Therapeutic Toxins
Northwestern investigators are exploring the potential of bacterial toxins to be turned into therapeutic agents to effectively ward off disease.
Gene Variants Associated With Tobacco and Alcohol Use Identified
Scientists identified over 500 genetic variants associated with tobacco or alcohol use, in a genome-wide association study recently published in Nature Genetics.
Improving Immunotherapy for Chronic Viral Infections
Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a novel strategy that could improve the efficacy of immunotherapy in treating chronic viral infections.
Increasing Adherence to Atrial Fibrillation Treatment Guidelines
A quality improvement program significantly increased the proportion of patients who were appropriately prescribed blood thinners for atrial fibrillation at hospital discharge.
Student Investigates Childhood Trauma’s Effect on Cardiovascular Risk
Jacob Pierce, a third-year student in Northwestern’s MD/MPH Combined Degree Program, is the first author of a study that found adverse childhood experiences significantly increase the risk for heart attack and stroke later in life.
Solving Resistance to Emerging Cancer Immunotherapy
According to a recent study, Northwestern scientists have pinpointed how an ectoenzyme called CD73 undermines the effectiveness of an emerging cancer therapy.
Media Coverage
Kidneys on demand
A team at Northwestern Medicine is developing techniques that could one day create functional kidneys in their Streeterville lab, says Dr. Jason Wertheim, a transplant surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and vice chair for research in the department of surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Funded partly by a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the researchers use chemicals to strip animals’ cells from their organs, leaving behind only scaffolds—”the structural building blocks of organs,” Wertheim said. It’s expensive work, which is why the team is currently using tiny rat kidneys that require fewer of the costly nutrients needed for cells to grow.
Depression During and After Pregnancy Can Be Prevented, National Panel Says. Here’s How.
Even in some cases in which it doesn’t prevent depression, counseling may be beneficial, said Dr. Melissa Simon, a task force member and vice chairwoman of research at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine’s obstetrics and gynecology department. “It provides the pregnant person with education and coping strategies,” she said, and can help those who develop depression “get referred and embedded into treatment more effectively and efficiently.”
One Key Step Can Help Cancer Patients Quit Smoking
“With the stress cancer patients are under, they tend to be at higher risk of relapsing for a longer period of time. So we thought providing treatment for longer would be more effective,” said study senior author Brian Hitsman. He’s an associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. All of the study participants had concurrent behavioral therapy. Though this therapy wasn’t a focus of the research, Hitsman said that it needs to be studied more closely because it can be a powerful tool to help cancer patients quit smoking. “You can imagine how someone going through a severe or significant disease and treatment process could benefit from the support we provided in this study,” he said in a university news release.
Does that medicine work for women? Why signing up for a medical study could be your next feminist move
“This isn’t just a women’s health issue,” says Nicole Woitowich, director of the Illinois Women’s Health Registry and associate director of the Women’s Health Research Institute at Northwestern University, “it’s an everybody’s health issue.”[…]“If we’re not going to be asked to participate in studies,” says Teresa Woodruff, director of Northwestern’s Women’s Health Research Institute, “we should just put our hand in the air. The Women’s Health Registry is a way for us to put our hand in the air.”