Gastroenterology and Hepatology

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.

SARS-CoV-2 infections of women in late pregnancy frequently spread to their placentas and led to inflammation.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus can infect specialized pacemaker cells that maintain the heart’s rhythmic beat, setting off a self-destruction process within the cells, according to a preclinical study co-led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have identified a key protein that induces the program to build specialized liver blood vessels. The discovery could lead to engineered replacement hepatic tissue to treat common liver diseases.

Individual Candida albicans yeast strains in the human gut are as different from each other as the humans that carry them, and some C. albicans strains may damage the gut of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

A specific group of fungi residing in the intestines can protect against intestinal injury and influence social behavior, according to new preclinical research by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine.

An FDA-approved drug that has been in clinical use for more than 70 years may protect against lung injury and the risk of blood clots in severe COVID-19 and other disorders that cause immune-mediated damage to the lungs.

Scientists at the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a pipeline that enables genetic manipulation of nonmodel gut bacteria.

A new protein variant underlies the ability of gastric cancers to resist an otherwise effective family of chemotherapy drugs, according to a study by a multidisciplinary team at Weill Cornell Medicine. The results suggest a treatment strategy that could improve the prognoses of many patients with cancer.

A group of immune cells that normally protect against inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract may have the opposite effect in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other brain inflammation-related conditions, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian researchers.