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New drug class shows major promise for shrinking nerve tumors

A scientist at Cincinnati Children's who has hunted for decades for ways to shrink the painful and disfiguring nerve tumors caused by neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) has made a new breakthrough in the quest.

2 Sep 2026

Two scientists win Horwitz Prize for Rett syndrome breakthrough

Columbia University will award the 2026 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize to Adrian Bird and Huda Zoghbi for their pioneering work on epigenetic regulation in the nervous system and its role in human neurological disease, particularly Rett syndrome.

2 Sep 2026

Scientists develop lab-grown heart tissue model for heart failure

Scientists study the underlying causes of a disease or test new potential drugs in animal models or cells obtained from human biopsy specimens before clinical trials.

2 Sep 2026

Harvard scientists discover entirely new gene regulation system in mammals

For decades, scientists have understood that each of the roughly 20,000 genes in the human body carries the instructions for a single kind of protein.

2 Sep 2026

Genetic marker links popular seizure drug to life-threatening reaction

A genetic marker already used to flag risk of a life-threatening reaction to the antibiotic vancomycin also identifies patients at risk of that reaction to lamotrigine - and it is missing from the gene panels clinicians order before prescribing the drug, Vanderbilt Health-led researchers report Sept. 2 in JAMA Network Open.

2 Sep 2026

Study identifes genetic variants that shape human personality traits

An international consortium of researchers found that more than 1,200 different genetic variants are associated with the Big Five personality traits - and surprisingly, these personality genetics are linked to dozens of life outcomes.

2 Sep 2026

Bridging science and family story to understand schizophrenia origins

Twin studies have placed the heritability of schizophrenia at roughly eighty percent for decades. Concordance between identical twins, who share the entire genome, does not reach fifty percent. Both figures are well established, and they do not fit together comfortably.

2 Sep 2026

Researchers discover dozens of genes tied to OCD and tic disorders

A Rutgers-led international collaboration has identified 36 genes that substantially raise the risk for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic tic disorders – providing what two researchers said is the most detailed biological understanding of how these conditions develop – and how they might eventually be treated.

2 Sep 2026

Healthy ageing shaped by more varied biology than previously thought

Molecular changes of ageing are far more unique than previously thought, meaning two healthy individuals of identical age can experience significantly different ageing journeys.

2 Sep 2026

Hidden sperm structures may offer new clues to male fertility

Researchers at VIB, VUB, and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (UK) have discovered a hidden feature of human sperm cells.

2 Sep 2026

Europe has a new mosquito problem, but it may not be the one you think

A scoping review of 91 studies, combined with a workshop involving 41 experts from six European countries, mapped the spread, biology, surveillance challenges, and potential disease relevance of the invasive mosquito Aedes koreicus. The researchers identified major gaps in species identification, vector competence, ecology, genetics, and long-term surveillance that must be addressed as the cold-tolerant mosquito expands across Europe.

2 Sep 2026

Coffee’s link to Parkinson’s risk may depend on how your body handles caffeine

In 435,551 UK Biobank participants followed for a median of 15.7 years, overall coffee consumption was not associated with Parkinson’s disease risk, but the relationship differed significantly according to CYP1A2 genotype. Lower risk was observed with low-to-moderate coffee intake among fast-metabolizer AA carriers, while higher intake was associated with increased risk among AC and CC carriers, although the observational findings do not establish causality and sex-specific patterns require cautious interpretation.

2 Sep 2026

Cellular atlas offers clues to childhood Crohn’s treatment response

Researchers have created a detailed map of childhood Crohn's disease before and after treatment to help understand progression of the disease.

1 Sep 2026

Study uncovers cause of abnormal breathing in Rett syndrome

Hyperventilating. Breath holding until they turn blue. This abnormal breathing is frequent and disturbing in people with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic disease.

1 Sep 2026

NIH grant funds research on environmental triggers for sickle cell disease

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received a $4.1 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study how everyday exposures affect the health of people with sickle cell disease.

1 Sep 2026

New tool amplifies and visualizes tiny protein changes

Imagine a brain teaser where the challenge is to spot the difference between two nearly identical sandcastles.

1 Sep 2026

Blocking a key protein protects against metabolic liver damage

Obesity-related metabolic liver disease affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but only some fraction of those livers develop scarring, become inflamed, and eventually fail. University of Utah researchers have identified a protein, EFHD1, that appears to drive that transition by triggering an out-of-place antiviral immune response.

1 Sep 2026