UNC School of Medicine researchers secured more than $641 million in federal research funding during fiscal year 2025 (July 2024 through June 2025), including $345 million from the National Institutes of Health. The school’s research endeavor focused on preventing and curing disease, optimizing brain health and well-being, and applying artificial intelligence to benefit and save lives. Executive Dean Samantha Meltzer-Brody noted that faculty submitted 15% more proposals this year, with researchers doubling down despite uncertainty.
Notable Research Breakthroughs
Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine made significant advances across multiple areas. Edwin Kim, MD, MS, division chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, was awarded a $1 million grant to investigate tree nut allergies in children ages 1-11 years old using sublingual immunotherapy. The study marks the first time cashew and walnut have been tested with this treatment approach and the first study of cross-desensitization potential with tree nut SLIT.
A personalized treatment for Batten disease, a fatal inherited pediatric neurodegenerative disorder, demonstrated promise in a clinical trial. The drug, Zebronkysen, was created to restore function of the CLN3 gene in patients with a rare mutation. After four doses over 12 months, researchers observed improvements beyond the expected slowing of decline, according to Yael Shiloh-Malawsky, MD, who leads the clinical study.
Researchers discovered that semaglutide, the drug better known as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for obesity, could help reduce alcohol craving and heavy drinking in adults with alcohol use disorder. A study co-led by Klara Klein, MD, PhD, showed that weekly injections of semaglutide reduced alcohol craving, drinking quantity and frequency of heavy drinking days compared with placebo, according to findings published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Additional Research Areas
The National Cancer Institute awarded a five-year, $11.2 million Cancer Health Disparities Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant to researchers Victoria Bae-Jump, MD, PhD, and Hazel Nichols, PhD, to improve outcomes for endometrial cancer patients. The grant focuses on understanding disparities, with Black women having a five-year survival rate of 63% compared with 84% for white women. UNC Lineberger was awarded up to $28 million by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to develop a next-generation clinical trial for metastatic breast cancer that adapts treatment in near real-time based on changes in each patient’s cancer.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://news.unchealthcare.org/2026/01/the-year-in-research/