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Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Apr-2025 05:08 ET (22-Apr-2025 09:08 GMT/UTC)

New research shows urine tests may detect early diseases

University of Texas at Arlington
Peer-Reviewed Publication

According to a new study from scientists at The University of Texas at Arlington, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, and Stanford University, studying the RNA (a type of genetic material) and other substances within urine can show changes in cell types, revealing early signs of cancer and other diseases. This method could help clinicians detect problems earlier when they are more easily treated without invasive procedures.

Journal: Clinical Chemistry
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Cancer Institute, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NIH/National Institutes of Health, Benchmark Stanford Graduate Fellowship, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) face barriers to medical school admission, study finds

University of North Carolina Health Care
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study led by Jasmine Weiss, MD, MHS, FAAP, assistant professor of pediatrics in the UNC School of Medicine, describes the barriers to medical school admission that students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) may face. The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

Novel antibody platform tackles viral mutations

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with colleagues in the field, have developed an innovative antibody platform aimed at tackling one of the greatest challenges in treating rapidly evolving viruses like SARS-CoV-2: their ability to mutate and evade existing vaccines and therapies. Their findings, including preclinical studies in mice, introduce the Adaptive Multi-Epitope Targeting and Avidity-Enhanced (AMETA) Nanobody Platform, a new antibody approach for addressing how viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, evolve to evade vaccines and treatments. Details on the results were published October 23 in the journal Cell.

Journal: Cell
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

myeloMATCH precision medicine trials in myeloid leukemias open to patient enrollment across US and Canada

SWOG Cancer Research Network
Business Announcement

Four leading cancer research organizations in the United States and Canada announce the opening of patient enrollment to myeloMATCH, a unique portfolio of clinical trials to test precision medicine treatments for adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). myeloMATCH's umbrella trial design will link multiple studies to allow patients newly diagnosed with one of these myeloid cancers to register to clinical trials throughout the course of their treatment. The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, Canadian Cancer Trials Group, ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, and SWOG Cancer Research Network are collaborating within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) to design and lead the trials, which they expect to open at hundreds of cancer care sites across the two countries.

Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute

Immunotherapy blocks scarring, improves heart function in mice with heart failure

WashU Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at WashU Medicine have reduced scar formation and improved heart function in mouse models of heart failure using a monoclonal antibody treatment, similar to that approved by the FDA to treat other conditions. The findings point to the possibility of developing such immunotherapies for heart failure in patients who have experienced a heart attack or other injury.

Journal: Nature
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, Leducq Foundation Network, Amgen, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, American Heart Association, Children's Discovery Institute, St. Louis Children's Hospital, Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine