Breakthroughs

For decades, Marcus Peter, PhD, has drilled into an area of research focused on cell death and the roles of toxic and protective short RNAs, with the goal of developing a novel form of cancer treatment. Now, this same line of research has led Peter’s team to uncover new insights into the cause of Alzheimer's disease. In this episode, Peter explains his pioneering work in investig

New advances in digital pathology are revolutionizing the analysis of disease, paving the way for greater accuracy and efficiency when it comes to diagnostics, predicting outcomes and treatment. In this episode, Lee Cooper, PhD, discusses the future of digital and computational pathology and his research on machine learning and pathology, including a recent study published in Natur

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is home to a team of premier faculty and staff biostatisticians who are a driving force of data analytic innovation and excellence. In this episode, Denise Scholtens, PhD, a leader in biostatistics at Feinberg, discusses the growing importance of the field of biostatistics and how she leverages her skills to collaborate on several

Northwestern Medicine scientists are at the forefront of research investigating the most effective ways of treating obesity in children and teens and improving their access to care. In this episode, Justin Ryder, PhD, a clinical and translational obesity scientist at Feinberg, talks about the use of new GLP-1–based medications for childhood obesity and his work on several NIH-fun

An estimated 32,000 Americans are currently living with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Northwestern investigators have uncovered novel cellular mechanisms involved in two types of genetic ALS that might lead to future targeted therapies. Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD, shares insigh

Inflammation is a common feature of many diseases and Northwestern Medicine investigators have identified how a calcium channel contributes to inflammation in the brain and lungs. This could aid in finding new types of therapeutics for inflammation-related diseases and conditions. In this episode, Murali Prakriya, PhD, discusses the evolution of this groundbreaking research in ion

Teens are reporting struggles with their mental health at unprecedented rates, but resources to help these young people deal with anxiety or depression can be difficult to access. In this episode, Ashley Knapp, PhD, assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Robert Simmons, MA, director of social services and public safety at Oak Park Public Library, discuss an

Thanks to advancements in synthetic biology, scientists are now engineering bacterial communities with the goal of using these cells to monitor and treat diseases. In this episode, Arthur Prindle, PhD, explains how his lab is reprogramming bacteria that may be used in the future to detect disease and deliver therapeutics for many different conditions, including cancer, diabetes and

A new study published in the journal Nature details breakthrough T-cell immunotherapy research from Northwestern Medicine. In this episode, Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD, senior author of the paper, explains how a gene mutation found in T-cells of patients with lymphoma could hold the key to a potent cancer-fighting immunotherapy for solid tumor cancers, which account for 90 percent of all

When most of us think about dopamine, we think about reward signals. But new research from Northwestern Medicine, published in Nature Neuroscience, has found a genetic subtype of dopamine neurons that do not respond to rewards at all, and instead, fire when the body moves. Rajeshwar Awatramani, PhD, and Daniel Dombeck, PhD led this work. In this episode they explain how the results