Now Available! | Check out UMR’s 2024 Annual Economic Report and State Toolkits today
NIH Research 101 | UMR Answers Common Questions About NIH Research in this New Fact Sheet Series
Rural State Analysis | UMR's 2023 Report Reveals the Exponential Impact of NIH Research Funding in 7 Rural States
Why Invest in NIH Research? | UMR Offers Fact Sheets Explaining Why Congress Must #keepNIHstrong

A participant in the NIH 2019-2020 Medical Research Scholars Program.

Photo Credit: National Institutes of Health

About This Photo

COVID vaccine earlier in pregnancy leads to better antibody transfer to baby

COVID vaccine earlier in pregnancy leads to better antibody transfer to baby

Women who were vaccinated for COVID-19 earlier in their third trimester had a higher likelihood of passing protective antibodies to their newborn babies than women who received their vaccination closer to delivery, a new Northwestern Medicine study has found. The scientists analyzed the blood of 27 pregnant women who had received either the Pfizer or Moderna … Continued

Fooling coronavirus with new decoy protein renders it impotent

A novel decoy protein designed by Northwestern Medicine scientists fools SARS-Cov-2 by intercepting the spike of the coronavirus and rendering it impotent. The novel protein significantly reduced lung damage and resulted in only mild symptoms in mice infected with SARS-Cov-2, while untreated animals in this model all succumbed to the infection.

Examining Rare Neurological Complications of COVID-19 in Children

The largest study to date of neurological manifestations of COVID-19 in children demonstrated patterns in the rare complications seen among pediatric patients.

Lingering Covid symptoms pose ‘really serious problem,’ researcher says

A new study out of Northwestern University shows that 85% of long-haulers — Covid patients who have largely recovered from the worst of the disease, but continue to experience long-term symptoms — experienced four or more neurologic symptoms. Those symptoms include brain fog, headaches, numbness or tingling, loss of taste and smell, and muscle pain. … Continued

Survey Shows Parents Are More Hesitant to Get Vaccines for Their Kids

Between February 5 and March 1, researchers from Northwestern, Harvard, Northeastern, and Rutgers Universities surveyed more than 19,700 individuals to determine whether parents are more skeptical of coronavirus vaccines than other adults. The survey results show parents are more hesitant about getting the coronavirus vaccine for themselves and their children than those without children across different … Continued

Northwestern Medicine Scientists Track COVID-19 Variants

Like all viruses, SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — has continued to mutate and evolve, sometimes producing different variants that spread more quickly and are more contagious. Since March 2020, a team of Northwestern Medicine scientists based in the Division of Infectious Diseases and supported by the Emerging and Re-emerging Pathogens Program (EREPP) … Continued

Home blood test for COVID-19 antibodies can measure vaccine effectiveness and progress toward herd immunity

A new COVID-19 antibody blood test developed by Northwestern University scientists requires only a single drop of blood self-collected at home. It could generate estimates of herd immunity, measure vaccine effectiveness in the general population and model the course of future waves of infection. For the test, a person would use a fingerstick to collect … Continued

Changes in Macrophages Drive Vulnerability to Lung Infections

An age-related accumulation of a signaling molecule may be one culprit behind older adults’ vulnerability to viral pneumonias, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation… Macrophages are among the first lines of defense against viral infections in the lung, including influenza and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. These … Continued

First P.1 variant from Brazil identified in Illinois by Northwestern scientists

Northwestern Medicine has identified the first case in Illinois of the COVID-19 variant called P.1., which was first found earlier this year in travelers from Brazil during routine airport screening in Tokyo, Japan. The variant has subsequently been identified in several other countries. The case in Chicago was identified by the Pathogen Genomics research team at … Continued

Radiological images confirm ‘COVID-19 can cause the body to attack itself’

A new Northwestern Medicine study has, for the first time, confirmed and illustrated the causes of these symptoms through radiological imaging. “We’ve realized that the COVID virus can trigger the body to attack itself in different ways, which may lead to rheumatological issues that require lifelong management‚” said corresponding author Dr. Swati Deshmukh. The paper … Continued