Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children’s Health

Two Weill Cornell Medicine faculty members, Dr. Gregory Sonnenberg and Dr. Melody Zeng, are recipients of prestigious awards from the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) for their accomplishments in the field of immunology.

The Drukier Prize honors an early-career pediatrician whose research promises to make important contributions toward improving the health of children and adolescents.

A multi-institutional team of scientists, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children's Health, have received a five-year $8.297 grant to continue funding a Center for Lupus Research.

Disruption of the circadian clocks that keep the body and its cells entrained to the 24-hour day-night cycle plays a critical role in weight gain, according to a pair of studies by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.  

Dr. Steven Josefowicz, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has won a 2022 Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

A new preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators shows that one specific set of antibodies that is induced naturally by gut beneficial bacteria can be transferred from mothers to infants through breast milk and help infants defend against infection-induced diarrheal illness.

Abnormalities in a type of brain cell called astrocytes may play a pivotal role in causing some behavioral symptoms of autism spectrum disorders, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.  

Melanoma cells release small extracellular packages containing the protein nerve growth factor receptor, which primes nearby lymph nodes for tumor metastases, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

The scientists, whose results are published Dec. 23 in Nature, found that a small subset of antibodies elicited by experimental and existing influenza vaccines target a site at the base, or anchor, of the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) protein—an “epitope” whose significance was not recognized in prior influenza antibody studies.

Dr. Virginia Pascual has received an inaugural Global Team Science Award from the Lupus Research Alliance.

Dr. Erick Forno, a physician-scientist who investigates the risk factors and genomic mechanisms underlying childhood asthma, has been awarded the sixth annual Gale and Ira Drukier Prize in Children’s Health Research, Weill Cornell Medicine announced today.     

The autoimmune disease lupus may be triggered by a defective process in the development of red blood cells.

Weill Cornell Medicine physician-scientist Dr. David Lyden, whose research has led to groundbreaking discoveries about how cancer spreads, has been elected into the esteemed Association of American Physicians. 

Dr. Virginia Pascual has been awarded a grant supplement from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to lead a multi-institutional effort studying differences in immune responses in children infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Dr. Stanley Plotkin, the inventor of the rubella vaccine now in standard use worldwide, and pediatric physician-scientists Dr. Stephen Patrick and Dr. Sallie Permar, who research health conditions that affect newborns, were the featured speakers at a symposium held online on Oct. 20 by Weill Cornell Medicine’s Gale and Ira Drukier Institute for Children's Health.

Abnormal immune activity in lupus, a chronic disease that can cause rashes, fatigue, joint pain, and kidney failure, seems to occur mostly in small subsets of immune cells in patients, potentially enabling better targeting for future treatments, according to a study from scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine.

Tiny packets called extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs), released by cancer and immune cells, contain specific proteins that may serve as reliable biomarkers for diagnosing early-stage cancer, according to investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Dr. Sallie Permar, a physician-scientist who investigates the prevention and treatment of neonatal viral infections, and Dr. Stephen Patrick, a neonatologist focused on the impact of the opioid epidemic on pregnant women and infants, have been jointly awarded the fifth annual Gale and Ira Drukier Prize in Children’s Health Research.

A code discovered in DNA packaging proteins enables the rapid expression of genes needed to fight immediate threats, a finding that may pave the way for new treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence dedicated to understanding the mechanisms that contribute to autoimmune diseases in children.Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence dedicated to understanding the mechanisms that contribute to autoimmune diseases in children.