FEBRUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER
The newsletter of the Feinberg School of Medicine Research Office
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How Research is Changing the Conversation about Obesity |
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In the last several years, anti-obesity medications have made an impression through wide media coverage and interest in their effectiveness. Celebrities and influencers on social media have touted their weight loss results. But the impact of these drugs is still yet to be realized as there are issues with access including insurance coverage, high costs, supply chain challenges, stigma and more. Feinberg investigators have been leading research on these drugs for the treatment of obesity and advocating for access to these medications for the patients who need it most. |
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Celebrating 30 Years of the NIH Revitalization Act and Women's Health Research |
| The Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute hosted a “Breaking Barriers” panel discussion on January 19 at the Chicago healthcare incubator MATTER. The event celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the NIH Revitalization Act and its impact on women’s health research. |
Faculty ProfileSupporting and Advancing Clinical and Translational Science at NorthwesternNicole Woitowich, PhD, is executive director of the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute and a research assistant professor of Medical Social Sciences. A trained biomedical scientist, her research focuses on the consideration of sex as a biological variable, the inclusion of women in the biomedical research workforce, and how these two components may be inextricably related. |
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Staff ProfileImproving the Health of Sexual and Gender Minority CommunitiesJagadīśa-devaśrī Dācus, PhD, is associate director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) and a research assistant professor at Feinberg. In his current role as associate director of ISGMH, Dācus draws on more than 20 years of professional experience in senior-level nonprofit organization and government agency leadership to guide the institute. |
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Student ProfileInvestigating Specialized Ribosomes during Poxvirus InfectionNatalia Khalatyan is a fourth-year PhD student in the Driskill Graduate Program. Having grown up with a curiosity for science, Khalatyan decided to pursue her bachelor’s in biochemistry at University of Illinois at Chicago. Now in the laboratory of Derek Walsh, PhD, professor of Microbiology-Immunology, Khalatyan investigates how cellular environments react to infection. |
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Campus Events |
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Research in the NewsThe New York Times, January 31 NPR, January 29 USA Today, January 29 |
NUCATS CornerAn Institute with ImpactAs you will read throughout this year’s Impact Report, NUCATS embraced change in 2023, seizing new opportunities for success. So too, did our NUCATS partners — the University’s schools, Northwestern Medicine, Lurie Children’s Hospital, and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab — as each continued to collaborate on groundbreaking discoveries. |
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Sponsored ResearchSynaptic Circuit Organization of Motor Cortex
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Sponsored ResearchCommunity Engagement: A Short Course to Optimize Research Endeavors (CE-SCORE)
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Breakthroughs PodcastStrengthening T-Cell Therapy for Solid Tumor Cancers with Jae Choi, MD, PhDA 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. |
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New FacultyMomen Wahidi, MD, MBA, joined in April as professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care. He also serves as the medical director of Canning Thoracic Institute and health system director of Interventional Pulmonology. Previously he was at Duke University Medical Center, where he led the Interventional Pulmonology program, and Duke Health System, where he held multiple leadership positions. Wahidi has published landmark studies in bronchoscopy and pleural diseases and contributed to evidence-based guidelines from prestigious national organizations such as NCCN, CHEST, ATS and AABIP. Wahidi is the past president of the American Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (AABIP). |
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Galter LibraryClarivate Analytics Announces 2023 Highly Cited ResearchersEach year, Clarivate Analytics releases a list of highly cited researchers who have “demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research.” Twelve of these researchers are from Feinberg, and 38 total Northwestern investigators are included on this 2023 list and represent departments across the university. This year, Northwestern ranked 34th in the world for the number of highly cited researchers. |
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High Impact ResearchGutman CK, Aronson PL, Singh NV, Pickett ML, Bouvay K, Green RS, Roach B, Kotler H, Chow JL, Hartford EA, Hincapie M, St Pierre-Hetz R, Kelly J, Sartori L, Hoffmann JA, Corboy JB, Bergmann KR, Akinsola B, Ford V, Tedford NJ, Tran TT, Gifford S, Thompson AD, Krack A, Piroutek MJ, Lucrezia S, Chung S, Chowdhury N, Jackson K, Cheng T, Pulcini CD, Kannikeswaran N, Truschel LL, Lin K, Chu J, Molyneaux ND, Duong M, Dingeldein L, Rose JA, Theiler C, Bhalodkar S, Powers E, Waseem M, Lababidi A, Yan X, Lou XY, Fernandez R, Lion KC, . Race, Ethnicity, Language, and the Treatment of Low-Risk Febrile Infants. JAMA Pediatrics. 2024; 178(1):55-64. Huang X, Lee K, Wang MC, Shah NS, Perak AM, Venkatesh KK, Grobman WA, Khan SS. Maternal Nativity and Preterm Birth. JAMA Pediatrics. 2024; 178(1):65-72. Huang Y, Braun R. Platform-independent estimation of human physiological time from single blood samples. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2024; 121(3):e2308114120-e2308114120. Jackson VA, Emanuel L. Navigating and Communicating about Serious Illness and End of Life. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2024; 390(1):63-69. |
Featured CoreClinical Research UnitThe NMH Clinical Research Unit (CRU) and CRU Core Lab are part of NUCATS Center for Clinical Research (CCR). The CRU supports Northwestern Medicine’s research mission by providing research specific nursing and laboratory services for the implementation of clinical trials and other clinical research, increasing their availability to participants. |
NIH NewsThe NIH often seeks feedback on various grant policies and initiatives broadly affecting the extramural research community. Many of NIH’s strategic plans are available on the Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT) site. They strongly recommend researchers review these strategic plans to learn about the varied research interests of NIH Institutes and Centers before applying. The plans share insights into their research directions, high priority initiatives and commentary from their leadership. Knowing this information will also help ensure that you are applying to an Institute or Center relevant for your area of research. The NIH appreciates the thoughtful comments provided. The input is invaluable to ensure the policies and programs NIH implements will continue moving forward to address the many issues facing biomedical research and public health. Carrying the Momentum Forward from a Year of Open Science in 2024 Last year, NIH was one of the several federal agencies to join the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in their celebration of 2023 as the Year of Open Science. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has a long-standing commitment to provide access to research products and processes and aligns with the U.S. Government’s definition of open science. As the world’s largest biomedical library, NLM offers resources that play a critical role in facilitating access to biomedical and life sciences literature and data. Last year, NLM continued exploring opportunities to advance discovery and innovation through greater availability of NIH-funded research outputs. Beyond providing access to data, NLM continued to promote open science skill building. While the 2023 Year of Open Science may have come to a close, NLM’s work to advance a future for open science in service of biomedical discovery and human health continues into 2024 and beyond. |
Funding Opportunities
Cardiovascular Repository – Type 1 Diabetes (CARE-T1D) Consortium (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Prostate Cancer Foundation 2024 Young Investigator Awards
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Thank You For ReadingWe are testing an updated format for this newsletter. We welcome your feedback. Please share it with us via email. |
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