Columbia University Irving Medical Center Selected as a Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence

As part of the National Institutes of Health’s Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) initiative, Columbia University Irving Medical Center has been selected as a Maternal Health Research Center of Excellence. The NIH announced $24 million in funding for the first year to ten research centers across the country with the grants expected to last seven years for a total of $168 million. The research centers will develop and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths with a focus on addressing disparities in outcomes. Learn more.

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University: WTC 911 Responders Continue to Need Monitoring of PTSD, Cognitive Status

Twenty plus years after the September 11 World Trade Center attacks responders who have suffered physical and cognitive illnesses resulting from exposures continue to be monitored by healthcare providers. Ongoing studies by investigators at the Stony Brook WTC Health and Wellness Program reveal that assessments of this patient population’s mental health and cognitive status remain on the forefront of research as we move further away from that fateful day of 911. Learn more.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Researchers Play a Prominent Role in a Wide Probe Into Long COVID

Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery—is a nationwide initiative dedicated to understanding why some people develop long-term symptoms following COVID-19 infection. Recently, for the first time, the project yielded outcomes that are expected to help standardize the definition of long COVID toward these goals. The researchers created a scoring system based on the symptoms that most clearly distinguished patients previously infected with COVID-19 from those who had not. Their work was published online May 25 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Learn more.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: New Test Shows Promise for Detecting Hard-to-Find Cervical Cancers

In findings with potentially important implications for cervical cancer screening, scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center (MECC) have developed a test for detecting a type of cervical cancer that Pap tests often miss. The findings published online today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). Learn more.

Weill Cornell Medicine: A New Targeted Treatment Shows Promise for Select Patients With Stomach Cancer

An international phase 3 clinical trial, done in participation with Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian, found that a new targeted treatment called zolbetuximab, given in combination with a standard chemotherapy, extended survival for patients with advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer that overexpressed a specific biomarker. Learn more.

University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry: Science Backs Mind-Body Tools Like Meditation and Music for Cancer-Related Anxiety

A new set of national guidelines recommends that cancer patients use mind-body techniques—particularly mindfulness meditation—to ease anxiety and depression during and after treatment. Yoga, hypnosis, acupuncture, and music therapy were also among the “integrative oncology” interventions that showed strong enough evidence to recommend to patients. Learn more.

New York Medical College Student  Publishes Research in JAMA Oncology

New York Medical College student Ann Mercurio, M.S., R.N., SOM Class of 2024, recently coauthored a research study into gliomas, a type of brain tumor, that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Oncology. The research sought to reevaluate clinical outcomes among patients who receive treatment for central nervous system (CNS) tumors since classification guidelines for CNS cancers were updated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2016. Learn more.

Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University: New Research Reveals Close Connection Between Cognitive Flexibility and Neurogenesis

The ability to shift from one type of cognitive problem-solving strategy to another when the circumstances change, called cognitive adaptability or flexibility, is an essential function for humans.  When this ability is diminished – whether by aging, disease, trauma, or environmental exposure – mental behavior becomes more inflexible and a person has difficulty adapting to new cognitive demands and remains stuck in the previous way of thinking. Learn more.

University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry: Clinical Researchers Pave the Way for New Huntington’s Drug

A team of researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) were instrumental in the approval Friday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a new drug to treat Huntington’s disease.  Valbenazine is the ninth compound for neurological disorders in which URMC has played a major role in the drug development process, and only the third drug authorized by the agency to treat this rare, inherited neurodegenerative disorder. Learn more.

Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons: Baby Neurons in Adult Brains Are Needed to Maintain Memory

A quarter-century ago, researchers discovered that adults, not just developing infants, can generate new brain cells, a process called neurogenesis. But it’s still not clear what role these new neurons play in health or disease. In a new mouse study, Columbia University researchers found that neurogenesis in adults is critical for maintaining brain circuits that support working memory across the lifespan and chronic loss of adult neurogenesis causes progressive memory loss, like that seen in age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease in humans. Learn more.

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell: New Study Highlights Income-Based Health Disparities in Colonography Screenings

On Monday, July 31, 2023, a new study was published by researchers including Pina Sanelli, MD, MPH, professor of radiology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, which focused on the income-based disparities in CT colonography use. During this study, it was discovered that beneficiaries living in communities with an annual per capita income of $100,000 or more were 5.7 times more likely to receive a CT colonography than those living in communities with an annual per capita income of less than $25,000. Learn more.

Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University Study Highlights End-of-Life Needs for Dialysis Patients

A new study out by nephrology experts at Upstate Medical University is bringing a renewed focus on hospice care among patients on dialysis. The paper, “Current trends in hospice care usage for dialysis patients in the USA,” has been published in the Journal of Nephrology. Investigators include Ayorinde I. Soipe, MD, MSc who served as the lead and corresponding author; John E. Leggat, MD, MPH; Kriti Devkota, MD; and Kunal Bhuta MD. Learn more.

