Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 28-Oct-2026 10:17 ET (28-Oct-2026 14:17 GMT/UTC)

12-May-2026

 

‘Nature’s algorithm’ found in Chinese money plants

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

CSHL Associate Professor Saket Navlakha and former graduate student Cici Zheng have discovered a naturally occurring Voronoi diagram in Chinese money plants’ leaves. Their research answers a longstanding question in biology regarding the mathematics of looping vein structures and could help explain how plants solve complex problems in nature.

Journal

Nature Communications

Funder

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory School of Biological Sciences William R. Mellow Fellowship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Simons Center for Quantitative Biology

11-May-2026

Cannabis compounds may boost metabolic health while supporting weight loss

University of California - Riverside
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A University of California, Riverside preclinical study is shedding light on a long-observed but poorly understood phenomenon: chronic cannabis users tend to have lower body weight and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes, despite the drug’s well-known tendency to increase appetite.

Journal

The Journal of Physiology

Funder

Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program

11-May-2026

 

Penn Engineers study asthma on human lung-on-a-chip technology

University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Penn Engineering have developed an asthma-on-a-chip that recreates the physical forces of airway constriction during an asthma attack. The study reveals how mechanical stress can drive tissue stiffening and abnormal blood vessel growth, opening new pathways for understanding asthma and developing future treatments.

Journal

Nature Biomedical Engineering

Funder

Ministry of Trade, Binghamton University

11-May-2026

Popular weight loss, diabetes drugs linked to improved breast cancer survival

Virginia Commonwealth University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research published today in JAMA Network Open offers illuminating evidence suggesting there is a positive association between GLP-1 agonists—drugs commonly used to treat obesity and diabetes—and better outcomes among breast cancer patients.

Journal

JAMA Network Open

Funder

Virginia Commonwealth University

11-May-2026

Expanding Medicaid coverage lowered death rates for young adults with kidney failure

Brown University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Among young adults with kidney failure, the expansion of Medicaid following the Affordable Care Act signed into law in 2010 was associated with substantial declines in one-year death rates, researchers from Brown University found in a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Journal

JAMA Pediatrics

Funder

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities