US NIH News

NIH-Funded CRISPR Breakthrough Enables Precision Delivery for Cancer, ALS

NIH-funded researchers at UT Austin discovered an enhanced CRISPR gene-editing system (Al3Cas12f) small enough for targeted delivery in the human body using adeno-associated virus vectors. The engineered variant (Al3Cas12f RKK) improved editing efficiency from less than 10% to more than 80%, potentially enabling treatments for cancer, ALS, and other diseases.

Dr. Jonathan M. Green Selected CEO of NIH Clinical Center

NIH has selected Dr. Jonathan M. Green as chief executive officer of the NIH Clinical Center, the world's largest hospital devoted to clinical research. Dr. Green will begin his role on May 17, 2026, overseeing the Clinical Center's nearly $700 million annual operating budget, its 200-bed, 870,000-square-foot research center on NIH's Bethesda campus, and an ongoing expansion adding over 570,000 square feet of space expected to be completed in 2029. The Clinical Center recorded over 3,000 inpatient admissions and nearly 72,000 outpatient visits last year, with every patient enrolled in a research protocol.

NIH-Funded AI Model Predicts Cancer Survival from Single-Cell Tumor Data

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), supported by NIH's National Cancer Institute, developed scSurvival, a machine learning model that analyzes single-cell tumor data to predict patient survival outcomes. The model was validated on clinical data from more than 150 cancer patients with melanoma and liver cancer, demonstrating improved accuracy over traditional methods by identifying specific immune and tumor cell populations associated with treatment response and survival risk.