Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Oct-2026 00:16 ET (29-Oct-2026 04:16 GMT/UTC)

12-May-2026

 

Personalized vaccine shows promise against aggressive brain cancer

WashU Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A WashU Medicine-led clinical trial conducted at Siteman Cancer Center has found that a personalized vaccine to treat glioblastoma is safe and could potentially improve outcomes. 

Journal

Nature Cancer

Funder

Nationwide Foundation Pediatric Innovation Fund, Mark Foundation For Cancer Research, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, Schnuck Family Fund, The Knight and Christopher Davidson Family Fund

12-May-2026

 

Human islet function, diabetes risk defined by heterogeneous endocrine cell composition

Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the largest study of its kind, published in Nature Communications, the multisite Integrated Islet Distribution Program (IIDP) consortium reports an integrative analysis of human islets from 299 organ donors without diabetes, generated by the phenotyping and genotyping initiatives within the IIDP. The IIDP is the largest source of human islets for research in the U.S.

Journal

Nature Communications

Funder

Breakthrough T1D, Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust

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