Updates from the Chair | Microbiology and Immunology

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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...