Albany Medical College Researchers Join Forces to Study Age-Related Diseases

Throughout the Albany Med Health System, geriatric medicine clinicians compassionately care for older patients, many of whom have complex medical needs that require the expertise of additional specialists from areas such as neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and cardiology. Learn more.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine Study Advances Possible Blood Test for Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease

Declining blood levels of two molecules that occur naturally in the body track closely with worsening Alzheimer’s disease, particularly in women. Levels were found to drop gradually, from women with no signs of memory, disorientation, and slowed thinking to those with early signs of mild cognitive impairment. Learn more.

University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry: Influencers: Their Power is Real When a Person Has Cancer

Many people have social networks they cherish: Family and friends. A church community. Book clubs. Sports leagues. Colleagues at work and online groups. What happens with these networks when a person gets cancer? It’s a question worth studying, according to Wilmot Cancer Institute researchers — because social networks influence the decisions of nearly every patient who walks into an oncologist’s office. Learn more.

University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry: Understanding the Link Between HIV and Brain Health

People with HIV, even those on effective treatment, are more vulnerable to cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), especially as they age. This disorder can cause strokes, memory problems, and other cognitive difficulties. New research supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and led by University of Rochester Medical Center neurologist Giovanni Schifitto, MD, and cardiovascular biologist Jinjiang Pang, MD, PhD, will focus on Delta-like 4 protein hypothesized to play a key role in the deterioration of the microscopic network of blood vessels that serve the brain. Learn more.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine: How a Newborn Brain Circuit Comes to Stabilize Gaze

An ancient brain circuit, which enables the eyes to reflexively rotate up as the body tilts down, tunes itself early in life as an animal develops, a new study finds. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the study revolves around how vertebrates, a set of animals spanning evolution from primitive fish to mammals, stabilize their gaze as they move. Learn more.

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons: What Happens When Some Cells Are More Dad Than Mom (and Vice Versa)?

New work by Columbia researchers has turned a textbook principle of genetics on its head and revealed why some people who carry disease-causing genes experience no symptoms. Every biology student learns each cell in our body (except sperm and eggs) contains two copies of each gene, one from each parent, and each copy plays an equal part in the cell. Learn more.

New York Medical College: Study Exposes Stark Health Disparities in Sickle Cell Disease Outcomes Tied to Social Vulnerability

Approximately 100,000 individuals in the United States live with sickle cell disease (SCD), with one in every 365 African Americans born with the condition, and eight million affected worldwide. A new study led by New York Medical College internal medicine resident Jia Yi Tan, M.D., published in JAMA Network Open reveals that patients facing the highest social vulnerabilities experience the most profound health impacts from SCD. Learn more.

Weill Cornell Medicine: Reducing Risk of Opioid Addiction While Alleviating Pain

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-Presbyterian. Endocannabinoids bind to cannabinoid receptors throughout the body that regulate activities, such as learning and memory, emotions, sleep, immune response and appetite. Learn more.

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at University at Buffalo: Two UB Studies Uncover MS Revelations

In recent years, researchers studying multiple sclerosis have concluded that white matter lesion volume in the brain, long considered the best way to monitor MS disease progression, may not be the most accurate predictor of how an individual’s disease will progress. Learn more.

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University Study Reveals Kidney Disease Compromises Survival of Infection-Fighting Cells

Fighting off infections when one has chronic disease is a common problem, and during the Covid-19 pandemic that scenario often turned out to be dangerous and deadly. A new study led by Stony Brook Medicine demonstrates that advanced kidney disease compromises the survival of B cells, a type of infection-fighting white blood cell that produces antibodies to kill microbes, and thus significantly reduces the immune response to the influenza virus. Learn more.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Researchers Move Closer to a Cure for Diabetes

Diabetes researchers and bioinformaticians from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a new understanding of how human beta cell regenerative drugs work. These drugs, developed at Mount Sinai, may hold promise for more than 500 million people with diabetes in the world. The results of this study were published this month in Cell Reports Medicine. Learn more.

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons: Studying Ovaries to Understand How We All Age

Ovaries are the fastest aging organ in the body, but the least studied organ in aging research. The impact of aging ovaries on a woman’s fertility are well known, but aging ovaries—which shrink from the size of a kiwi to a kidney bean—also have much wider impacts on a woman’s health in the later decades of life. Learn more.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: New Approach to Herpes Vaccine Development

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded Betsy Herold, M.D., Steven Almo, Ph.D., and colleagues a five-year, $2.5 million grant to investigate ADCC.  Dr. Herold’s team has found that HSVs block ADCC responses by binding to and interfering with TNFRSF14, a signaling protein needed for activating the immune cells that mediate ADCC. Learn more.

Weill Cornell Medicine: Preclinical Study Finds Surges in Estrogen Promote Binge Drinking in Females

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. Learn more.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: Exploring the Science Behind Nutrition and Disease

One day coffee is good for you and the next day it’s bad. The nutrition news is filled with conflicting reports—about wine, chocolate, smoothies, gluten-free snacks, plant-based meat replacements, and more. It’s hard to know which foods can actually help fend off disease and promote better health. Learn more.

New York Medical College: Obese Children Face Higher Risks in Vehicle Strikes

Obese children are more likely to experience severe injury and nearly three times more likely to sustain a major abdominal injury in pedestrian motor vehicle strike accidents, according to a new study by Nisha Lakhi, M.D., M.B.A., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, at New York Medical College, published in Pediatric Emergency Care. Learn more.

Student Research

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell: Second-Year Zucker School of Medicine Student Co-Authors Groundbreaking Research Paper

Rahul Ramanathan, a second-year medical student at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, has co-authored a groundbreaking research paper with David Rooney, associate dean and professor of engineering, and Dean Sina Rabbany from the Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science, Hofstra University. Learn more.

New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine: Pioneering NYITCOM Cardiologist Recognized by the National Academy of Inventors

Todd J. Cohen, M.D., professor, chief of cardiology, and director of medical device innovation at the College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM), has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The NAI Fellows program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on society. Learn more.

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at University at Buffalo: Chelsie Ambruster Receives $3M Grant from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

A Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences researcher has been awarded a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to help further understanding of how the urinary tract defends against infection and how understudied pathogens bypass these defenses. Learn more.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: Helmsley Charitable Trust Awards $3 Million Grant to Research Epithelial Healing in Crohn’s Disease

The Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded a grant of $3,035,566 to support groundbreaking research on Crohn’s disease, to be led by a collaborative team of leading researchers across three institutions. Louis J. Cohen, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Parakkal Deepak, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology), Washington University School of Medicine; and Andres J. Yarur, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, will serve as co-investigators. Learn more.

More News

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University Surgery Research Team Wins Venture Champions Challenge

A Stony Brook Medicine Department of Surgery research team, led by Associate Professor Gurtej Singh, PhD, has won Long Island High Tech Incubator’s (LIHTI) Venture Champions (VC) Challenge in the Life Sciences category. The team’s award-winning entry is a high-tech wound-care solution and advanced healing patch. Learn more.