 25 in Nature Aging, may lead to new longevity treatments that could extend...

Working with week-old zebrafish larva, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues decoded how the connections formed by a network of neurons in the brainstem guide the fishes’ gaze. The study, published Nov. 22 in Nature Neuroscience, found that a simplified artificial circuit, based on the architecture of this neuronal system, can predict activity in the network. In addition to shedding light on how the brain handles...

With just one slide and three minutes, fourth-year graduate student Erin Keblish described how she is developing a carbon nanotube-based sensor that could act like a “smoke detector” for early signs of deadly sepsis, during Weill Cornell Medicine’s ninth annual Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition on November 13. 

Keblish, who is a graduate student in physiology, biophysics and systems biology,...

An enzyme called EZH2 has an unexpected role in driving aggressive tumor growth in treatment-resistant prostate cancers, according to a new study by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine. The results could potentially lead to new therapies for patients with limited options and add to the significant progress the teams have made in understanding how advanced prostate cancer develops resistance to treatments that target androgen receptors.

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-...

A novel combination of surgery and embolization used to treat subdural hematomas, bleeding between the brain and its protective membrane due to trauma, reduces the risk of follow-up surgeries, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and University at Buffalo. Embolization is a minimally invasive procedure that blocks specific blood vessels to stop abnormal bleeding.

The finding is based on EMBOLISE, a multi-center, randomized, clinical study that compared chronic subdural...

By Giles Morris

Weill Cornell Medicine and the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy have established the Cornell Health Policy Center (CHPC) to serve as the locus for health policy impact, research and training across Cornell.

The center connects health policy researchers across Cornell’s campuses to help shape effective health policy at the federal, state and local levels. It will focus on policies aimed at...

Hospices are increasingly owned by private equity firms and publicly traded companies, but recently Weill Cornell Medicine researchers found that they performed substantially worse than hospices owned by not-for-profit agencies. This is concerning as nearly 75% of hospice programs, which care for patients in their last stage of life, are for-profit.

The study, published Nov. 18 in JAMA, highlights the need for...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have determined the full-length structure of a blood pressure-regulating hormone receptor for the first time, uncovering how it functions, which may enable better drug targeting of the receptor for diseases like hypertension and heart failure.

For the study, published Nov. 14 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, the researchers used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), computer...

The process of identifying promising small molecule drug candidates that target cancer checkpoints may become faster and smarter through virtual screening, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

Checkpoint inhibitors are a type of immunotherapy that treats cancer by releasing the brakes on immune cells, so they are unleashed to attack cancer cells. Currently, all approved checkpoint inhibitors are large, lab-made proteins called monoclonal antibodies which must be infused...

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have received a $6.2 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, to build a portable, high-resolution Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner that can detect the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Unlike current models, this PET scanner will be upright, so a patient can sit in a chair that travels with the unit, significantly improving...

Dr. Chani Traube, the Gerald M. Loughlin, MD Professor of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a $3.4 million grant, with the possibility of extending to a total of $17 million over five years, from the National Institutes of Health, for a large-scale clinical trial called Optimizing Pain Treatment in Children on Mechanical ventilation (OPTICOM).

OPTICOM, funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver...

Three teams led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have received awards from the Starr Cancer Consortium in its 17th and final annual grant competition. The grants will fund research on the deep mechanisms of common cancers and related treatment strategies.

The Starr Cancer Consortium, established in 2006 with generous support from The Starr Foundation, includes The...

George Vann once worked the beat as law enforcement for MTA Bridges and Tunnels with a side gig as a plumber — until an uncontrollable shake in both hands took those jobs away from him.

The tremors started around 2010. Vann, now 74, from Jamaica, Queens, struggled to grasp his firearm without shaking. He couldn’t hold steady a wand to test gas meters. He couldn’t carry a cup of coffee or use a spoon. To eat, Vann had to bring food right to his mouth. He never ate out at restaurants....