Breakthroughs

The tiniest parts of the cell may provide new insights into challenging neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). New research from Northwestern University has revealed a key mechanism underlying the development of motor neuron diseases, such as ALS, offering new insights into potential treatment options. This new finding published in the Journal of Neuroscience, comes from the lab of Vladimir Gelfand, PhD, and may help inform the treatment of ALS and other motor neuron diseases. 

One of the many ways the Human Longevity Laboratory at Feinberg is studying aging is through the lens of the retina. Manjot Gill, MD, a Northwestern Medicine retina specialist, explains the unique multi-disciplinary approach of the lab and how she is using AI in retinal imaging to predict biological age and help validate interventions that may slow aging. She is vice chair of clinical performance in the Department of Ophthalmology and Professor of  Ophthalmology and Medical Education.  

Brian Garibaldi, MD, the founding director of Northwestern Medicine's new Center for Bedside Medicine, discusses the importance and future of bedside medicine.

A renowned pulmonologist and medical educator, Garibaldi addresses how modern technology can integrate with traditional clinical skills to improve diagnosis, deepen patient relationships and reduce physician burnout. He also explains how the new center aims to train the next generation of physicians to understand and embrace the power of the physical examination and the doctor-patient relationship.

Sachin Patel, MD, PhD, is the chair and Lizzie Gilman Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg and diretor of the Stephen M. Stahl Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience. In this episode, he talks about the current mental health crisis in this country, his research and vision for the department.

Since this episode was originally released, Patel has published findings in the journal, Cell Reports, which uncovered new insights into the synaptic connections of subgroups of interneurons. These findings may improve the understanding of fear responses and could inform new targeted therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Viral pneumonia can cause severe lung damage and make recovery long and life-threatening for patients. Current treatments only provide support, not repair, but Northwestern Medicine scientist Benjamin Singer, MD, wants to change that.

In this episode, he details a recent discovery from his team that found laboratory-modified T-cells or induced regulatory T-cells (iTregs), can promote lung tissue repair in mice with severe influenza pneumonia. Singer discusses this breakthrough and how it could lead to an effective cellular therapy for patients with severe viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome in the future. 

We're resharing an episode from October 2022. How are habits – both good and bad – formed in the brain, and what role do habits play in diseases of the brain? These are some of the questions neuroscientist, Talia Lerner, PhD, is investigating in her lab. Her recent study, published in Cell Reports, may change the overall understanding of how habits are formed and could be broken.   

Since this episode was first recorded in fall 2022, Lerner's team has published new research looking at sex differences. In a paper in Neuropsychopharmacology, her team discovered how novel sex-specific mechanisms control how stress hormones

Uniting scientists and harnessing the power of the immune system to fight disease is at the heart of the Center for Human Immunobiology (CHI). Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD, leads the center, and she is also the chief of Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Medicine.  

Since this episode was first recorded in fall 2022, Eisenbarth's team has launched a clinical trial to study a new treatment for food allergy. She has also brought together more than 150 trainees and faculty through the CHI. Here, she discusses the variety of immunology research taking place within the center and the continued w...

An experimental drug called NU-9 was invented at Northwestern University by Richard Silverman, PhD. It has been approved for clinical trials for the treatment of ALS and found to improves neuron health in animal models of Alzheimer's disease according to a new Northwestern Medicine study published in PNAS.

This discovery is giving scientists hope that the drug could be effective in multiple neurodegenerative diseases by addressing the underlying mechanisms of these diseases. Silverman and Northwestern University Alzheimer disease expert, William Klein, PhD, discuss the potential of NU-9 in this episode.  

A Northwestern Medicine clinical trial led by Rod Passman, MD, could improve the way we care for millions of people with atrial fibrillation, but it is facing an unexpected challenge. There has been a pause in federal funding to Northwestern University that could impact this study's progress. While the trial has not been ordered to stop, all National Institutes of Health funding to Northwestern University has been frozen, raising questions about how long this potential life-saving work can go on without a resolution.  

Each year, more than 800,000 Americans suffer a heart attack and many of those who survive are left with irreversible scarring and the slow progression towards heart failure. In this episode, Edward Thorp, PhD, explains how his team is exploring immune cells that influence the heart's ability to heal after such injuries. In Thorp's lab, they are uncovering fundamental molecular mechanisms by which the immune system regulates wound repair, reduces inflammation and regenerates tissue. 

