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Virginia Tech researcher wins NIH award to study metabolic brain health

Mary Elizabeth Baugh, a research scientist with Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to study how metabolic health influences the brain systems that shape what and how we eat.

4 May 2026

New AI models quickly find compounds that target Lyme bacteria

Tufts University researchers are using AI and machine learning to more quickly identify potential narrow-spectrum antibiotics to prevent and treat Lyme disease, thanks to a generous gift from an alumnus that sped up their timeline by two to three years.

28 Apr 2026

The simple link between core strength and brain health

The brain is more mechanically connected to the body than previously appreciated, scientists reported today (April 27) in Nature Neuroscience. Through a study using mice and simulations, the team found a potential biological mechanism underlying why exercise is thought to benefit brain health: abdominal contractions compress blood vessels connected to the spinal cord and the brain, enabling the organ to gently move within the skull.

28 Apr 2026

Why AI is becoming a powerful tool in cancer drug discovery

This Perspective reviews how AI is moving drug discovery from long, costly experimental pipelines toward earlier clinical translation, with an AI-designed TNIK inhibitor trial serving as an important proof-of-feasibility reference point. It argues that precision oncology could benefit from AI-driven integration of multi-omics, federated learning, and adaptive trial design, but only if validation, fairness, interpretability, and regulatory alignment improve.

16 Apr 2026

Epigenetic changes allow cancer cells to shift identity and survive drugs

Cancer drugs are designed to shut tumors down. But sometimes, in the very act of attacking a tumor, treatment can also help a small fraction of cancer cells become harder to kill. A new study from researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) shows that cancer cells may begin escaping therapy much earlier - as the therapy itself triggers a stress response that drives some cancer cells into a temporary drug-tolerant state.

16 Apr 2026

New hippocampus model advances understanding of Alzheimer’s progression

With a new model of the brain region essential to memory formation, from cells to whole-brain networks, the team hopes to identify critical changes in the progression of Alzheimer's disease that could point the way to earlier, more effective treatments.

9 Apr 2026

Dynamic binding of linker histone H1 shapes flexible chromatin organization

DNA inside the nucleus is not packed as a rigid regular fiber-linker histone H1 dynamically binds and loosely "glues" nucleosomes together, creating a dynamic, fluid organization that can still support essential genome functions.

9 Apr 2026

Sponge and sea slug partnership yields a new anticancer molecule with drug design promise

Researchers identified jorumycidine, a new hexacyclic marine alkaloid from the nudibranch Jorunna funebris and its dietary sponge, Haliclona sp., and demonstrated that it exhibits potent nanomolar cytotoxicity against multiple myeloma cells. They also proposed a new biosynthetic route involving cross-species metabolic interplay and an unusual oxazolidine ring that may help stabilize a pharmacologically important scaffold.

8 Apr 2026

Boosting noradrenaline during learning makes the brain link memories more broadly, study finds

A randomized placebo controlled experiment shows that increasing noradrenaline during learning does not improve basic memory accuracy but increases the spread of associations across the hippocampal cognitive map. This broader neural linking leads to greater overgeneralization errors days later, suggesting that noradrenergic arousal can reshape how related memories become interconnected.

16 Mar 2026

Blood protein structure changes may enable earlier detection of Alzheimer’s

Advanced proteomics and AI reveal blood protein changes, offering insights into early Alzheimer's detection and differentiation from mild cognitive impairment.

13 Mar 2026

New research initiative aims to predict and prevent diseases before they start

What if doctors could tell you a disease was coming years before you felt a single symptom-and stop it in its tracks? That is the goal of a sweeping new research initiative launched by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in collaboration with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF).

2 Mar 2026

IRF7 reshapes the behavior of vascular smooth muscle cells during atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis underlies most heart attacks and strokes and is now recognized as a chronic inflammatory disease rather than a simple disorder of cholesterol deposition.

9 Feb 2026

Herpes virus infection softens cell nuclei through internal mechanical changes

A recent international research project has used advanced microscopy techniques and computational modeling to discover why virus infection changes the nuclear structures and biomechanical forces affecting the nucleus.

3 Feb 2026

New soft robotic probe enables continuous monitoring of fetus's vital signs

Northwestern University researchers have developed the first device that can continuously track a fetus's vital signs while still in the uterus - a feat that previously has not been possible.

26 Jan 2026

Gene regulators could restore the aging body's ability to self-repair

As we age, we don't recover from injury or illness like we did when we were young. But new research from UCSF has found gene regulators - proteins that turn genes on and off - that could restore the aging body's ability to self-repair.

12 Jan 2026

Pancreatic organoid study reveals key factors shaping complex lumen formation

Organs often have fluid-filled spaces called lumens, which are crucial for organ function and serve as transport and delivery networks.

9 Jan 2026

Natural daylight during office hours improves glucose stability in type 2 diabetes

Natural daylight exposure during office hours improves glucose control and boosts fat oxidation in individuals with type 2 diabetes, enhancing metabolic health.

8 Jan 2026

TAAR1 mutation impairs brain signaling in schizophrenia

A genetic mutation passed from mother to children in families affected by schizophrenia has now been shown to completely silence a brain receptor that pharmaceutical companies are racing to target with new drugs.

6 Jan 2026

Sterilized fermented beverage targets obesity and type 2 diabetes pathways in computational study

Researchers profiled a terminally sterilized probiotic-fermented MFH beverage and identified aporphine alkaloids and flavonoids with favorable predicted ADMET properties. Integrated network pharmacology, molecular docking, and 100-ns MD simulations suggest multi-target engagement of metabolic-inflammatory pathways relevant to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

9 Dec 2025

Study reveals how brain protein KCC2 influences reward learning

A new finding from researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center shows that the learning process of associating cues with rewards can be altered by increased or decreased activity of a specific protein in the brain.

9 Dec 2025