MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 26, 2026--
What if there was a switch in the brain that could turn on or off the body’s physical response to stress? New research from scientists at Northwell Health'sFeinstein Institutes for Medical Research has identified a specific brain circuit that acts as a control center for both inflammation and stress responses. Published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, the study shows that a specific group of brain cells are capable of controlling inflammation and stress responses. The discovery helps explain why psychological stress can have such powerful effects on physical health – and promise to drive future developments in bioelectronic medicine.
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This discovery, led by Sangeeta S. Chavan, PhD, professor in the Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine, and Tatyana and Alan Forman Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences, with Okito Hashimoto, MD, PhD, and Tyler Hepler, BS, advances understanding of the intricate connection between the brain and the immune system. While the brain continuously monitors the body’s health and immune responses, the precise neural code that translates immune signals into physiological responses – such as inflammation, fever, changes in heart rate and stress hormone release – has largely remained a mystery. By identifying specific neurons within a critical brain region that integrate immune information and trigger widespread responses, the research opens new avenues for developing bioelectronic therapies for inflammatory and stress-related conditions.
“These neurons act as a shared pathway where immune signals and stress converge,” said Dr. Chavan. “This helps explain why chronic stress can worsen inflammatory diseases and why inflammation and mental health conditions are so closely linked.”
Using advanced neuroscience techniques, the research team focused on interleukin-1β (IL-1β), a key inflammatory molecule. They discovered that IL-1β activates a specific group of neurons in a stress-processing region of the brain that produce corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). Direct activation of these neurons in experimental models reproduced the full physiological effects of inflammation while disrupting the circuit blocked many of these responses. Importantly, the same neurons were also activated during psychological stress. Ablation of these neurons protected from inflammation or changes in heart rate in response to stress, even though stress hormones were still present. These findings show that the brain uses distinct but overlapping pathways to control different components of the stress response.
These results also suggest the concept of an “immune engram,” a neural memory of inflammatory experiences, allowing it to rapidly recall and respond to future threats. This discovery has important implications for bioelectronic medicine, a field that treats disease by targeting neural circuits with electrical signals rather than drugs.
“The brain and the immune system are in constant communication, and understanding this dialogue is essential for advancing bioelectronic medicine,” said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes and Karches Family Distinguished Chair in Medical Research. “By identifying the neural circuit that connects immune signaling and psychological stress, Dr. Chavan’s discovery opens new possibilities for medical innovation.”
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is the global scientific home of bioelectronic medicine, which combines molecular medicine, neuroscience and biomedical engineering. At the Feinstein Institutes, medical researchers use modern technology to develop new device-based therapies that modulate neural circuits to treat disease and injury. Targeting this newly identified brain pathway may one day lead to new treatments for inflammatory and stress-related conditions.
Building on years of research in molecular disease mechanisms and the link between the nervous and immune systems, Feinstein Institutes’ researchers discovered neural targets that can be activated or inhibited with neuromodulation devices, like vagus nerve implants, to control the body’s immune response and inflammation. If inflammation is successfully controlled, diseases – such as arthritis, pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, inflammatory bowel diseases, diabetes, cancer and autoimmune diseases – can be treated more effectively.
Beyond inflammation, using novel brain-computer interfaces, Feinstein Institutes’ researchers developed techniques to bypass injuries of the nervous system so that people living with paralysis can regain sensation and use their limbs. By producing bioelectronic medicine knowledge, disease and injury could one day be treated with our own nerves without costly and potentially harmful pharmaceuticals.
About the Feinstein Institutes
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Researchis the home of the research institutes of Northwell Health, the largest health care provider and private employer in New York State. Encompassing 50+ research labs, 3,000 clinical research studies and 5,000 researchers and staff, the Feinstein Institutes raises the standard of medical innovation through its six institutes of behavioral science, bioelectronic medicine, cancer, health system science, molecular medicine, and translational research. We are the global scientific leader in bioelectronic medicine – an innovative field of science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. The Feinstein Institutes publishes two open-access, international peer-reviewed journalsMolecular MedicineandBioelectronic Medicine. Through theElmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine, we offer an accelerated PhD program. For more information about how we produce knowledge to cure disease, visithttp://feinstein.northwell.eduand follow us onLinkedIn.
