Breakthroughs

Why does a standard immunotherapy work remarkably well for some bladder cancer patients, but fail for others? In this episode, Northwestern Medicine physician-scientist Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD, breaks down his recent research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and European Urology uncovering how the tumor microenvironment and immune cellular communication influence response to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy. Find out how single-cell RNA sequencing, macrophage–T-cell interactions, and urinary tumor DNA biomarkers are paving the way for targeted, personalized bladder cancer care. 

We are re-sharing an episode that we originally released in March 2023 about circadian rhythms and metabolism, looking at how the timing of food consumption can impact weight gain and health. Since this episode was released Dr. Bass has led several other studies looking at circadian rhythms and weight loss. Most recently, his team published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences about an experimental RNA therapy that induces the body to burn calories and preserving lean mass, thereby enhancing the benefits of GLP-1s. More on the recent study can be found here: https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2026/09/21/rna-therapy-may-help-preserve-muscle-during-glp-1-weight-loss/

Why does one person become critically ill from a virus while another person exposed to the same microbe remains completely healthy? This is the "infection enigma," and Jean-Laurent Casanova, MD, PhD, has spent his career trying to solve it. A French pediatrician and immunologist, Casanova is the winner of Northwestern University's 2026 Mechthild Esser Nemmers Prize in Medical Science. In this episode, Casanova discusses his paradigm-shifting discoveries and what they reveal about immunity, genetic predisposition and why some people develop life-threatening infections while others do not. 

For decades, biomedical research relied heavily on male subjects, leaving important gaps in our understanding of how diseases and treatments affect women. In 2016, the NIH introduced a policy requiring that all eligible funding applicants consider the influence of sex in their research to better understand health and disease for all. Nearly a decade later, has research truly changed? In this episode, Nicole Woitowich, PhD, executive director of Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (NUCATS), discusses her new study examining how well biomedical research is incorporating sex differences, and where science is still falling short.  Read more about Woitowich's appointment as executive director of NUCATS. Check out the study published in Nature Communications Medicine. Learn more about the research from a Northwestern Now story.

In this episode, Peter Penzes, PhD, director of the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, discusses a recent discovery of a schizophrenia biomarker and how this research could one day offer earlier diagnosis, more precise treatment, and better outcomes for patients.  Learn more about how the field of neurodevelopmental research has evolved over the past decade with major advances in genetics, brain imaging and laboratory models. Large genomic studies have uncovered many more genes associated with risk of developing autism, schizophrenia and related conditions, while new technologies, including brain organoids grown from patients' stem cells, are giving scientists new insight into how these disorders develop and affect brain function.