Armed with a novel strategy they developed for bolstering the body’s immune response, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have successfully suppressed HIV infections in mice—offering a path to a functional cure for HIV and other chronic viral infections. Their findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Learn more.

 

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has been awarded a five-year, $16 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to foster inclusive excellence in the biomedical sciences using evidence-based approaches. The NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) initiative award fuels a multi-institution effort to identify and implement new strategies to recruit faculty members from groups underrepresented in medicine by supporting faculty development, mentoring, sponsorship, and promotion. Learn more.

 

The first investigational transplant of a genetically engineered, nonhuman kidney to a human body was recently completed at NYU Langone Health—marking a major step forward in potentially utilizing an alternative supply of organs for people facing life-threatening disease. Learn more.

 

After infection with SARS-CoV-2, where does the immune system store the memory to provide long-term protection against reinfection? Though numerous studies have examined blood to track immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, a new study of COVID survivors shows that the memory of the infection is primarily stored in T and B cells within the lung and the lymph nodes surrounding the lung. Learn more.

 

Supriya Jain, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and of radiology and clinical education liaison at New York Medical College, recently led a national multicenter study of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination in teenagers. In the study, published in Pediatrics, cardiac imaging data were collected from 16 hospitals from across the United States to help characterize myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) in adolescents after COVID-19 vaccination and to better understand its impact. Learn more.

 

As part of a recently launched international phase 3 clinical trial, Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine are investigating whether the Merck antiviral pill, molnupiravir, now approved in Britain for treating COVID-19, can prevent COVID-19 in unvaccinated individuals living with people who have contracted the disease. Montefiore-Einstein is the first and only New York State site for the trial and was selected due to its diverse patient population and expertise in clinical trials of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Learn more.

 

Nineteen months into the pandemic, the need for antiviral drugs targeted against COVID-19 is clear, given the global persistence of the virus, its ability to rapidly mutate into new variants and the possibility that it could potentially develop strains resistant to existing drugs or vaccines. But developing antivirals can take many years; the examples of hepatitis C, HIV and human papilloma virus (HPV) all illustrate the myriad difficulties involved with such efforts. The combination of antivirals that eventually proved effective in curing hepatitis C virus, for example, were under development for decades. Learn more.

 

Treatment with arginine, one of the amino-acid building blocks of proteins, enhanced the effectiveness of radiation therapy in cancer patients with brain metastases, in a proof-of-concept, randomized clinical trial from investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and Angel H. Roffo Cancer Institute. The study, published Nov. 5 in Science Advances, reported the results of administering arginine, which can be delivered in oral form, prior to standard radiation therapy in 31 patients who had brain metastases. Learn more.

 

Doctors can safely lower the dose of cancer treatment such as chemotherapy without impacting survival for adults older than 70 who are at high risk for toxic side effects. The results are from a potentially practice-changing new study, published in The Lancet, and led by a Wilmot Cancer Institute scientist at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Learn more.

 

The role of neuron and dopamine loss in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) has long been recognized by neuroscientists. However, how dopaminergic modulation affects brain regions involved in the control of voluntary movement remains a subject of investigation. Researchers in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, used an experimental model to demonstrate that a loss of midbrain dopaminergic centers impairs the ability of the primary motor cortex neurons to transform inputs into appropriate output. Learn more.

 

An increasing number of studies suggest a link between a neighborhood’s built environment and the likelihood that its residents will develop chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and certain types of cancers. A new nationwide study led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine published online October 29 in JAMA Network Open suggests that living in neighborhoods with higher availability of fast-food outlets across all regions of the United States is associated with higher subsequent risk of developing T2D. Learn more.

 

In the early stages of kidney disease, a specialized type of kidney cell called the podocyte undergoes damaging changes in both its structure and function. Those changes are key indicators of the ultimately devastating damage that end stage renal disease can cause, but these specialized cells are difficult to detect. Now, University at Buffalo researchers have leveraged the power of digital pathology and computational modeling to develop a new approach to detecting and quantifying podocytes. Learn more.

 

A new study, recently published in Neurotrauma Reports, by several New York Medical College researchers found that inhibition of glucotoxicity following spinal cord contusion injury both increased locomotor recovery and reduced loss of spinal cord tissue. Learn more.

 

In the United States, Black and Latinx youth remain disproportionately affected by HIV. Oral antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a proven effective HIV prevention strategy. PrEP is approved for use in people younger than the age of 18 years, but little is known about provider comfort and preparedness with prescribing it to adolescents. In this study, physicians provide their perspectives on the facilitators and barriers to PrEP access among adolescents. Learn more.

 

Loss of the gene SATB2 contributes to changes in stem cells that typically develop into the inner lining of the colon, or large intestine, transforming them into a cell type that normally lines a portion of the small intestine called the ileum, according to new preclinical research from Weill Cornell Medicine. Conversely, the presence of the SATB2 gene enables other intestinal cell types to develop and retain colon cell-like properties. The study could help researchers better understand the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a condition in which these types of transformations can occur, as well as a rare syndrome where the SATB2 gene is disrupted. Learn more.

 

In a study published in Nature Microbiology, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai address unanswered questions about how fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can effectively restore a patient’s microbiome. FMT involves transferring processed stool collected from a healthy donor into the intestinal tract of a patient in order to replace the existing microorganisms in the intestinal tract and treat Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). FMT helps to restore the balance of “good” and “bad” bacteria in the colon, which can help patients fight off infections. Learn more.

 

The last drug designed to more effectively treat dangerous systemic fungal infections, most often affecting immunocompromised patients, was developed over 20 years ago. Now an interdisciplinary team of investigators from Stony Brook University believe they have identified what may be a new approach toward developing another class of better antifungal agents. Learn more.

 

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) will serve as the lead study site in the U.S. for an experimental treatment being developed by Neurogene for CLN5 Batten disease, a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Batten disease is a group of rare, inherited neurodegenerative diseases also called neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs). The disease will often first appear and be diagnosed in childhood. There are currently no approved treatments that can reverse the symptoms of this disease. Learn more.

 

Major depression and substance use disorders (SUD)commonly co-occur among adolescents, yet little is known about treatment use among adolescents with both conditions. Given the reciprocal influence of these conditions on each other and low prevalence of treatment overall, current information on quantification and trends in treatment of co-occurring depression and SUD is critical toward assessing how the field is performing in reaching youth in need of these services, and among youth with sociodemographic risk fact. Learn more.

 

A Columbia neuroscience laboratory and a team of academic collaborators has received $9 million from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s initiative to investigate how the early stages of Parkinson’s disease impact the activities of groups of brain cells. Such research, which promises to fill a key gap in our understanding of the disease, could lead to much earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s and therapies for the disease. Learn more.

 

The Bruce and Cynthia Sherman Charitable Foundation has announced Judy H. Cho, MD, Dean of Translational Genetics and Director of The Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, as a recipient of the 2021 Sherman Prize, which recognizes excellence in the field of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, two forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).Dr. Cho was awarded a $100,000 Sherman Prize for her pioneering genetics research that has advanced understanding of the underlying causes of IBD and paved the way for personalized treatment approaches. Learn more.