Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Bacteria naturally present in the human intestine, known as the gut microbiota, can transform cholesterol-derived bile acids into powerful metabolites that strengthen anti-cancer immunity by blocking androgen signaling, according to a preclinical study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

In their effort to answer a decades-old biological question about how the hepatitis B virus is able to establish infection of liver cells, research led by Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and The Rockefeller University identified a vulnerability that opens the door to new treatments.

Almost 50 million Americans—disproportionately in rural areas—must drive 25 miles or more to access a gastroenterologist for diagnosis and treatment of issues involving the digestive system, according to a study from Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

A fungus discovered in the mouse stomach may hold a key to fungal evolution within the gastrointestinal tract, according to new research led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. 

Severe COVID-19 arises in part from the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s impact on mitochondria, tiny oxygen-burning power plants in cells, which can help trigger a cascade of organ- and immune system-damaging events, suggests a study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, along with other members of the COVID-19 International Research Team.

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine have used a cutting-edge model system to uncover the mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, induces new cases of diabetes, and worsens complications in people who already have it.

Dr. Mohammad Arifuzzaman, a postdoctoral associate at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a 2024 Tri-Institutional Breakout Award for Junior Investigators.

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine discovered a previously unknown link between two key pathways that regulate the immune system in mammals—a finding that impacts our understanding of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

Microbes in the mammalian gut can significantly change their hosts’ amino acid and glucose metabolism, acting almost like an extra liver, according to a new preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

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.

Dr. Gregory F. Sonnenberg, The Henry R. Erle, M.D.-Roberts Family Associate Professor of Medicine and head of basic research in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a $3.26 million, five-year MERIT grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to investigate the underlying mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

The availability of generic antiviral drugs to manage chronic hepatitis B resulted in significant savings to Medicare, despite an increase in prescriptions, according to an analysis by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

Dr. Iliyan D. Iliev, an associate professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, co-director of the Microbiome Core and a member of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at Weill Cornell Medicine, is the lead investigator on a grant to Weill Cornell Medicine from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to target pathogenic fungi in patients with Crohn’s disease.

The activity of a gene called CIART is a key factor in the establishment of the viral infection that causes COVID-19.

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.

Changes in a single gene open the door for harmful gut bacteria to set off the inflammation that drives Crohn’s disease.

A multidisciplinary team of Weill Cornell Medicine researchers has received a five-year $5.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health to fund a center aimed at developing messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to deter cancer development in at-risk groups.

Immune cells called group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) play an essential role in establishing tolerance to symbiotic microbes that dwell in the human gastrointestinal tract, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Dr. Iliyan D. Iliev, an associate professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a member of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $1.25 million CRI Lloyd J. Old STAR (Scientists Taking Risks) Program grant from Cancer Research Institute (CRI).

A protein called Zbtb46, expressed by specialized immune cells, has a major role in protecting the gastrointestinal tract from excessive inflammation, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.