Recent News

In Vivo Variety Show Slated for January 27–28 “Billy Medicine” is the 27th annual production of In Vivo, the comedy revue that features the writing, directing, performing, and technical talents of students and facutly and staff members of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. A medically oriented spoof of the popular Adam Sandler film, “Billy[…]

December 27, 2005 Some Women at Greater Risk for Melanoma CHICAGO—Older white women with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer are at greater risk for developing melanoma, regardless of the amount of sun they have been exposed to, finds a study in the online journal Cancer. “This study adds a history of the relatively favorable[…]

Middle-Age Obesity Raises Later Heart, Diabetes RiskCHICAGO—Obesity in middle age—even without established cardiovascular disease risk factors such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels— greatly increases risk of hospitalization for and death from heart disease and diabetes in older age, according to a study in the January 11 issue of the Journal of the[…]

Michael J. Fox Foundation Grant Funds Parkinson’s Research CHICAGO—Northwestern University, the University of California-San Francisco, and RheoGene, Inc., have received a grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research that will provide up to $4.2 million for development of a regulatable gene therapy system to treat Parkinson’s disease. Martha C. Bohn, PhD, a[…]

December 27, 2005 Common Gene Increases Prostate Cancer Risk CHICAGO—A common, inherited gene that predisposes one in eight people to development of certain forms of cancer, including breast, colon, and ovarian cancers, has been found by Northwestern University researchers to also increase prostate cancer risk—by 200 percent. Boris Pasche, MD, and colleagues at The Robert[…]

Contact: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or atfellman@northwestern.edu Scientists Identify Molecular Structure of Key Viral Protein EVANSTON, Ill.—Scientists at Northwestern University have determined the molecular structure of a viral protein, the parainfluenza virus 5 fusion (F) protein. The parainfluenza virus 5 is part of a family of viruses (paramyxoviruses) that causes everything from pneumonia, croup,[…]

December 27, 2005 Grant Funds Schizophrenia Study CHICAGO—D. James Surmeier, PhD, Nathan Smith Davis Professor and chair of physiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study how the brain adapts to drugs used to treat schizophrenia. The award is[…]

January 3, 2006 Walking Slows Artery Disease CHICAGO—A study in the January 3 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that walking three times a week, even in an unsupervised exercise program, can significantly improve walking ability and slow progression of peripheral artery disease (PAD). PAD often causes leg pain because of impaired blood[…]

December 6, 2005 Feinberg Project, Armstrong Foundation Form PartnershipCHICAGO—The Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (EPEC) for Oncology Project, based at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation have formed a national partnership to improve communication between health care professionals and cancer survivors. Linda Emanuel, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and[…]

December 7, 2005 Depression Factors: Poor Health, Poverty, Minority Status CHICAGO—Preliminary results from the STAR-D project, one of the nation’s largest studies of depression, show that chronic depressive episodes are common and associated with poorer physical health, lower quality of life, socioeconomic disadvantage, and minority status. Findings of this study highlight the common occurrence of[…]

December 21, 2005 Poor Fitness Raises Heart Disease RiskCHICAGO—Poor cardiorespiratory fitness affects one of five persons aged 12 to 49 years in the United States, with a disproportionate impact on adolescents, adult females, and non-white minorities. The most striking indication of the health burden of poor fitness in the U.S. population is the strong association[…]

December 7, 2005 Medicare Fraud Settlement Causes Oncologists to Lose Income CHICAGO—Many oncologists will earn 30 to 50 percent less a year as a consequence of a $1.1 billion Medicare fraud settlement with two leading cancer drug manufacturers, according to a study in the December 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study[…]

December 20, 2005 Contact: Wendy Leopold at 847/491-4890 or atw-leopold@northwestern.edu Audiologist Suggests iPod Users Take PrecautionsEVANSTON, Ill.—Turn ’em down and turn ’em off. That’s the advice of Dean Garstecki, PhD, a Northwestern University audiologist and professor, when it comes to using those ever-present earbuds favored by iPod and MP3 music listeners everywhere. In the 1980s,[…]

December 13, 2005 Astronaut-Physician Continues Research at Northwestern CHICAGO—In May 2004 Northwestern University orthopaedic surgeon Robert L. (Bobby) Satcher, MD, PhD, was one of two physicians selected for NASA’s 2004 astronaut class. The 11-member group began training last summer at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. A specialist in child and adult bone cancer, Dr.[…]

Mechanism Found That Promotes Melanoma Spread CHICAGO—Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a key signaling mechanism that may promote the ability of highly aggressive malignant melanoma cells to metastasize, or spread from a primary tumor to distant sites within the body. Results of their study, published in the November issue of Cancer Research, suggest that[…]

Primrose Oil Component Cuts Levels of Cancer Gene CHICAGO—Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), a substance in evening primrose oil and several other plant oils used in herbal medicine, inhibits action of Her-2/neu, a cancer gene that is responsible for almost 30 percent of all breast cancers, Northwestern University researchers report. “Breast cancer patients with Her-2/neu-positive tumors have[…]

November 7, 2005 Searle Family Commits $10M to Recruit Biomedical ResearchersCHICAGO—Northwestern University has received a $5 million grant from the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust to support recruitment of outstanding biomedical faculty at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. The Searle family anticipates that this award will be followed by successive grants to[…]

November 21, 2005 Stem Cell Microenvironment Reverses Malignant MelanomaCHICAGO—Northwestern University researchers have demonstrated how the microenvironments of two human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines (federally approved) induced metastatic melanoma cells to revert to a normal, skin cell-like type with the ability to form colonies similar to hESCs. The researchers also showed that these melanoma cells[…]