EurekAlert! National Institutes of Health

Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Jul-2025 22:11 ET (21-Jul-2025 02:11 GMT/UTC)

16-Mar-2025

Left-right symmetry-breaking of a cellular flow occurs earlier than node formation

Kumamoto University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Most animals exhibit external left-right (LR)-symmetric appearance and -asymmetric internal organs. A fundamental question in development is when and how the LR-asymmetry is established for the internal organs, keeping the external body plan bilaterally symmetric. Researchers from Kumamoto Univ., Univ. of Miami, and UCSF examined the initiation of LR symmetry breaking during embryonic development, by using chick embryos as a model system.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, Uehara Memorial Foundation, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, University of Miami for startup funding support

16-Mar-2025

Researchers looking for families in Eastern time zone to participate in Tots & Tech Study

Arnold School of Public Health
Grant and Award Announcement

Exercise science researchers at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health are recruiting parent-child dyads to participate in a virtual study about the use of technology among children ages 3-5. Participants can earn up to $1200.

Funder: NIH/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

16-Mar-2025

Adolescents with mental health symptoms more likely to use multiple nicotine products, particularly e-cigarettes, new international research finds

Arnold School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study led by Emily Hackworth, a 2024 graduate of the Arnold School’s Ph.D. in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, and co-authors* has found that youth (ages 16-19) with internalizing mental health symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, sadness loneliness) are more likely to turn to nicotine products (particularly electronic cigarettes) than their peers. Published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research, the study also revealed that the pandemic and its aftermath has likely played a role in this relationship.

Journal: Nicotine & Tobacco Research
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

14-Mar-2025

Protein accidentally lassos itself, helping explain unusual refolding behavior

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study has described a potential mechanism that could help explain why some proteins refold in a different pattern than expected. The researchers, led by chemists at Penn State, found that a type of misfolding, in which the proteins incorrectly intertwine their segments, can occur and create a barrier to the normal folding process. Correcting this misfold requires high-energy or extensive unfolding, which slows the folding process leading to the unexpected pattern first observed in the 1990s.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, NIH/National Institutes of Health

14-Mar-2025

Scientists discover how to reactivate cancer’s molecular “kill switch”

Jackson Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory and UConn Health discovered that cancer cells suppress "poison exons" — genetic elements that act as an off switch for protein production — in a key gene called TRA2β, promoting tumor growth. By using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to restore poison exon activity, the team effectively reactivated this kill switch, offering a potential new precision therapy for aggressive, hard-to-treat cancers.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health