Updates from the Chair | Microbiology and Immunology

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colocalization of extracellular DNA and CXCL4

Study Reveals New Mode of Triggering Immune Responses

July 13, 2022

Small proteins, called chemokines, that direct immune cells toward sites of infection can also form DNA-bound nanoparticles that can induce chronic, dysfunctional immune responses, according to a new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). The surprising discovery of this new activity for this well-studied class of immune signaling molecules could shed light on some types of immune...

T Cell Behavior Determines Which Tumors Respond to Treatment

May 9, 2022

Immunotherapy unleashes the power of the immune system to fight cancer. However, for some patients, immunotherapy doesn’t work, and new research may help explain why. When immune cells called T lymphocytes infiltrate malignant tumors, the genetic program of those T cells and the developmental path they then follow, may affect their response to immunotherapy and predict overall patient survival, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The results overturn the...

illustration of microscopic tuberculosis bacteria

CinA Protein Contributes to Drug Tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

May 4, 2022

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have identified a protein in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) that contributes to drug tolerance, a phenomenon that allows bacteria to survive treatment with drugs that would normally kill them.

The study, published April 22 in Nature Communications, found that an Mtb protein called CinA reduces the efficacy of isoniazid and other antibiotics used to treat tuberculosis.

“This...

Scientists Identify Key Regulator of Malaria Parasite Transmission

February 25, 2022

A finding from Weill Cornell Medicine researchers sheds new light on the transmission of malaria, one of the biggest global public health challenges, which kills a young child every two minutes – more than any other infectious disease.

Malaria parasites, of which Plasmodium falciparum is the most widespread and lethal, are transmitted by mosquitoes and have a complex life cycle. Malaria symptoms occur once the parasite's asexual stages begin replicating inside red blood cells....

Researchers Identify a Promising New Target for Tuberculosis Treatment

December 21, 2021

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the hardy bacterial species that causes tuberculosis (TB), has an unexpected vulnerability that future drugs may be able to exploit, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The researchers, whose findings appeared Nov. 15 in Nature Communications, investigated the role of an Mtb enzyme that had never been studied in depth before, and discovered that it is crucial...