Faculty updates

Lowering Bioenergetic Age May Help Fend Off Alzheimer’s

Lowering Bioenergetic Age May Help Fend Off Alzheimer’s

A person’s bioenergetic clock ticks forward based on genetics, but having a healthy lifestyle—such as eating a plant-based diet and exercising—may help keep Alzheimer’s symptoms at bay. Credit: Shutterstock A person’s “bioenergetic age”—or how youthfully their cells generate energy—might be a key indicator of whether they’re at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, new research from Weill Cornell Medicine shows. The study,…

Study Establishes “Ball and Chain” Mechanism Inactivates Key Mammalian Ion Channel

Study Establishes “Ball and Chain” Mechanism Inactivates Key Mammalian Ion Channel

The BK ion channel pictured above forms a small pathway in the cell membrane (dark gray) that allows potassium ions (purple) to move in and out of the cell. This channel can stop the flow of ions using a mechanism called ball-and-chain inactivation: a ball-like plug swings from the end of a flexible protein subunit (yellow), blocking the channel. Credit: Elizabeth Kim…

Dr. Ekta Khurana Among Three WCM Scientists Receiving Presidential Award

Dr. Ekta Khurana Among Three WCM Scientists Receiving Presidential Award

Three Weill Cornell Medicine scientists were honored this week with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the U.S. government’s highest commendation for outstanding early-career scientists and engineers. Drs. Steven Josefowicz, Ekta Khurana and Kristen Pleil were among 400 early-career scientists and engineers to receive the award, announced Jan. 14 by the White House. The award, known as…

Study Identifies Unexpected Effect of Fatty Acids on Neurotransmitter Transport

Study Identifies Unexpected Effect of Fatty Acids on Neurotransmitter Transport

Free fatty acids inhibit glutamate transport by dissipating the ion gradient across the membrane.  Glutamate transporters pump glutamate from the synaptic cleft back into brain cells after its release during neurotransmission. A new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has found that free fatty acids, including an omega-3 fatty acid called DHA, can reduce the amount of glutamate uptake by…

Office of the Research Dean’s Newsletter Recaps the Annual John M. Lewis Memorial Lecture Presented By Dr. Olga Boudker

Office of the Research Dean’s Newsletter Recaps the Annual John M. Lewis Memorial Lecture Presented By Dr. Olga Boudker

Source: https://research.weill.cornell.edu/ Dr. Hugh Hemmings (Senior Associate Dean for Research), Dr. Olga Boudker (Interim Chair, Dept of Physiology and Biophysics), and Dr. Lola Brown (Associate Dean for Research) at the John M. Lewis Memorial Lecture. Image Credit: Pat Kuharic On Monday, December 2nd, the Office of the Research Dean hosted the 2024 John M. Lewis Memorial Lecture. The lecture is…

Study Published by Dr. Emre Aksay Provides Insight on Eye Movement

Study Published by Dr. Emre Aksay Provides Insight on Eye Movement

Zebrafish, photographed with confocal microscope. The brain region that controls eye movement is structurally similar in fish and mammals, but the zebrafish system contains only 500 neurons, making it a good model organism. Credit: Jessica Plavicki Working with week-old zebrafish larva, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues decoded how the connections formed by a network of neurons in the brainstem guide…

Dr. Olivier Elemento Included in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers List

Dr. Olivier Elemento Included in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers List

Highly Cited Researchers 2024: Explore the list Highly Cited Researchers have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their field(s) of research. Each researcher selected has authored multiple Highly Cited Papers™ which rank in the top 1% by citations for their field(s) and publication year in the Web of Science™ over the past decade. However, citation activity is not the sole…

Receptor’s Structure Reveals How It Functions in Heart Disease

Receptor’s Structure Reveals How It Functions in Heart Disease

The full-length structure of the atrial natriuretic peptide receptor, pictured here, sheds light on how it functions in heart disease. Two copies of the receptor crossing the cell membrane (middle layer) are shown in red and blue. Credit: Huang Lab Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have determined the full-length structure of a blood pressure-regulating hormone receptor for the first time, uncovering…