What Are Medical Researchers Working On to Improve Health Care and Prolong Lives? The Frontiers of Medical Research: A Supplement From Science Magazine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Newswise — New York, NY (November 23, 2021) – A newly published supplement to Science magazine—developed in partnership with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai) —explores “The Frontiers of Medical Research.” The supplement includes 17 concise survey articles prepared by teams of researchers at Icahn Mount Sinai on the most important and promising breakthroughs and directions for medical research.

The articles summarize what’s new and what’s next across many fields of specialization, including artificial intelligence, cancer, cardiovascular medicine, genomics, immunology, and neuroscience. As Dennis S. Charney, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai, and Eric J. Nestler, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, write in the foreword to the supplement, “We envision a world of medicine that is smarter, more equitable and inclusive, and more capable of healing and preventing disease.” 

This special collection of articles provides a telescopic look at where the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics will emerge as the transformation of medicine continues to protect, prolong, and improve lives. New developments that are reported in these articles—and that researchers are available to be interviewed about—include:

• Translating insights from genomic sequencing to novel gene therapies that treat infectious diseases and rare inherited disorders, as well as cancer;
• Employing multiscale science to understand the mechanisms that control immune responses and use them to therapeutically manage immunity and inflammation across diseases;
• Manufacturing microbiome cocktails that may improve patient outcomes in inflammatory diseases and during cancer immunotherapy;
• Employing synthetic mRNA to reprogram cells and even transform them into miniature drug-manufacturing sites;
• Editing genes to correct disease-associated mutations and exploring the possibility of manipulating transcriptional responses to noxious stimuli to minimize disease risk;
• Using satellites and other remote sensors that measure daily climate, air, and noise pollution to understand how such exposomic factors influence health;
• Delivering personalized medicine not only for cancer care, but also in specialties like obstetrics to predict intrapartum risks and guide care;
• Learning how individual brain cells interact within circuits and how circuits generate specific behaviors, essential steps towards gaining the capability to treat effectively brain disorders.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai was established in 1963 under a charter from the New York State Department of Education. Created as an academic partner to The Mount Sinai Hospital, the hospital and Icahn Mount Sinai together comprised the Mount Sinai Medical Center. In 2013, it combined with Continuum Health Partners to form the Mount Sinai Health System which would encompass the Icahn Mount Sinai and seven hospital campuses throughout the New York metropolitan area. In 2018, the number of member hospitals expanded to eight when Mount Sinai South Nassau (formerly South Nassau Communities Hospital) joined the Health System. Together, Icahn Mount Sinai and the member hospitals serve some of the most diverse and complex patient populations in the world.

Icahn Mount Sinai is among the top twenty medical schools in the United States in both National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and in the U.S. News and World Report’s survey of America’s Best Graduate Schools. Its multidisciplinary research institutes foster collaboration along a continuum that runs from the laboratory to patient care delivery. State-of-the-art laboratories support groundbreaking research, and abundant clinical venues offer superb patient care and training opportunities. The Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine opened in December 2012, providing approximately 550,000 square feet of new space in which scientists and physicians can work in close proximity and collaborate to advance Mount Sinai’s efforts to diagnose, treat and prevent human disease.

Currently, more than 1,300 students are enrolled in eight degree-granting programs: MD; PhD in Biomedical Sciences or Neuroscience; Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences; Master of Public Health; Master of Science in Genetic Counseling; Master of Science in Biostatistics, Master of Science in Biomedical Informatics; and Master of Science or PhD in Clinical Research. Approximately 43 percent of students are pursuing an MD; 21 percent are working toward a PhD; and 28 percent are seeking a MS or MPH. Some students are pursuing dual degrees, primarily a MD/PhD, MD/MSCR, or MD/MPH. Icahn Mount Sinai also offers postgraduate research and clinical training opportunities which further attracts an outstanding and diverse student body to its highly competitive programs and invigorating academic environment.