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Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-May-2025 22:09 ET (3-May-2025 02:09 GMT/UTC)

An old drug with new tricks

Medical University of South Carolina
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Despite the promise against cancer shown by the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, clinical trials have proved disappointing, partly because cancer cells develop resistance to the drug. MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researchers report in Cell Cycle that resistance to hydroxychloroquine occurs not by restoring cellular recycling, as had been expected, but by affecting the division, metabolism and export of cancer cells. These findings could inform new combination therapies with hydroxychloroquine, enhancing the drug’s effectiveness against cancer.

Journal: Cell Cycle
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health

Brain immune cells amplify damage caused by Alzheimer’s risk gene, study finds

Gladstone Institutes
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at Gladstone Institutes created a new research model for studying Alzheimer’s that involved transplanting human neurons producing the APOE4 protein into the brains of mice. They found that in the presence of APOE4—the most important genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease—immune cells called microglia cause harmful inflammation and deposits of amyloid and tau, two types of misfolded proteins that are hallmarks of the disease.

Journal: Cell Stem Cell
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, Dolby Family

Researchers examine aging brain with new level of imaging detail

University of Texas at Dallas
Grant and Award Announcement

Two researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for Vital Longevity have received a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to expand their study of brain structure, function and cognition across time through the use of a 7-Tesla magnetic resonance scanner.

Psychology professors Dr. Kristen Kennedy and Dr. Karen Rodrigue in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences were awarded $3.7 million from the NIH’s National Institute on Aging to extend their Dallas Area Longitudinal Lifespan Aging Study to include a fourth and fifth wave of data collection, which will allow them to follow study participants across 14 years.

Using this 24-ton MRI machine that has the ability to image less than a millimeter of tissue, the researchers will be able to explore the chemical metabolites of the brain’s tissue.

Funder: NIH/National Institute on Aging

Awareness of lung cancer screening remains low

Medical University of South Carolina
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A majority of people who are eligible for lung cancer screening responded that they hadn't heard of the test or hadn't discussed it with a clinician.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, MUSC Hollings Cancer Center

New research identifies ways to protect neurons from the negative effect of high-fat diet on multiple sclerosis progression

Advanced Science Research Center, GC/CUNY
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Newly published research in the journal Glia has identified crucial links between dietary choices and the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). The study explored how enzymes called ceramide synthase 5 and 6 are responsible for the toxic effect of a palm oil-rich diet on neurons in the central nervous system, which causes a subsequent increase in the severity of MS symptoms.

Journal: Glia
Funder: NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke