EurekAlert! National Institutes of Health

Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Jan-2026 17:11 ET (20-Jan-2026 22:11 GMT/UTC)

9-Sep-2025

Origins of Wnt signalling reveal protein superfamily across the Tree of Life

Researchers have described a large set of previously unrecognised enzymatic domains – named the Lipocone superfamily – and outlined their evolutionary pathway from bacterial defence molecules to key players in human development.

Journal: eLife
Funder: Division of Intramural Research at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), NIH/National Institutes of Health, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

9-Sep-2025

NIH funds first-of-its-kind center to study resilience and aging

University of Maryland
Grant and Award Announcement

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – America’s population is the oldest it has ever been. And though older people are more independent than ever, they face a huge care gap, one that challenges families, communities and healthcare systems.

Enter the Center for Seniors Uniting Nationwide to Support Health, INtegrated care, and Economics, known as the Center for SUNSHINE, an interdisciplinary collaboration funded by a $901,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for the first two years to establish the center, with the potential for up to six years of support.

Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

9-Sep-2025

Predicting where deadly brain cancer may spread next

Virginia Tech
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have developed a method that uses MRI and fluid dynamics to predict where glioblastoma may return. By tracking how fluid moves through and around the tumor, their algorithm identifies hidden cancer cells and highlights invasion pathways so surgeons can target them more precisely.

Journal: npj Biomedical Innovations
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Red Gates Foundation, American Cancer Society

9-Sep-2025

“Bottlebrush” particles deliver big chemotherapy payloads directly to cancer cells

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using nanoparticles shaped like bottlebrushes, MIT chemists can deliver a large range of chemotherapy drugs directly to tumor cells, which could reduce the side effects of treatment.

Journal: Nature Biotechnology
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, Ludwig Center at MIT, Koch Institute Frontier Research Program

9-Sep-2025

How evolution explains autism rates in humans

Oxford University Press USA
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution finds that the relatively high rate of Autism-spectrum disorders in humans is likely due to how humans evolved in the past.

Journal: Molecular Biology and Evolution
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate