EurekAlert! National Institutes of Health

Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Dec-2025 06:11 ET (21-Dec-2025 11:11 GMT/UTC)

2-Dec-2025

New technique maps genetic variants driving neurodegenerative disease risk

Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine developed a new method that better maps genetic variants that can lead to brain diseases. The approach identified 75% more relevant genes and uncovered new therapeutic targets for conditions like Alzheimer’s and ALS.

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

2-Dec-2025

An overlooked hormone eyed as deadly driver of postmenopausal breast cancer in women with obesity

Georgetown University Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new analysis of research into the most common type of breast cancer has zeroed in on an overlooked hormone that may be responsible for the increased risk of breast cancer death in post-menopausal women with obesity. It also raises the possibility that treatment of these aggressive breast cancers could be improved with addition of weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Journal: Nature Reviews Endocrinology
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, Breast Cancer Research Foundation

2-Dec-2025

From fireflies to medical treatments: CU Denver’s Chemistry Nanomedicine Lab turns bright ideas into life saving solutions

University of Colorado Denver

A small university lab Colorado is doing big work: developing a “Surgical GPS” to guide cancer removal, engineering a therapeutic contact lens to prevent blindness, and creating a rapid-diagnostic device to detect sepsis.  

Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

1-Dec-2025

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia researchers show how circadian rhythms help boost infection recovery

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers found that circadian rhythms – the biological clocks of the body – can influence outcomes related to influenza infections, providing clinicians with insight about how biological processes can be used to optimize care for critically ill patients with respiratory viral infections.

Journal: Journal of Clinical Investigation
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, Raine Medical Research Foundation

1-Dec-2025

Los Angeles wildfires prompted significantly more virtual medical visits, UW-led research finds

University of Washington
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research led by the University of Washington and Kaiser Permanente Southern California sheds new light on how the 2025 Los Angeles fires affected people’s health, and how people navigated the health care system during an emergency.

Journal: JAMA Health Forum
Funder: NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences