Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Three teams led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists have received awards from the Starr Cancer Consortium in its 17th and final annual grant competition

It may soon be possible to determine which patients with a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma would benefit from immunotherapy, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

Scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have developed and tested new artificial intelligence (AI) tools tailored to digital pathology—a rapidly growing field that uses high-resolution digital images created from tissue samples to help diagnose disease and guide treatment.

Weill Cornell Medicine received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program to develop new approaches for predicting the spread of cancer to the bone in men with prostate cancer at early stages of the disease.

Research led by Weill Cornell Medicine provides new evidence that most colorectal cancers begin with the loss of intestinal stem cells, even before cancer-causing genetic alterations appear.

A team led by Dr. Eddie Imada, assistant professor of research in pathology and laboratory medicine, has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million United States Department of Defense grant for research on a cellular process called alternative polyadenylation and its role in prostate cancer.

Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have uncovered a way to unleash in blood vessels the protective effects of a type of fat-related molecule known as a sphingolipid, suggesting a promising new strategy for the treatment of coronary artery disease.

Male breast cancer has distinct alterations in the tumor genome that may suggest potential treatment targets, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

Hard-to-detect colorectal pre-cancerous lesions known as serrated polyps, and the aggressive tumors that develop from them, depend heavily on the ramped-up production of cholesterol, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

A team at Weill Cornell Medicine has mapped the location and spatial features of blood-forming cells within human bone marrow.

Certain gut-dwelling fungi flourish in severe cases of COVID-19, amplifying the excessive inflammation that drives this disease while also causing long-lasting changes in the immune system, according to a new study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered that radiation therapy combined with two types of immunotherapy—one that boosts T cells and another that boosts dendritic cells—can control tumors in preclinical models of triple negative breast cancer, a cancer type that’s typically resistant to immunotherapy alone.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have performed the most comprehensive analysis to date of cancer of the ureters or the urine-collection cavities in the kidney, known as upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). 

Craniosynostosis, the premature fusion of the top of the skull in infants, is caused by an abnormal excess of a previously unknown type of bone-forming stem cell, according to a preclinical study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The vertebral bones that form the spine are derived from a distinct type of stem cell that secretes a protein favoring tumor metastases, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Severe COVID-19 infection triggers changes that affect gene expression in immune system stem cells, causing long-lasting alterations in the body’s immune response, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and Jackson Laboratory investigators.

Pregnant individuals who had a previous COVID-19 infection and received a full course of COVID-19 vaccination and a booster have the strongest immune protection from the disease – and pass that protection along to their unborn babies.

Awards, honors and achievements for the month of July. 

Dr. Shawon Debnath, a research associate in pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been honored with a 2023 Tri-Institutional Breakout Award for Junior Investigators

Nearly 90 percent of patients with an aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma had their cancer go into remission in a small phase 2 clinical trial testing a treatment aimed at making chemotherapy more effective, according to Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.