News and Events

A protein that breast, lung and other cancers use to promote their spread—or metastasis—to the brain, has been identified by a team led by Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian investigators. The protein, CEMIP, will now be a focus of efforts to predict, prevent and treat brain metastases, which are a frequent cause of cancer deaths.

In their study, published Nov. 4 in Nature Cell Biology, the scientists found...

An enzyme found in brain cells can break apart the precursors to plaques that accumulate in the organ and cause toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.

The study, published Jan. 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, illuminates where the enzyme, tripeptidyl peptidase 1 (TPP1), cuts these plaque precursors—formed by peptide fragments...

A tiny tubular structure directly controls synapses, the junctions through which communication signals flow between nerve cells, according to a paper published Feb. 8 in Neuron. The research could eventually help scientists better understand and treat a variety of neurological diseases, including spastic paraplegia, which leads to stiffness, weakness and spasms in the legs, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the...

By Heather Salerno

Portraits by John Abbott

It's a rare, heartbreaking disease. Niemann-Pick Type C — which is often called "childhood Alzheimer's" because its adolescent victims deteriorate mentally as well as physically — lacks a cure or even a treatment. Patients most severely affected by the rare, hereditary, neurodegenerative disorder generally don't live beyond age 20. "We're also starting to realize that it's usually misdiagnosed," notes...