Updates from the Chair | Microbiology and Immunology

View Events Calendar for Upcoming events and seminars

Events Calendar

Study Reveals Functions of Proteins that Protect Chromosome Ends

December 16, 2020

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have gleaned new insights on the ways cells maintain the tips of their chromosomes, or telomeres. The findings help illuminate a wide range of phenomena, from cancer development to fungal evolution.

The study, published Dec. 16 in Communications Biology, could offer new targets for cancer therapy.

All organisms with linear chromosomes consisting of two intertwined strands of...

Protein Found in Aggressive Ovarian Cancers Promotes Tumor Growth by Bringing In Protective Immune Cells

December 11, 2020

Ovarian tumors can be made more sensitive to immunotherapy by blocking the recruitment of certain cells to the area surrounding the cancer, according to preclinical research by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Unlike some other solid tumors, including lung cancer and melanoma, ovarian cancer generally does not respond to immunotherapy. In a study published Dec. 8 in Nature Communications, researchers looked at...

Commentary: Stemming the Tide of Resistant Infections is Tough but Not Intractable

April 23, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is a striking reminder that viruses scorn borders. Disease-causing bacteria ignore borders, too—but with a difference. While scientists are still seeking to discover antiviral drugs, since the end of World War II the public has had effective antibiotics to fight bacteria. Yet, as bacteria are spreading around the world, so is resistance to these life-saving drugs—a phenomenon known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

We can defeat runaway AMR, but it will take...

Helping Hand

May 8, 2019

Dr. Omar Vandal, Ph.D. ’07, came to Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences determined to make a difference in the world—focusing his studies on tuberculosis, the world’s most deadly infectious disease and one that sickens an estimated half-million people each year in his homeland of Pakistan. He did innovative doctoral research, identifying a key protein that the TB bacterium needs to survive within the host cell—information that may help scientists develop better drugs. But...

New Antimicrobial Resistance Mechanism Uncovered in Hunt for TB New Drug

February 6, 2019

An investigation by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists has yielded two breakthroughs in the pursuit of combating growing resistance to tuberculosis treatments. First, the team discovered a new strategy that tuberculosis-causing bacteria use to evade treatment. They also identified an experimental compound that might help circumvent drug resistance to the most widely used tuberculosis drug, isoniazid.

Tuberculosis is the top infectious disease killer worldwide and growing resistance to...