New evidence shows that a one-time intervention can lead to lasting improvement in the lives of young people struggling with mental health problems. In this episode, Jessica Schleider, PhD, associate professor of Medical Social Sciences, explains how she is using this approach to scale single-session interventions (SSIs) to reach more people in need of mental health services.

In this episode, Minjee Kim, MD, shares results of recent studies she has conducted to better understand the role of inadequate sleep on long-term metabolic health in pregnant women and middle-aged adults. She also discusses a new AI-based intervention that could bring a better night of sleep to those who need it. 

In this episode, Rodrigo Braga, PhD, explains recent advances in his Human Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, using precision functional MRI technology, that is helping us better understand how the brain is working. He details recent findings published in Science Advances that provide new understanding of how the brain works during and after social interactions, which could lead to new ways to treat anxiety and depression. 

What could be the world's smallest pacemaker was recently developed at Northwestern University and details of the device were published in the journal Nature. This incredible innovation, about the size of a grain of rice, from the lab of John Rogers, PhD, is designed to be an alternative to bulky, wired temporary pacemakers. In this episode, Rogers discusses how Northwestern engineers and Feinberg investigators came together to develop this innovative solution to meet a need for patients. 

A Northwestern Medicine study published in Nature Medicine, used a new technique called spatial transcriptomics to examine the brain's response to Alzheimer's therapies, revealing new molecular targets that could enhance the effectiveness of current therapies and not just slow the disease, but potentially improve patient outcomes.

David Gate, PhD, assistant professor of Neurology in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology and director of the Abrams Research Center on Neurogenomics, led this research. 

A new $11.7 million award from the National Institute of Mental Health aims to help Northwestern Medicine investigators move the dial on the youth mental health crisis by targeting early warning signs of mental health risk in toddlers, rather than waiting until diagnosable and severe conditions are present later in childhood.

In this episode, Lauren Wakschlag, PhD, who is co-leading this grant, explains how the team will implement evidence-based developmental decision tools to determine "when to worry" about young children's mental health.

Women are living longer, healthier lives, but ovarian aging still impacts fertility and hormone production as it always has. In this episode, Francesca Duncan, PhD, discusses novel research into maintaining ovarian function, longer. This work could someday help prevent or slow down age-related changes to the ovaries, offering hope for better health as women age.

Scientists from Northwestern Medicine, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have uncovered the first rare genetic disorder linked to a long non-coding RNA gene. In this episode, Gemma Carvill, PhD, explains how this discovery, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, came to be and the critical roles non-coding regions of the genome may have in human health. 

With a new $20 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, Northwestern investigator, Linda Teplin, PhD, is extending the work of the Northwestern Juvenile Project to study the long-term consequences of incarceration on age-related conditions, including Alzheimer's and other age-related diseases. This project is the only large-scale longitudinal study of its kind tracking health and outcomes of detained juveniles in the years following their release.

Understanding the systemic drivers of health disparities within marginalized populations is complex. In this episode, Michelle Birkett, PhD, explains how she uses network and quantitative methodologies to study the health of marginalized populations, particularly sexual and gender minority youth. She also discusses her new center, the Center for Computational and Social Sciences in Health, and the importance of transdisciplinary research. 

Nearly one million people in the U.S. are living with Parkinson's disease, a condition for which there is still no known cause or cure. Joseph Mazzulli, PhD, has led two recent studies published in Neuron and Nature Communications uncovering previously unknown cellular mechanisms driving the disease. These studies highlight the potential for new therapeutic targets, including restoring neuronal function for patients with Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.   

New research from the lab of Issam Ben-Sahra, PhD, could rewrite textbooks on our understanding of cellular metabolism and potentially identify new targets for cancer and metabolic diseases such as obesity. The discovery, published in the journal Science, has been praised for its rigorous simplicity and underscores the importance of understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie specific biological processes.

Jeffrey Gordon, MD, often called "the father of microbiome research," is the 2024 recipient of the Mechthild Esser Nemmers Prize in Medical Science. 

In this episode, Gordon discusses the impacts of his long career in gut microbiome research, which has profoundly transformed our understanding of human health. Specifically, he shares the evolution of groundbreaking approaches to treating malnutrition and childhood undernutrition with microbiota-targeted therapies.

The MYC oncogene is notorious in the cancer research world because it is implicated in many advanced or aggressive cancers such as treatment-resistant prostate cancer. In this episode, Sarki Abdulkadir, MD, PhD, shares how his team bucked the conventional notion that the MYC gene is "undruggable" and uncovered a handful of compounds that block MYC gene activity, making prostate cancer tumors sensitive to hormone therapy and opening up a potential new therapeutic target for treatment-resistant prostate cancer. 

A team of Northwestern Medicine scientists are conducting a new longitudinal cross-sectional study to investigate why some people see to age faster than others. In this episode, John Wilkins, MD, associate director of the Human Longevity Laboratory at the Potocsnak Longevity Institute, shares details of the study, which will eventually include a variety of interventions aimed at slowing down the aging process.

Northwestern Medicine physician-scientist Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD joins the show again to discuss another breakthrough. This time for lupus, a chronic autoimmune condition affecting 300,000 Americans that can cause inflammation in many body parts, including joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs. Findings by Choi and his lab members not only elucidate the underlying mechanisms of lupus but also suggest potential therapeutic strategies.  

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 investigating RNA interference in diseases and explains how his lab's latest novel discovery may have relevance to an array of neurodegenerative diseases beyond Alzheimer's.

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 Nature Medicine on using AI in predicting clinical outcomes for breast cancer patients.

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 projects in Maternal and Fetal Health.

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-funded projects focused on understanding how pediatric obesity impacts chronic disease risk and how biology drives weight regain. 

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 insights on these findings recently published in Science Advances and Cell Reports. 

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 channels as well as his latest findings published in Nature Communications.

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 innovative community partnership between Northwestern Medicine investigators and a Chicagoland library and how it could be a model for future health interventions.  

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 inflammatory bowel disease.

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 cancers. 

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 could change the field of dopamine research

As the primary investigator of The NIH Toolbox®, Richard Gershon, PhD, has led a team of hundreds of scientists to develop and evolve state-of-the-art digital assessments of cognition, motor, sensation and emotion which has been used by clinicians, investigators and academics for nearly two decades.  

In this episode, Gershon explains how the third version of The NIH Toolbox® app developed for the iPad, provides test batteries for cognition, motor, emotional and sensory functioning.

Mitochondria are widely known as cellular "powerhouses" for their role in producing energy for cells. But pioneering research from Northwestern Medicine investigators over the last 20 years has proven mitochondria are also major players in lung disease, cancer, brain disease and immune-related diseases. Navdeep Chandel, PhD, a 2023 recipient of the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, leads this research. In this episode he discusses how his team's recent findings could advance the design and implementation of new therapies.  

Northwestern Medicine is dedicated to improving outcomes for patients who are in need of organ transplants. Daniela Ladner, MD, MPH, is leading research that sheds light on the barriers to transplantation as the founding director of the Northwestern University Transplant Outcomes Research Collaborative (NUTORC). She discusses the groundbreaking research that makes Northwestern a leader in organ transplantation.

Both long-term alcohol consumption and binge drinking can speed up biological aging, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in the journal Aging. Lifang Hou, MD, PhD, chief of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention in the Department of Preventive Medicine led the study and discusses the link between genetics and lifestyle in the context of preventing disease.  

Mozziyar "Mozzi" Etemadi, MD, PhD, is supporting the transformation of healthcare delivery and patient care at Northwestern Medicine by bringing engineers into direct contact with clinical providers. In this episode, he talks about the explosion of artificial intelligence in healthcare in recent years and how Northwestern Medicine is using this technology to improve healthcare delivery and patient care. 

Treating cancer has become increasingly difficult as cells develop resistance. Northwestern investigators have sought to address this issue on the cellular level through the development of a novel FateMap tool, used to predict the future behavior of cancer cells before they are exposed to cancer-fighting drugs. In this episode, Yogesh Goyal, PhD, discusses his latest research, published in Nature, and how his lab is addressing complex problems through an interdisciplinary approach. 

The launch of the Simpson Querrey Lung Institute for Translational Science (SQLIFTS) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine aims to expedite the discovery and implementation of innovative lung disease treatments through a patient-centered approach. In this episode, Scott Budinger, MD, the new executive director of the institute, discusses its launch and how it aims to transform lung disease research and clinical care. 

The global prevalence of Parkinson's disease has doubled in the past 25 years. While research into this extremely diverse neurodegenerative disorder is very active, there is much left to be uncovered about the underlying cause of the disease. Recently, Northwestern Medicine investigators have discovered novel genetic factors contributing to the risk of Parkinson's disease, which may lead to potential therapeutic targets. Steven Lubbe, PhD, assistant professor of Neurology at Feinberg, discusses these findings recently published in the journal Brain.

Disrupting our internal clocks can lead to diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Scientists at Northwestern have uncovered the mechanism behind why late-night eating is linked to weight gain and diabetes. Joseph Bass, MD, PhD, led the study published in the journal Science. 

He shares the results and details the two decades of work leading to this latest discovery. Bass is chief of the Division of  Endocrinology, Metabolism and Molecular Medicine

This episode was released in February 2021, and is being re-shared to offer the research behind the popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Northwestern's Robert Kushner, MD, discusses the drug semaglutide, typically prescribed for treatment of Type 2 diabetes and the results of the phase 3 clinical trial as a treatment for obesity with very promising results. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and in 2022, Kushner was awarded the prestigious Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award from the Clinical Research Forum.

There's strong evidence that physical activity can play an important role in the health and lifespan of cancer survivors. Siobhan Phillips, PhD, MPH, leads the Exercise and Health Lab at Feinberg, which designs, tests, implements and disseminates physical activity interventions to support cancer survivors. In this episode, Phillips details interventions specifically designed for breast cancer survivors, a majority of whom don't meet the recommended standards for weekly physical activity. 

Skin diseases from psoriasis to melanoma affect as many as one in three Americans at any given time. Kathleen Green, PhD, has greatly advanced basic molecular research related to skin diseases. She discusses recent discoveries in her lab that could lead to future therapeutic targets. 

Physicians are notorious for prescribing antibiotics as a "quick fix" when they aren't necessary. There are many reasons why, and Jeffrey Linder, MD, MPH, dives into those and discusses effective ways to reduce the number of inappropriate prescriptions by working with physicians. Originally released in fall 2018, this episode is still timely as the over prescription can lead to dangerous side effects for patients including antibiotic resistance.

Northwestern scientists Yuan Luo, PhD, and Catherine Gao, MD, discuss a study they conducted using the artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT. The results showcase the online tool's ability to produce convincing medical research abstracts. They also discuss the tool's potential to help with writing-intensive tasks in healthcare and medical research.  

A theoretical neuroscientist, Ann Kennedy, PhD, is investigating neural computation and the structure of behavior. In this episode, she talks about her recent research in the area of aggression and how it's regulated in the brains of animals. She was recently named the winner of the 2022 Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology.

Parkinson's disease is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, and nearly one million people have Parkinson's disease in the U.S. A $30 million dollar, phase 3 clinical trial at Northwestern is investigating whether exercise can slow Parkinson's disease progression. Daniel Corcos, PhD, a professor of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, is leading the trial and explains what he hopes to accomplish.

Interested in the study? Learn more: https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/research/clinical-research/trials/index.html?id=STU00211903

To have the greatest impact on human health, biomedical research findings and evidence-based practices need to be implemented into routine healthcare. What is implementation science, and how can we ensure research successfully makes an impact? Rinad Beidas, PhD, and Sara Becker, PhD, discuss the field and its future as a research priority at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

There's been an uptick in childhood food allergies in recent years, and new evidence from Northwestern shows they're also becoming more common in adults. Many of the reactions to these allergies are life-threatening. Why is this increase happening, and how can we keep people affected by food allergy safe? Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, is trying to answer those questions. This a rewind episode that originally was published in 2019.

A Northwestern Medicine course called Cooking Up Health is giving medical students, trainees and health professionals the opportunity to learn culinary medicine and food-as-medicine science concepts. Melinda Ring, MD, created the course and explains how it can improve the health of patients and train more nutrition-aware physicians.  

Understanding how genes function is a vital part of understanding how to better treat cancer. Research led by Mazhar Adli, PhD, is grounded in the development of a systematic approach to identify the function of each gene in the human body. His team aims to discover novel therapeutic drug combinations to prevent cancer development and chemotherapy resistance. 

Bariatric surgery is proving to be an effective tool to help teenagers with severe obesity lose weight and reverse the progression of weight-related conditions, according to findings from the Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery study (Teen-LABS). Thomas Inge, MD, PhD, principal investigator of Teen-LABS, shares results of the study, which is the only multicenter National Institute of Health sponsored research on adolescent bariatric surgery. 

How are habits – both good and bad – formed in the brain, and what role do habits play in diseases of the brain? These are some of the questions neuroscientist, Talia Lerner, PhD, is investigating in her lab. Her recent study, published in Cell Reports, may change the overall understanding of how habits are formed and could be broken.

Uniting scientists and harnessing the power of the immune system to fight disease is at the heart of the new Center for Human Immunobiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD is leading the new center, she is also the new chief of Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Medicine.  

She discusses the variety of immunology research taking place within the new center and its goal of bringing a community of immunologists together to discover and translate innovative science into cures for immune-related diseases. 

In recent years, Feinberg has launched several initiatives to augment human expertise with computational methods and advance the science of human health. Theresa Walunas, PhD, explains how she is using big data from electronic medical records in a variety of projects at Feinberg, from improving quality of care to identifying patients who could develop debilitating autoimmune diseases. 

A celebrated molecular neuroscientist, Jeremy Nathans, MD, PhD, is responsible for landmark discoveries that have changed our understanding of how humans see the world. He is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death globally, and nearly half of all U.S. adults are currently at risk for heart attack and stroke. Hossein Ardehali, MD, PhD, is working to understand the role of iron and metabolic processes in cardiovascular disease and develop new therapies that target iron accumulation in people with CVD and many other chronic diseases.

Alfred George, Jr., MD, is a pioneer in understanding the mechanisms by which ion channel mutations cause a variety of inherited disorders, such as genetic epilepsy. He discusses his recent breakthroughs in the field and his optimism for future RNA therapeutics to treat rare genetic diseases. 

Cell and Developmental Biology is a field that's integral to finding new therapies for a wide variety of diseases. At Feinberg, Lusia Iruela-Arispe, PhD, a vascular biologist, leads the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology as chair. In this episode, talks about her research and the future of cell-based treatments for diseases.  

Providing evidence-based medical care to transgender and gender nonconforming youth has been a challenge in the past, as trans-related healthcare has long been understudied. Robert Garofalo, MD, MPH, discusses how gender-affirming care can improve the overall health and well-being of transgender and gender diverse children and adolescents. He also discusses his research on the short-term and long-term outcomes of gender-affirming medical treatments.

The past two years have been a crucial time for the study of infectious diseases. Richard D'Aquila, MD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern and director of NUCATS, discusses how HIV/AIDS research is running parallel to ongoing COVID-19 research with interesting crossover and lessons learned.

Nearly half of all patients with heart failure have preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, yet there is much that is unknown about HFpEF and how to best prevent it and treat it. Northwestern Medicine cardiologist, Sanjiv Shah, MD, leads the world's first clinical program dedicated to the study of heart failure with HFpEF. He discusses latest discoveries on the mechanisms of HFpEF and identifying therapeutic targets for it.  

Music-based medical interventions can have remarkable therapeutic benefits for patients diagnosed with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer's disease, dementia and Aphasia. Cognitive Behavioral Neurologist Borna Bonakdarpour, MD, explains how he is using and studying these clinical interventions through the new Northwestern Music and Medicine Program. 

A novel gene therapy promoted transfusion independence in more than 90 percent of adult and pediatric patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. Study co-author Jennifer Schneiderman, MD, discusses results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Man's best friend is helping scientists find new treatments for brain tumors. Amy Heimberger, MD, is a board-certified neurosurgeon with extensive training and experience in the field of immunology. She is part of a promising new study in canine glioblastoma that could lead to more effective human glioblastoma clinical trials.

Sachin Patel, MD, PhD, is the new chair and Lizzie Gilman Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg and psychiatrist-in-chief at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Norman and Ida Stone Institute of Psychiatry. In this episode, he talks about the current mental health crisis in this country, his research and vision for the department.

According to the CDC, more Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2020 than in any other year on record. Judith Moskowitz, a social psychologist and professor of Medical Social Sciences at Feinberg, talks about how her NIH-funded research and intervention programs will be used to address stress and burnout in Chicago's front-line violence prevention workers through the READI Chicago program.

