News

Among preterm newborns, greater exposure to the mother’s voice after birth appeared to speed up the maturation of a key language-related brain circuit, in a small clinical trial conducted by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Burke Neurological Institute and Stanford Medicine. The finding provides direct experimental support for the idea that a mother’s voice promotes her child’s early language-related brain development. It also hints that boosting exposure to maternal speech might ameliorate the language development delays often seen among children born prematurely.

The study, published Oct. 14 in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, included 46 preterm infants who were born at just 24 to 31 weeks gestational age. Half received routine exposure to the mother’s voice, while the other half had routine exposure augmented with multiple daily audio recordings of the mother’s voice. Later MRI scans of the infants’ brains suggested significantly greater maturation in the left arcuate fasciculus, a brain circuit known to be involved in speech and language processing.

A multi-institutional team led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has been awarded a five-year, $20.8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, for advanced preclinical development of a promising experimental HIV vaccine.

A successful vaccine to prevent new HIV infections would be a major public health breakthrough. About 1.3 million people acquired HIV in 2024, according to the World Health Organization, and at the end of that year an estimated 41 million people were living with the virus. Medication can keep individuals healthy but must be taken for a lifetime.

Dr. Sallie Permar. Credit: Brad Trent

In a large hotel conference room at the end of February, hundreds of pediatrician scientists from all points urban and rural alike across the U.S. gathered to showcase their research, meet with mentors, and celebrate each other. The room was buzzing with energy, stemming from sparks of curiosity and pride. It would not be hyperbole to note that the some of the brightest minds and most noble physicians in pediatric research sat in the room that day, all members of a 40-year strong cohort of the Pediatric Scientist Development Program (PSDP).

For over four decades, PSDP has served as a vital pipeline for early-career pediatricians pursuing research careers aimed at improving child health around chronic disease and illness. Under the leadership of Dr. Sallie Permar, a distinguished physician-scientist and national leader in pediatric infectious disease research, the PSDP has continued to thrive as one of the most well- regarded training programs for pediatrician scientists in the United States.

The PSDP was designed to fill a critical gap, removing barriers to research access and training, including limited time, funding, and mentorship. The program provides a structured, intensive yet supportive environment in which early-career physicians receive dedicated mentorship, protected research time, and funding that allows them to pursue rigorous scientific training in basic, translational, or population health sciences.

COVID-19 prevention methods such as masking and social distancing also suppressed the circulation of common respiratory diseases, leaving young children lacking immunity to pathogens they otherwise would have been exposed to, a new multi-center clinical research study reveals. The investigators say their findings help explain the large post-pandemic rebound in these diseases and enable more accurate predictions for the future.