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Read the latest news from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s basic science academic departments. The links below take you to articles where you can learn more about our faculty’s latest achievements.

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Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Cell and Developmental Biology

Microbiology-Immunology

  • 01.07.2025

    Bayar Thimmapaya, PhD, professor emeritus of Microbiology-Immunology, passed away peacefully at home on December 26, 2024. He was 81.

    Born and raised in India, Dr. Thimmapaya obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He pursued his lifelong devotion to science when he immigrated to the United States in 1975 to conduct his postdoctoral research at Yale University School of Medicine and the University of Connecticut Health Center.

    Dr. Thimmapaya then joined Northwestern University’s Department of Microbiology-Immunology as a faculty member where he earned tenure and retired as professor emeritus after 43 years of service in 2023. Over the course of his career, Dr. Thimmapaya was responsible for training many graduate students who would go on to lead research programs around the world. Dr. Thimmapaya studied oncogenic viruses and made important contributions to our understanding of the pathogenesis of human adenoviruses.

    Intellectually curious by nature, Dr. Thimmapaya was an avid reader and took a keen interest in politics and current events.

    He is survived by his wife Rama of 47 years, two daughters Asha (Amit) Mehrotra and Deepa (Pavan) Tripathi, and five grandchildren Devin, Anya, Dilan, Ria, and Rohan.

  • 10.28.2024

    Investigators led by Pablo Penaloza-MacMaster, PhD, associate professor of Microbiology-Immunology, have discovered that administering an antibody treatment four days after mRNA vaccination significantly improved vaccine efficacy in mice, according to findings published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

  • 10.03.2024

    Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a new underlying mechanisms that controls a specialized group of T-cells, findings that may serve as potential targets for treating inflammatory diseases and cancer, according to a recent study.

Pharmacology

Neuroscience

  • 12.20.2024

    From probing the human brain to elucidating mechanisms behind cellular responses, Feinberg investigators have provided stunning new snapshots of biological processes invisible to the naked eye.

  • 11.05.2024

    Within a few days of injury, scientists can predict which patients will develop chronic pain based on the extent of cross “talk” between two regions of the brain, and the person’s anxiety level after the injury, according to a new Northwestern study.

  • 10.08.2024

    Northwestern has established the Denning Ataxia Center, a multidisciplinary hub dedicated to improving the understanding of ataxia through integrating leading-edge research with patient-centered clinical care, with the goal of unraveling the complexities of the condition and developing improved treatments.

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