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Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2025 16:11 ET (26-Oct-2025 20:11 GMT/UTC)

Scientists discover key gene impacts liver energy storage, affecting metabolic disease risk

University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study published in Science Advances reveals that a single gene plays a big role in how the liver stores energy, a process that's critical for overall health and for managing diseases like type 2 diabetes. Led by Penn Nursing’s Kate Townsend Creasy, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nutrition Science in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, the research focuses on the PPP1R3B gene. This gene tells the liver how to handle energy: store it as glycogen (a form of sugar) or triglycerides (a type of fat).

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

Largest genomic study of veterans with metastatic prostate cancer reveals critical insights for precision medicine

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the largest clinical genomic profiling study of non-Hispanic Black men with metastatic prostate cancer to date, researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Los Angeles and the Veterans Affairs (VA) National Precision Oncology Program found key differences in tumor biology between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic white veterans, but similar survival outcomes when both groups had equal access to care.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, Prostate Cancer Foundation

In healthy aging, carb quality counts

Tufts University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Intakes of dietary fiber and high-quality carbohydrates in midlife are linked to increased likelihood of healthy aging and other positive health outcomes in older women. Higher intakes of refined carbohydrates and starchy vegetables were associated with lower odds of healthy aging.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health

Infant immune systems respond differently to severe COVID-19

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A St. Jude-led collaboration characterized the unique features of hospitalized infants’ immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Findings show that the immune response looked different in these infants compared to other ages, including increases in the antiviral interferon protein and interferon-stimulated genes in most immune cells, paired with high levels of inflammatory cytokines in their blood.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

How do middle-aged folks get dementia? It could be these proteins

University of California - San Francisco
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Dementia usually affects older people, so when it occurs in middle age, it can be hard to recognize. The most common form is frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which is often mistaken for depression, schizophrenia, or Parkinson’s disease before the correct diagnosis is reached.

Journal: Nature Aging
Funder: NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer's Association, Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, BlueField Project to Cure FTD, CurePSP, Larry L. Hillblom Foundation, Rainwater Charitable Foundation