Kentucky has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the country, and the health consequences carry forward throughout life. That’s one of the reasons researchers at the University of Kentucky are leading a groundbreaking clinical trial to determine if medical intervention can reverse the early signs of heart disease in children struggling with severe obesity.

The MODERN study (Mitigation of Cardiovascular Disease Risks in Pediatric Extreme Obesity) is specifically designed to address a growing health crisis in the Commonwealth, and its results could have profound implications for the state’s public health policy and the long-term well-being of its youngest residents.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 18, 2026) — Publishing a paper in a top-tier journal is a major accomplishment for faculty members. For first-year graduate students, it’s almost unheard of.

Alexandra N. Johansen, a psychology Ph.D. student in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has done exactly that, serving as the lead author of a comprehensive systematic review recently published in Pharmacological Reviews.

Australian researchers are challenging decades-old assumptions about brain cancer treatment in a bid to make radiation therapy more effective against tumours, while reducing damage to healthy tissue.

Researchers completed the largest yet cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, called ASTRID, that traces the evolution of the universe from its earliest time to the present, designated as z = 0 and referring to a zero redshift of star light. 

FDA approval of Rasonque (daraxonrasib), represents a monumental shift in the treatment of pancreas cancer and demonstrates that RAS, one of the most important drivers of pancreatic cancer, can be successfully targeted.

Startup develops a sensor that measures interactions between molecules with high precision, which can reduce the time and costs of discovering drug candidates.

Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Europe (KIST Europe) and Saarland University are working together to develop an environmentally friendly method of detecting and removing heavy metals from water. The interdisciplinary team, which brings together expertise in molecular biology and physics, is based on the university’s Saarbrücken campus. The Saarland Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy is providing approximately €580,000 in funding through the European Regional Development Fund programme ‘Investment for Growth and Jobs’.