Dr. Sangeeta Chavan led the study. (Credit: Feinstein Institutes)
CHICAGO (AP) — A line of mourners streamed through a Chicago auditorium Thursday to pay final respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as cross-country memorial services began in the city the late civil rights leader called home.
The protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate will lie in repose for two days at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition before events in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, where he was born.
Family members wiped away tears as the casket was brought into the stately brick building. Flowers lined the sidewalks where people waiting to enter watched a large screen playing video excerpts of Jackson's notable speeches. Some raised their fists in solidarity.
Inside, Jackson's children, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among those who stood by the open casket to shake hands and hug those coming to view the body of Jackson, dressed in a suit and blue shirt and tie.
“The challenge for us is that we've got to make sure that all he lived for was not in vain,” Sharpton told reporters. “Dr. King's dream and Jesse Jackson's mission now falls on our shoulders. We've got to stand up and keep it going.”
Jackson died last week at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak in his later years.
Remembrances have already poured in from around the globe, and several U.S. states, including Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina, are flying flags at half-staff in his honor.
But perhaps nowhere has his death been felt as strongly as in the nation’s third-largest city, where Jackson lived for decades and raised his six children, including a son who is a congressman.
Bouquets have been left outside the family’s Tudor-style home on the city’s South Side for days. Public schools have offered condolences, and city trains have used digital screens to display Jackson’s portrait and his well-known mantra, “I am Somebody!”
His causes, both in the United States and abroad, were countless: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.
“We honor him, and his hard-earned legacy as a freedom fighter, philosopher, and faithful shepherd of his family and community here in Chicago,” the mayor said in a statement.
Next week, Jackson will lie in honor at the South Carolina Statehouse, followed by public services. According to Rainbow PUSH's agenda, Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to deliver remarks; however, the governor's office said Thursday that his participation wasn't yet confirmed. Jackson spent his childhood and started his activism in South Carolina.
Details on services in Washington have not yet been made public. However, he will not lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda after a request for the commemoration was denied by the House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.
The two weeks of events will wrap up next week with a large celebration of life gathering at a Chicago megachurch and finally, home-going services at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Family members said the services will be open to all.
“Our family is overwhelmed and overjoyed by the amazing amount of support being offered by common, ordinary people who our father’s life has come into contact with,” his eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., said before the services began. “This is a unique opportunity to lay down some of the political rhetoric and to lay down some of the division that deeply divides our country and to reflect upon a man who brought people together.”
The services included prayers from some of the city's most well-known religious leaders, including Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. Mourners of all ages — from toddlers in strollers to elderly people in wheelchairs — came to pay respects.
Video clips of his appearances at news conferences, the campaign trail and even “Sesame Street” also played inside the auditorium.
Claudette Redic, a retiree who lives in Chicago, said her family has respected Jackson, from backing his presidential ambitions to her son getting a scholarship from a program Jackson championed.
“We have generations of support,” she said. “I’m hoping we continue.”
People wait to enter the security check point for the public visitation for Reverend Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The Rev. Al Sharpton, speaks as Jesse Jackson Jr. listens after the public visitation for Reverend Jesse Jackson at at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
James Hickman holds a photo montage of the late Reverend Jesse Jackson before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The family of Reverend Jesse Jackson arrives as Yusep Jackson wipes his eyes before public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
James Hickman holds a photo montage of the Reverend Jesse Jackson before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The casket with Reverend Jesse Jackson arrives before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The casket with Reverend Jesse Jackson is carried inside the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The family of Reverend Jesse Jackson arrives as Yusep Jackson wipes his eyes before public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Flowers and items are placed outside before a public visitation for Reverend Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
A person walks by a sign before the public visitation for Reverend Jesse Jackson at at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Darius Brooks is emotional during a news conference regarding the death of the Rev. Jesse Jacksond outside the family home Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Jesse Jackson, Jr. stands near a picture of his father, the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, during a news conference outside the family home in Chicago, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
