Updates from the Chair | Microbiology and Immunology

NIH Grant Aims for Childhood Vaccine Against HIV

September 18, 2025

A multi-institutional team led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has been awarded a five-year, $20.8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, for advanced preclinical development of a promising experimental HIV vaccine.

A successful vaccine to prevent new HIV infections would be a major public health breakthrough. About...

Dr. Carl Nathan Wins David and Beatrix Hamburg Award

September 17, 2025

Dr. Carl F. Nathan, the R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor of Microbiology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded the David and Beatrix Hamburg Award for Advances in Biomedical Research and Clinical Medicine by the National Academy of Medicine.

Established in 2004, the prestigious award honors innovative biomedical scientists who have advanced global health with an exceptional biomedical research discovery and...

The Quest for an HIV Vaccine

August 20, 2025

When SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, began spreading worldwide in 2020, many research teams immediately set to work developing a vaccine against it. Building on decades of previous work on mRNA technology and on other viral vaccines, including HIV, they achieved their goal within the year. The most widely used mRNA vaccine design contains the genetic instructions for...

Novel Maneuver Helps Malaria Parasite Dodge the Immune System

May 16, 2025

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered how a parasite that causes malaria when transmitted through a mosquito bite can hide from the body’s immune system, sometimes for years. It turns out that the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, can shut down a key set of genes, rendering itself “immunologically invisible.”

...

Study Finds Protein Partnership Protects Chromosomes

April 16, 2025

A new study from Weill Cornell Medicine provides insights into how cells maintain the tiny end caps of chromosomes as they divide, a key process in keeping cells healthy. Using yeast, the researchers reveal protein interactions that could explain how the enzyme telomerase is tightly regulated to prevent cells from dividing uncontrollably or aging prematurely. The preclinical study, published April 17 in Nucleic...

Dr. Sabine Ehrt Named Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine

April 14, 2025

(New York, April 14, 2025)—Dr. Sabine Ehrt, an internationally renowned leader in tuberculosis research, has been appointed chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine, effective July 1.

The department, which is comprised of microbiologists and immunologists, focuses on the body’s interaction with microbes like...

Study Discovers Tuberculosis Genes Necessary for Airborne Transmission

March 10, 2025

Tuberculosis bacteria rely on a family of genes that help them survive the challenging journey from one person’s lungs to another person’s during coughing, sneezing or talking, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The findings provide new targets for tuberculosis therapies that could simultaneously treat infection and prevent the spread of bacteria.

Until now, very little was known about this transmission process—when...

Designing Self-Destructing Bacteria to Make Effective Tuberculosis Vaccines

February 25, 2025

Working toward more effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccines, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed two strains of mycobacteria with "kill switches" that can be triggered to stop the bacteria after they activate an immune response. Two preclinical studies, published, Jan. 10 in Nature Microbiology, tackle the challenge of engineering bacteria that are safe for use in controlled human infection trials or as better vaccines. While TB is under control in most developed countries, the...

Prestigious MERIT Grant Funds Research on How the Immune System Can Banish HIV

July 17, 2024

Weill Cornell Medicine has received $4.2 million to study how the immune system in some people infected with HIV can keep the virus under control, which could lead to novel therapeutic strategies for thwarting or eliminating HIV. Dr. Brad Jones, associate professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill...

image of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis

NIH Funds Consortium to Accelerate Development of New TB Treatments

July 8, 2024

A new consortium co-led by Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $31 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to accelerate the development of faster, more effective treatment regimens for tuberculosis (TB). Investigators at the University of California, San Francisco; Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Vanderbilt University Medical Center comprise the other co-leads.

The Preclinical Design...

New Lab Test to Detect Persistent HIV Strains in Africa May Aid Search for Cure

July 2, 2024

A multinational team led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators developed a test that will help measure the persistence of HIV in people affected by viral strains found predominantly in Africa—a vital tool in the search for an HIV cure that will benefit patients around the world.

