Breakthroughs Podcast

Listen to the people behind the science.

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school that fosters powerful collaborations on a thriving academic medical campus. We are driven by our mission to transform the practice of medicine and profoundly impact human health beyond the individual patient. We believe better answers only come from discovery.

Recent Podcasts

Cover image for episode 25

Pursuing Deeper Understanding of Inflammation with Murali Prakriya, PhD

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.

Listen Now
Cover image for episode 24

Partnering with Libraries to Address Teen Mental Health with Ashley Knapp, PhD, and Robert Simmons, MA

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.  

Listen Now
Cover image for episode 23

Engineering Bacteria to Monitor and Treat Disease with Arthur Prindle, PhD

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.

Listen Now
Cover image for episode 22

Strengthening T-Cell Therapy for Solid Tumor Cancers with Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD

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. 

Listen Now
Cover image for episode 21

New Insights into Dopamine with Raj Awatramani, PhD, and Daniel Dombeck, PhD

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

Listen Now
Cover image for episode 20

The Evolution of the NIH Toolbox with Richard Gershon, PhD

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.

Listen Now

Past Breakthroughs Podcasts

View Podcast Archive

Subscribe

Subscribe to Feinberg School of Medicine podcasts here:

Apple Podcasts 
SoundCloud
Spotify
Stitcher

 

Continuing Medical Education Credit

Physicians who listen to this podcast may claim continuing medical education credit after listening to an episode of this program.

Target Audience

Academic/Research, Multiple specialties

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to:

  1. Identify the research interests and initiatives of Feinberg faculty.
  2. Discuss new updates in clinical and translational research.
Accreditation Statement

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation Statement

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine designates this Enduring Material for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Claim your credit