Yale School of Medicine✓

Yale School of Medicine was awarded a $10 million #grant from the Blavatnik Family Foundation (#BFF) to launch a new research initiative in the field of inflammation science. This gift advances a key institutional priority for YSM, enabling its scientists to explore the role of #inflammation in human health and disease. It will also fund graduate and postdoctoral fellowships. We are grateful for the Blavatnik Family Foundation’s generosity. Inflammation plays a role in nearly every disease, so understanding how it works could help reshape medical care for decades. Read more here:

In a new study published in Nature Communications, Yale researchers Megan Leila Baker, MD, PhD, and Lloyd G. Cantley, MD, used advanced cell profiling techniques to obtain the most detailed view yet of how #kidney and immune cells interact in #AIN. One important finding the researchers identified involved CXCL9, a signaling molecule produced in response to #inflammation that draws T cells into tissue. In AIN, CXCL9 signaling was concentrated within organized clusters of immune cells called lymphoid aggregates. The T cells within these clusters appeared to signal primarily to one another, suggesting a feedback loop that may amplify and sustain inflammation. Find out more here: #nephritis #interstitialnephritis

Yale School of Medicine will jointly lead a new national research consortium focused on epidermal differentiation disorders, a large group of rare, inherited skin diseases formerly known as ichthyoses and palmoplantar keratodermas. The Consortium for Hereditary Epidermal Differentiation Disorders (#CHEDD), co-led by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, is funded by a five-year award providing $5 million in direct research costs from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and joins the NIH Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (#RDCRN). CHEDD is led by Keith A. Choate, MD, PhD, chair and Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor of Dermatology and associate dean for physician-scientist development at Yale School of Medicine, and Amy S. Paller, MD, chair and Walter J. Hamlin Professor of Dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. The consortium brings together seven clinical sites, patient advocacy organizations, and the RDCRN’s Data Management and Coordinating Center to study these conditions at a scale no single center could achieve. “By bringing genetic diagnosis, careful long-term follow-up, and new molecular tools together across many centers, CHEDD will let us learn how these diseases unfold and match patients to therapies that target the underlying cause,” Choate said. Learn more:

Gliomas are a type of #braincancer that tends to recur in patients after they receive treatment. New tumors are often more aggressive than their predecessors, and most people with this type of brain cancer eventually succumb to the disease. Past research suggests that this happens because residual cancer cells survive and reproduce by adapting to the treatment. New research now shows that while treatment resistance is universal, the mutations that underlie it are not. In a published in Nature, Yale researchers revealed that two types of #gliomas — #astrocytomas and #oligodendrogliomas — develop radically different. The findings suggest that future glioma treatments may need to be type-specific, rather than generic, says Roel Verhaak, PhD, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the study. Because while brain cancer cells may act the same, different types of gliomas “respond quite differently to treatment on the genetic level,” he says. Learn more about the research here:

Yale researchers are part of the new Population Genomic Screening Network (#PGSN), a National Institutes of Health (#NIH)-funded program piloting community-level testing for actionable genetic conditions in primary care settings. The Yale Clinical Group for Population Genomic Screening Network (#YCG-PGSN) has been awarded nearly $1 million in first-year funding as part of this five-year initiative, led by principal investigators Yong-Hui Jiang, MD, PhD, professor of genetics, of pediatrics, and of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences, Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, and chief of medical genetics at Yale New Haven Health, and Harlan Krumholz, MD, Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine (#Cardiology) at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (#CORE). Find out more here:

A growing body of research suggests #sleep and rest play an important role in this process of adapting and recombining previous experiences or information. When you’re stuck on a tough problem, it’s not uncommon to take a walk or give your #brain a break, only to gain that sudden flash of inspiration or insight you were looking for. “You have a problem to solve; you cannot really find the right solution. Then you take a nap or do something restful, and it clears up,” says George Dragoi, PhD, professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. “Something happens there, and suddenly the solution comes to you.” Dragoi and co-author Baburam Bhattarai, PhD, a former postdoctoral fellow in his lab, have now identified patterns of brain activity associated with this “offline” learning process in a recent study published in Nature Communications: #neuroscience

Two Yale School of Medicine-affiliated faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for 2026. Election to the academy is one of the highest honors within health and medicine, recognizing outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Albert Ko, MD, Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health in @YaleSPH's Department of Epidemiology and Microbial Diseases and professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Yale School of Medicine, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine for his seminal contributions and leadership in global health. Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty in 2011 and became director of @DartmouthCancer in July 2026. He remains Ensign Professor Emeritus of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at Yale School of Medicine and was elected to the academy for pioneering work in the development of targeted and immune-based therapies for non-small cell lung cancer, and revolutionizing the treatment of lung cancer through protocols and pragmatic clinical trial design based on patient biomarkers and personalized medicine. Read more here: #NationalAcademyofMedicine

Newborn babies are naturally drawn to faces, a trait which helps them bond with their mothers and other caregivers. New Yale research has now found that the functional brain network involved in processing dynamic faces in adults can be observed as early as the third trimester of pregnancy. For many functional brain networks, development largely occurs after birth. The findings, recently reported in Imaging Neuroscience, offer the first evidence that the brain pathway that typically supports perception of socially engaging faces can already be detected in the womb. Read more here: #newborn #faceprocessing #recognition #infancy #pregnancy #neuroscience

