News and Updates

Nerve fibers within melanomas can slow the growth of these tumors, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The findings help clarify the emerging field of cancer neuroscience and may inform future therapeutic strategies.

In the study, published April 29 in Neuron, the researchers used mouse models of the skin cancer melanoma to examine the...

Weill Cornell Medicine investigators have revealed the detailed workings of a cell membrane protein that has essential roles in all animals. The discovery could lead to new therapeutic strategies for blood coagulation disorders, cancers and other conditions in which the protein, called a TMEM16 scramblase, works abnormally.

Scramblases operate within cell membranes, where they alter or “scramble” the normal layered...

While glucose, or sugar, is a well-known fuel for the brain, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have demonstrated that electrical activity in synapses—the junctions between neurons where communication occurs—can lead to the use of lipid or fat droplets as an energy source.

The study, published July 1 in Nature Metabolism, challenges “the long-standing dogma that the brain doesn’t burn fat,” said principal investigator...