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at University at Buffalo: New Therapeutic Targets for Endometriosis Could Be on the Horizon

New research on the connection between endometrial lesions and pain in endometriosis could lead to new therapies for this chronic, painful and poorly understood condition that affects 5-10% of women worldwide and costs an estimated $69 billion in medical and surgical expenses. Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to uterine tissue develops and grows outside of the uterus, causing chronic pain that can be severe. Learn more.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: Discovery of Chikungunya Virus’s “Invisibility Shield” May Lead to Vaccines or Treatments

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found that the virus responsible for chikungunya fever can spread directly from cell to cell—perhaps solving the longstanding mystery of how the virus, now emerging as a major health threat, can manage to escape antibodies circulating in the bloodstream. The findings, published today in Nature Microbiology, could help in developing effective vaccines or treatments for chikungunya fever, a debilitating and increasingly common mosquito-borne disease. Learn more.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine: Pig Kidney Xenotransplantation Performing Optimally After 32 Days in Human Body

Surgeons at NYU Langone Health have transplanted a genetically engineered pig kidney that continues to function well after 32 days in a man declared dead by neurologic criteria and maintained with a beating heart on ventilator support. This represents the longest period that a gene-edited pig kidney has functioned in a human, and the latest step toward the advent of an alternate, sustainable supply of organs for transplant. Learn more.

Weill Cornell Medicine Study Finds How Some Ion Channels Form Structures Permitting Drug Delivery

A member of an important class of ion channel proteins can transiently rearrange itself into a larger structure with dramatically altered properties, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The discovery is a significant advance in cell biology, likely solves a long-standing mystery about an unusual feature of some ion channels and has implications for the development of drugs targeting these proteins and for drug delivery. Learn more.

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at University at Buffalo: ‘Suicidal’ Mechanism Discovered in Ion Channel Receptors Enables the Sensing of Heat and Pain

The ability to accurately detect heat and pain is critical to human survival, but scientists have struggled to understand on a molecular level exactly how our bodies sense these potential risks. Now, University at Buffalo researchers have unraveled the complex biological phenomena that drive these critical functions. Learn more.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Find Asian Americans to Have Significantly Higher Exposure to “Toxic Forever” Chemicals

Asian Americans have significantly higher exposure than other ethnic or racial groups to PFAS, a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals also known as “toxic forever” chemicals, Mount Sinai-led researchers report. People frequently encounter PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in everyday life, and these exposures carry potentially adverse health impacts, according to the study published in Environmental Science and Technology, in the special issue “Data Science for Advancing Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology.” Learn more.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine: Newly Engineered Bacterial Enzyme Versions Reveal How Antibiotics Could Be More Potent

Modern medicine depends on antibiotics to treat infections by disabling targets inside bacterial cells. Once inside these cells, antibiotics bind to certain sites on specific enzyme targets to stop bacterial growth. Randomly occurring changes (mutations) in the genes for these targets occur naturally, in some cases making the target harder for the antibiotic to attach to and that bacterial version resistant to treatment. Learn more.

Albany Medical College  Dr. Michael Robek Named Chair of Albany Medical College’s Department of Immunology and Microbial Disease

Professor Michael Robek, PhD has been appointed chair of Albany Medical College’s Department of Immunology & Microbial Disease. Dr. Robek joined the department in 2015 and had been serving as interim chair since the retirement last year of Dennis Metzger, PhD. Learn more.

New York Medical College Professor Dr. Sangmi Chung Awarded $7.1 Million in Grants to Support Schizophrenia Research

Sangmi Chung, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neurology at New York Medical College has secured two grants totaling  $7.1 million over five years, by the National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Mental Health to propel her pioneering research into schizophrenia. Dr. Chung’s research stands at the forefront of unraveling the intricacies of cortical interneurons in both developing and adult brains, advancing the understanding of their functions, maturation and their involvement in neurological disorders. Learn more.

Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University Researcher Awarded $3.2 Million Grant to Develop Breakthrough Treatment for Battlefield Injuries to Prevent Sepsis and Respiratory Disease

Juntao Luo, PhD, was awarded a five-year $3.2 million grant from U.S. Army Medical Research to develop a treatment for battlefield injuries to prevent sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The control of both infection and hyperinflammation during early emergency treatment is critical to saving the lives of soldiers with traumatic/blast injuries. Luo and his team are working on a two-pronged approach to provide both immediate treatment on the field and ongoing care easily provided at battlefield hospitals. Learn more.

Albany Medical College: $3.2M NIH Grant Supports New Research on Atherosclerosis

Two Albany Medical College scientists have been awarded a $3.2 million, four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how the aged immune system impacts the progression of atherosclerosis. Also called hardening of the arteries, atherosclerosis occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries, causing them to narrow over time and reducing blood flow to tissues and organs in the body. Learn more.

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New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine: Tackling Cancer’s Thorniest Questions

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when many academic and medical school research laboratories across the United States were shutting down and pausing investigations, New York Institute of Technology’s Center for Cancer Research was just getting started. The campus-wide multidisciplinary initiative, led by Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences Dong Zhang, Ph.D., brings together clinicians, scientists, and students from the Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM), Arts and Sciences, and Engineering and Computing Sciences to tackle cancer’s thorniest questions. Learn more.