EurekAlert! National Institutes of Health - NIH-funded News

Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Oct-2026 06:16 ET (29-Oct-2026 10:16 GMT/UTC)

Sanford Burnham Prebys awarded $3.9 million NIH grant to develop first-in-class non-opioid pain treatment

Sanford Burnham Prebys
Grant and Award Announcement

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a $3.9 million grant to a multi-institutional team led by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute to develop a non-opioid pain therapeutic and advance it into a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Researchers uncover brain mechanism that may help slow Parkinson’s disease, curiously only in females

Texas A&M University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By boosting nicotine‑responsive receptors — without using nicotine itself — scientists protected brain cells from degeneration.

Journal: JNeurosci
Funder: American Parkinson Disease Association

How do rats determine whether to approach or avoid distressed peers?

Society for Neuroscience
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers identified a pathway in the rat brain that plays a role in evaluating social signals and making decisions to approach stressed pups or avoid stressed adult peers.

Journal: JNeurosci
Funder: Boston College (BC): Undergraduate Research Fellowships

Here’s why your face doesn’t perceive itchiness the same way your body does

North Carolina State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new study, researchers from North Carolina State University show that itch sensations in the face are perceived differently from those in the body due to differences in signaling between trigeminal (located in the brain) and spinal pain pathways. The work could lead to the development of specific molecular targets for treating facial pain or itch.

Journal: Communications Biology

Grant backs early-career research on metabolism and food choices

Virginia Tech
Grant and Award Announcement

A Virginia Tech research scientists with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to study how metabolic health influences the brain systems that shape what and how we eat. The four-year award will support her research into how obesity and insulin resistance affect reward learning and decision-making in the human brain.