EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Infectious Diseases

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

This month, we’re focusing on infectious diseases, a topic that affects lives and communities around the world. Here, you’ll find the latest research news, insights, and discoveries shaping how infectious diseases are being studied, prevented, and treated globally.

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 9-Jan-2026 23:11 ET (10-Jan-2026 04:11 GMT/UTC)

23-Jul-2025

New study finds distinct city-specific gut microbiota linked to diet

BGI Genomics
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study shows that the human gut microbiota can pinpoint whether an adult lives in Wuhan or Shiyan, two cities 500 km apart in China's Hubei Province, with 94 % accuracy. This microbial signature is strongly linked to each city’s characteristic diet.

Journal: Frontiers in Microbiology

21-Jul-2025

Research identifies genetic predictor of weight loss with GLP-1RAs

Cleveland Clinic
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study published by Cleveland Clinic researchers investigating the genetic underpinnings of weight loss response has identified a gene, neurobeachin (NBEA), as a predictor of how individuals respond to GLP-1RAs, the class of medications behind popular treatments like liraglutide and semaglutide.

While GLP-1RAs have shown promise in helping individuals lose weight, their effectiveness varies widely. This study, which analyzed large-scale real-world data from the NIH All of Us cohort and the UK Biobank, discovered that individuals with certain genetic variations of NBEA —a gene encoding a protein kinase A anchor protein— are significantly more likely to experience substantial weight loss—or, conversely, non-responsiveness—when prescribed GLP-1RAs.

Journal: Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism

21-Jul-2025

GLP-1 drugs fail to provide key long-term health benefit

University of Virginia Health System
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health

21-Jul-2025

AI vision, reinvented: The power of synthetic data

University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science
Reports and Proceedings

Imagine teaching someone to draw complex, scientific diagrams by only describing the picture. That’s the idea behind CoSyn, a new tool from Penn Engineering and the Allen Institute for AI. CoSyn uses AI’s coding skills to generate scientific charts and diagrams, training data that helps open-source models learn to read text-rich, scientific images, from nutrition labels to medical diagrams. The result: open source AI systems that can read complex visuals — and even outperform proprietary models like ChatGPT and Gemini — while using less data and without raising copyright concerns, opening new doors for AI-aided scientific discoveries.

Funder: Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Meeting: The 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics

18-Jul-2025

A healthier start begins with personalized nutrition during pregnancy

BGI Genomics

Pregnancy is one of life's most exciting chapters, but it also brings real health challenges. When nutrition during pregnancy is overlooked, it can affect the well-being of both the mother and the baby.

Personalized nutrition, guided by genetic insights, reduces risks, improves outcomes, and supports lifelong health by tailoring food and supplement choices to each mother's body.

17-Jul-2025

New Duke study finds obesity rises with caloric intake, not couch time

Duke University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

While many experts have offered that rising obesity rates are due to declining physical activity as societies become more industrialized, new research shows that people in wealthier countries expend just as much — or even more — energy daily. In an article recently published in PNAS, Duke researchers point instead to higher caloric intake as the primary driver, suggesting that diet rather than idleness plays the bigger role in the global obesity crisis.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

17-Jul-2025

Sunny side up for eggs and cholesterol

University of South Australia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Long blamed for high cholesterol, eggs have been beaten up for their assumed role in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Now, UniSA researchers have shown definitively that it’s not dietary cholesterol in eggs but the saturated fat in our diets that’s the real heart health concern.

Journal: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Funder: Egg Nutrition Center