Changing how we eat can have a big impact on health, both for managing conditions like diabetes and for maintaining overall well-being. But people often struggle to switch up their diet. Now, a new study published Oct. 9 in Communications Psychology suggests that how we feel about food going in may play a role. While more research is needed, results reinforce anecdotal evidence suggesting it’s easier to add things to your diet than to remove them. #diethabits #eatinghabits #healthandwellness

A recent study published in Nature #Neuroscience has revealed a #vascular platform located in the dura mater of the meninges (layers of membranes that shield the brain and spinal cord) that acts as a sensor to regulate intracerebral pressure. According to Professor of Neurology Jean-Léon Thomas, PhD, who was senior co-author of the study with collaborator Stéphanie Lenck, MD, PhD, from the Paris Brain Institute, these findings have critical clinical implications. Learn more here:

More than 80 years since autism’s first clinical description, researchers have built a wealth of information and scientific consensus around boys on the autism spectrum—but comparatively little is known about autistic girls. It’s a matter of statistics, says James McPartland, PhD, Harris Professor in @YaleCSC and director of the Yale Center for Brain and Mind Health (CBMH). “Around the world, there are three or four boys diagnosed with autism for every girl,” he says. “So, when we do a study, we're learning 75% more about boys than girls.” Historically, McPartland notes, that has also meant major gaps in diagnosis and care for autistic girls and women. On Sept. 25, Yale CBMH and the Matthew Hillman Fisher Foundation gathered 22 researchers from across the United States and Europe in New Haven to pinpoint where those gaps exist and identify opportunities for future progress. They were joined by people with #autism, caregivers, advocates, and others personally impacted by a condition that often goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed in girls and women. #autism

Yale researchers have unveiled a new imaging platform that can measure the metabolic activity of individual cells and identify their specific cell type, all within a single slice of intact human tissue. The method, called REDCAT (Raman Enhanced Delineation of Cell Atlases in Tissues), bridges a long-standing gap in biology by connecting what a cell is genetically programmed to do with its actual physical behavior. Reported in the journal Nature Methods, the technology was developed by a collaborative team led by professors from Yale University, the University of California, San Diego, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania. "By combining technologies, REDCAT provides an exciting and powerful advance that allows users to connect cell type or state to metabolic function," said Allison Doerr, chief editor of Nature Methods. Read here: #REDCAT #metabolism #cellimaging

Doctors have long known that genetics can trigger cancer. Now, new research shows genetics shape how cancer how behaves once it's there. Patients could have the same mutation but different reaction. Here, we break down the science for you. #BreakingDowntheScience #genetics #cancer @SmilowCancer @YaleCancer

At Yale School of Medicine (YSM), physician-scientists are testing CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor-T cell) therapy in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases including lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS), and scleroderma. Meanwhile, YSM basic science researchers are focused on better understanding how CAR-T therapy works—and how it can be improved. Read here: #CarT #cancer #autoimmune #autoimmunediseases

YSM welcomes Tara Henderson, MD, MPH, who took the helm of the Department of Pediatrics on Oct. 1. A pediatric oncologist, she has spent her career caring for children with cancer and studying the effects those early-life experiences have on her patients’ future health. As chair, she aims to inspire the next generation of pediatricians, build connections, and harness the multidisciplinary, collaborative expertise at Yale to strengthen pediatric care now and into the future. Get to know our new chair of Pediatrics: @YalePediatrics

Pathologists can struggle to correctly classify a certain type of tumor known as adenomyoepithelioma that can hide in plain sight among far more common, benign findings. However, a closer look at the tumor’s microscopic features, along with its distinctive molecular and genetic signatures, can improve how confidently doctors diagnose it, a new Yale School of Medicine study finds. In the study, recently published in the American Journal of Surgical Pathology, researchers aimed to bring this often-misunderstood tumor into sharper focus. They evaluated several cases of adenomyoepithelioma of the breast that were classified into different categories. Upon closer review, however, 35% of cases were reclassified from their original diagnoses. The findings, the researchers say, can inform how adenomyoepithelioma tumors are diagnosed going forward. Read here: #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth #breastcancer #oncology

Congratulations to Georg Nagel, PhD, from all of us in New Haven! We are proud of your remarkable accomplishment and extraordinary journey since your postdoctoral studies at YSM. Well deserved! #NobelPrize #Physiology #Medicine

“I didn't expect this, really... I thought it's still too early to get this prize in medicine.” Georg Nagel was in Italy when he received the news of his 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was in Italy on a sun-drenched terrace, overlooking olive trees when he got the call. Listen as he recalls the key research moment leading to the development of optogenetics.

Amyloid cardiomyopathy is a disease caused by the buildup of misfolded proteins on the heart muscle. Left untreated, it can be deadly. But many patients only receive a diagnosis in its later stages after the onset of dangerous complications such as heart failure. Now, Yale scientists have built an AI platform that doctors can access from their smartphones. It screens for the condition using images from electrocardiograms (ECG), a non-invasive test that measures the heart’s electrical activity. The platform - described recently in JAMA - can help doctors detect the disease more quickly and intervene before extensive heart damage occurs. Read more here: #amyloidcardiomyopathy #cardiomyopathy #heartdisease #AI #AIinMedicine

Ruth Montgomery, PhD, professor of medicine (#rheumatology) at Yale School of Medicine, and her colleagues recently described in Nature Immunology the technological developments and infrastructure investments that have changed the landscape of human immunology research. We’re now in a time in which researchers can use massive amounts of data to “predict disease risk, promote early diagnosis, and design interventions that promote health,” they write. We talked to Montgomery about this new era of #immunology and what it means for understanding disease and treating people. Read here: