Engineering Bacteria to Monitor and Treat Disease with Arthur Prindle, PhD
Release Date: 02/12/2024
Medical Research Funding at Risk with Rod Passman, MD
Breakthroughs
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.
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Improving Cardiac Health through Immune System Precision with Edward Thorp, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
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Can a Single Session Impact Mental Health for Teens? with Jessica Schleider, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
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The Science Behind Sleep Health with Minjee Kim, MD
Breakthroughs
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.
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New Insights from Inside the Brain with Rodrigo Braga, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
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Inventing a Tiny Pacemaker with John Rogers, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
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How Alzheimer’s Drugs Work with David Gate, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
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Intervening Earlier in Mental Healthcare for Kids with Lauren Wakschlag, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
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Advancing Ovarian Health from Fertility to Lifespan with Francesca Duncan, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
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Pursuing Precision Medicine for Rare Diseases with Gemma Carvill, PhD
Breakthroughs
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.
info_outlineThanks 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.