David Gate, PhD, assistant professor of The Ken & Ruth Davee Department of Neurology, discusses his study on the detrimental role the immune system plays in Lewy body dementias. Gate's new research published in Science suggests pathways toward unprecedented treatment therapies for this devastating disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. and according to a new Northwestern Medicine study published in the journal Circulation, about sixty percent of women in the U.S. have poor heart health before becoming pregnant. Study authors Sadiya Khan, MD and Natalie Cameron, MD, explain the results of the study and what needs to be done to reverse this alarming trend.

In response to the first successful animal heart transplant into a human patient, internationally renowned transplant surgeon Satish Nadig, MD, PhD, reviews some of the scientific developments that have culminated in this moment, and stresses the ongoing need for other experimental strategies. Dr. Nadig is also the new director of Feinberg's Comprehensive Transplant Center.

Gregory Smith, professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Feinberg, has been investigating a path to long-needed vaccine development for herpes virus. He recently published findings in the journal Nature that bring the possibility of a preventive vaccine a step closer. 

Since coming to Northwestern in 2013, Deborah Smith Clements, MD, chair of Family & Community Medicine, has established three thriving family medicine residency programs and has been an advocate for improving the residency match process, health policy and social justice. She talks about her work, leading her department through COVID-19 and her recent Distinguished Service Award from Illinois Academy of Family Physicians.

Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment over the last few decades, though not for glioblastoma — the most common and deadly malignant brain tumor. However, Northwestern Medicine neurosurgeon Adam Sonabend, MD, shares promising research on the potential benefits of immunotherapy for certain glioblastoma patients.

What do we know about the effectiveness of COVID-19 boosters, and how might they better protect us from new variants such as omicron? Alexis Demonbreun, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology, offers insight. She is the author of a new study that shows COVID-19 boosters seem to supercharge antibody response.

Millions of molecular proteins are swimming through our body's cells and many studies have discovered that these proteins are the main drivers of all human diseases. Scientists are now mapping proteins the way the Human Genome Project mapped genes. Northwestern's Neil Kelleher is at the forefront of the Human Proteoform Project and explains how it could lead to more targeted and effective diagnostics and treatments for diseases.

Regenerative nanomedicine is being used to develop new therapies for devastating conditions such as severe spinal cord injuries. Northwestern's Dr. Samuel Stupp is a pioneer in the field of regenerative nanomedicine and recently published a paper in the journal Science that details how a new injectable therapy uses synthetic nanofibers to reverse severe spinal cord injuries in animals and how this therapy could soon be used in humans.

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered one of the earliest signs of Parkinson's disease, proving that damaged neuronal mitochondria alone can cause symptoms of the disease, according to a study published in Nature. Senior author D. James Surmeier, chair of the Feinberg department of Neuroscience, who has over 30 years of experience in the field, explains the importance of these findings for future Parkinson's research and therapeutics. 

People who are Black make up the largest group of minorities in need of an organ transplant. In 2019, Northwestern Medicine launched the African American Transplant Access Program to help address this problem. Founding director of the program Dinee Simpson, MD, talks about the barriers to organ transplant for Black patients and how she is working to bring down those barriers in Chicago with innovative outreach, community-engaged research and more. 

People who are Black make up the largest group of minorities in need of an organ transplant. That's according to the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2019, Northwestern Medicine launched the African American Transplant Access Program to help address this problem. 

Dinee Simpson, MD, is the founding director of the program and an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Organ Transplantation at Feinberg. She talks about the barriers to organ transplant for Black patients and how she is working to bring down those barriers here in C...

This spring, the World Health Organization began using the Greek alphabet to label key variants of SARS-CoV-2. The Greek names make it easier to talk about variants with the public, but in the scientific community these variants are being discussed and studied at the molecular level to learn as much as possible about their evolution, replication and mutation. Judd Hultquist, PhD, shares insight on SARS-CoV-2 variants. He is an assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Feinberg and an HIV scientist whose lab has shifted many resources to study SARS-CoV-2, to track the origin of its va...

While there are more treatments now than ever before for neuromuscular diseases like muscular dystrophy, patients who have very specific gene mutations associated with these diseases have few options. Dr. Elizabeth McNally says a discovery in her lab could lead to a new therapy for muscular dystrophy, including its rare forms.

