News and Announcements
Read the latest news from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. The links below take you to articles where you can learn more about our faculty’s latest achievements, awards and honors.
05.08.2025Northwestern Medicine investigators have discovered new intracellular mechanisms that help specialized immune cells adapt and respond to disease and acute inflammation, findings that may inform the development of targeted therapies for cancer and tissue injury, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
05.02.2025Esteemed molecular biologist Ron Evans, PhD, known for his groundbreaking discovery of the nuclear receptor superfamily, delivered the third Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Lecture to a crowded auditorium of Feinberg faculty, staff, fellows and students on April 30.
04.29.2025Ali Shilatifard, PhD, the Robert Francis Furchgott Professor and chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
04.24.2025Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered how a testis-specific protein contributes to tumor growth and progression when it is mis-expressed in lung cancer, according to a study published in Science Advances.
04.17.2025Northwestern Medicine investigators have discovered how disruptions in circadian rhythm in our muscles combined with poor diet can contribute to the development of diabetes, according to a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
03.31.2025A new study has identified a previously unobserved function of a protein found in the cell nuclei of all flora and fauna, playing a role promoting gene transcription.
03.10.2025Circadian rhythms play a role in how quickly damaged muscles heal, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in Science Advances.
02.27.2025Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that inhibiting the GATA6 protein in mouse models of colon cancer reduced tumor growth and improved survival, underscoring the potential of a new therapeutic target for colon cancer, according to a recent study published in Science Advances.
02.11.2025Northwestern Medicine investigators have developed a new avenue to reprogram compromised immune cells to work against tumors, according to a study published in Science Advances.
02.10.2025Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered new details about how the human genome produces instructions for creating the building blocks of life, according to a new study published in Science Advances.
02.03.2025Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered a key pathway controlling tumor growth in B-cell lymphomas, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
01.24.2025Northwestern Medicine investigators have discovered a novel mechanism that recognizes and eliminates ‘bad’ transcriptional elongation enzymes during gene expression, findings that may inform the understanding of adrenal diseases, according to a recent study published in Science Advances.
01.23.2025Investigators have developed a catalog of transcription factor binding sites that regulate gene expression across the genome, findings that may improve the understanding of underlying causes of developmental disorders and cancer, according to a recent study.
01.22.2025Northwestern scientists have discovered how mitochondria influence the body’s immune response through modulating specific cell signaling pathways, according to a recent study published in Science Advances.
- 01.02.2025
Investigators from the laboratory of Ali Shilatifard, PhD, have developed a novel technique to precisely and efficiently study gene regulation, which may accelerate the development of new therapeutic strategies, according to a recent study published in Molecular Cell.
12.18.2024A new study has provided direct evidence in mice that the drug reversibly cuts the cell’s energy supply by interfering with mitochondria to lower glucose levels.
12.12.2024Northwestern University scientists have designed a new implantable device that can monitor fluctuating levels of proteins within the body in real time.
12.09.2024Distinguished biochemist Ron Evans, PhD, director of the Gene Expression Laboratory and professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, has been named the winner of the annual $250,000 Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics.
10.17.2024Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered how a protein in a deadly type of lung cancer can control how the immune system responds to the tumor, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
08.21.2024Scientists have discovered how interactions between RNA and the TOP1 essential enzyme, which is overexpressed in many human cancers, regulate DNA during transcription and may inform the creation of new cancer therapies, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in Molecular Cell.
- 08.08.2024
Investigators from the laboratory of Marc Mendillo, PhD, have discovered new cellular regulators of an established cancer cell transcription factor linked to cancer cell resilience and tumor progression, according to findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
08.01.2024Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered new insights into the production and regulation of an emerging class of noncoding RNAs in three major types of cancer, according to findings published in Science Advances.
07.26.2024Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered increased immune cell activity in Merkel cell carcinoma tumors, which could help predict treatment response in patients and inform the development of new targeted therapies, according to findings published in the journal Cancer Discovery.
07.25.2024Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that mitochondria are not necessary for the proliferation of immune cells called microglia, but do help them respond to demyelinating injury, according to a study published in Nature Metabolism.
06.24.2024Inflamed heart muscles can mount immune responses even in the absence of immune cells, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
06.03.2024Dan Foltz, PhD, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, has been named director of the Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences (DGP). He will begin the role on July 1.
04.11.2024A Northwestern Medicine study has detailed the development of a machine learning model to predict DNA methylation status in cell-free DNA by its fragmentation patterns, according to findings published in Nature Communications.