The study, published July 2 in Nature Communications, helps fill a major gap in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) research. Most HIV studies...

pink macrophages engulfing orange rodlike bacteria

An Immune Powerhouse: Dr. Carl Nathan on the Potential of Interferon-γ

April 22, 2024

Dr. Carl Nathan, chair of the department of microbiology and immunology and the R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor of Microbiology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has co-authored a review in Science on the immune protein interferon-gamma. He answered questions about its history and prospects as a therapeutic.

How was IFN-γ's basic biological role discovered?

In 1969-1971, while I was in medical school, I addressed a...

Structural Study Points the Way to Better Malaria Drugs

January 18, 2024

Structural insights into a potent antimalarial drug candidate’s interaction with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have paved the way for drug-resistant malaria therapies, according to a new study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Van Andel Institute.

The antimalarial molecule, TDI-8304, is one of a new class of experimental therapeutics that targets the proteasome, an essential, multiprotein complex in P. falciparum...

Weill Cornell Medicine Receives Grants for Tuberculosis Drug Development

December 21, 2023

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers and the TB Drug Accelerator have received two grants totaling $6.8 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study tuberculosis (TB) drug development. This effort will expediate finding new drug targets within the bacteria and identifying new lead compounds, two significant bottlenecks in TB drug development.

“These grants allow us to apply the assays we’ve developed in the last few years...

New Findings Offer Insight into How Malaria Parasites Prepare for Transmission

June 15, 2023

A key developmental step in the lifecycle of the most virulent species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, depends in part on a series of molecular signals that are detailed in a new study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings may help scientists develop new ways to prevent malaria from spreading.

The parasites can spread from infected humans back to mosquitoes, completing their transmission cycle, only after they change from the asexual form that...

Research Reveals How a Common Bacterium May Spread from the Intestine

November 10, 2022

A typical gut bacterium that can spread through the body and cause a serious infection resists natural immune defenses and antibiotics by enhancing its protective outer layer, known as the cell envelope, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The finding suggests possible new ways to target these bacterial infections.

The research, published Nov. 10 in mBio, illuminates some of the underlying...

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...

Weill Cornell Advances TB Research with Support from NIH

September 3, 2021

Tuberculosis (TB) is a wily old killer, one of the deadliest infectious diseases in history and one of the few that naturally infects only humans. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have been pursuing treatments for tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) since the 1950s, and the program continues to excel at explaining TB’s mysteries and pushing toward more effective therapies.

Currently, Weill Cornell Medicine investigators are...

Commentary: Multisector Research Collaborative Aims to Advance Tuberculosis Treatment

August 4, 2021

A better understanding of the biology of tuberculosis (TB) infection and improved drug combinations for the disease are two areas of research in which the TB Drug Accelerator (TBDA) has made strides since its inception a decade ago, according to a commentary whose authors include three Weill Cornell Medicine investigators and an investigator at Cornell University’s Ithaca campus who participate in the collaborative network.

TB is an infectious disease that typically affects the lungs...

microscopy images of Ustilago maydis, right panel shows telomere-binding protein

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...

Bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, 3D illustration - Illustration

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...

Image shows macrophages (red), a type of white blood cell, infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (green and blue). Photo credit: Dr. Helene Botella, an instructor in microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Weakening Tuberculosis Bacteria’s Defenses May Speed Treatment and Thwart Drug Resistance

August 13, 2018

By sabotaging one of the tuberculosis bacterium’s defenses against antibiotics, Weill Cornell Medicine investigators may have found a way to accelerate treatment for the disease and possibly overcome growing resistance to existing therapies.

In a study published April 25 in Science Translational Medicine, Dr. Dirk Schnappinger and colleagues found a way to...

Study: Experimental Compound Protects Transplanted Hearts from Rejection

December 12, 2016

This image shows a section of a transplanted heart in a mouse that was given only CTLA4-Ig, a standard anti-rejection therapy. A large number of infiltrating immune cells are visible by their blue-staining nuclei, showing that the heart is undergoing rejection. Heart muscle cell nuclei are also stained blue. All images: “Brief treatment with a highly selective immunoproteasome inhibitor promotes long-term cardiac allograft acceptance in mice.” Karreci, Esilida Sula. PNAS, 2016. doi: 10....

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