As the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is causing breakthrough infections in some vaccinated people around the world, scientists at Northwestern Medicine are developing and studying potential next-generation COVID-19 vaccines that could be more effective at preventing and clearing breakthrough infections. Pablo Penaloza-MacMaster, assistant professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Feinberg, discusses recent studies from his lab that aim to improve current COVID-19 vaccines. 

As heart conditions like arrhythmia become increasingly common, heart monitoring is becoming an even more important tool for disease prevention and treatment. Northwestern Medicine cardiac electrophysiologist Rod Passman, MD, who has over three decades of experience in the field, reviews the history of cardiac monitoring and looks to the future. He details his pioneering use of implantable heart monitors for arrhythmia in stroke patients and his partnership with a consumer electronics company to bring wearable cardiac monitors to patients.

Esophageal diseases are extremely common, and symptoms such as trouble swallowing, chest pain, regurgitation and choking diminish quality of life. There can also be psychosocial effects for patients with these diseases that includes hypervigilance — a heightened focus on physical symptoms — and symptom-specific anxiety such as fear of choking. Identifying patients with issues could help providers better treat their disease. That's according to a new Northwestern Medicine study published in the journal Gastroenterology.

A recent survey of more than 32,000 caregivers of Chicago Public School students found that around a quarter children and adolescents were described as stressed, anxious, angry or agitated in the months after remote learning began. Black and Latinx participants experienced significantly more of these stressors. Dr. Tali Raviv, associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg explains the results and offers insight.

Dean Eric G. Neilson, MD, and Robert Murphy, MD, talk about COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness. This conversation was recorded May 7, 2021. 

Recently, the director of the CDC officially recommended that pregnant women receive the vaccines for COVID-19. However, pregnant women are less likely than non-pregnant women to get vaccinated and are at greater risk of hospitalization and death from the disease. Emily Miller, MD, MPH, has been caring for pregnant patients at Prentice Women's Hospital since the onset of the pandemic. She shares results from a new study on the benefit of maternal vaccination and speaks to the history of excluding pregnant women from clinical trials.

A wearable sensor developed by Northwestern University scientists could help better monitor scratching in children with eczema and assess the effectiveness of therapies for eczema and other conditions that cause itch. Steve Xu, MD, explains the results of a study of the sensors published in Science Advances. 

A wearable sensor developed by Northwestern University scientists could help better monitor scratching in children with eczema and assess the effectiveness of therapies for eczema and other conditions that cause itch. Steve Xu, MD, explains the results of a study of the sensors published in Science Advances. 

COVID-19 can be a multi-system disease, impacting many organs and the entire nervous system. Igor Koralnik, MD, has been investigating the neurologic symptoms of the disease and published the first study focused on long-term neurological symptoms in COVID-19 "long haulers." He explains the study and what he is seeing in the Neuro COVID-19 Clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Daniel Batlle, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology-Hypertension at Northwestern, proposed a hypothesis that soluble ACE2 could treat the SARS-CoV-2 virus and lead to full recovery and survival. Now, he has exciting preliminary results to share.

Black men are more likely to get prostate cancer and more than twice as likely to die from the disease than other men. Dr. Edward Schaeffer has developed a research team to better understand this problem. In this show he talks about his latest discoveries, which are paving the way to precision medicine for aggressive prostate cancer. Dr. Schaeffer is the Chair of the Department of Urology at Northwestern and a Northwestern Medicine urologist with a specialized practice in prostate cancer. 

An early clinical trial in individuals with the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma showed an experimental spherical nucleic acid drug developed by Northwestern University scientists was able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and trigger the death of tumor cells. Lead investigator Priya Kumthekar, MD, explains the results of the study.

COVID-19 vaccines are being doled out across the nation, almost exclusively to adults. Pfizer's vaccine has been authorized for ages 16 and up and Moderna's vaccine for 18 and up. So when might younger children be vaccinated for COVID-19? And what needs to happen before then? Northwestern's William Muller, MD, PhD, offers insight. 

The drug semaglutide, typically prescribed for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, was used in a phase 3 clinical trial as a treatment for obesity with very promising results. Northwestern's Robert Kushner, MD, led this study, recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and shares the results.