Clinical Trials
1417
138 active
Approvals
0
Total approvals
Agencies
0
Regulatory bodies
Founded
1851
Terminated
153
10.8%
Recruiting
162
11.4%
Suspended
4
0.3%
Withdrawn
107
7.5%
Active, not recruiting
88
6.2%
Unknown
14
1.0%
Completed
839
59.2%
Enrolling By Invitation
22
1.6%
Not yet recruiting
28
2.0%
No approval data available
- University of Virginia and Northwestern University researchers used targeted nanocarriers to identify Prox1 as a new genetic target within the eye's Schlemm's canal that can modify intraocular pressure. - The team created the first genetic mouse model with sustained elevated intraocular pressure, enabling better study of glaucoma and testing of potential cures. - Findings suggest a single-injection gene therapy could permanently lower intraocular pressure without daily eye drops or surgery, though human testing is at least five years away. - The work, published in JCI Insight, highlights how nanotechnology can serve both as a tool to understand disease and as a means for therapeutic intervention.
- Reproductive biologist Francesca Duncan has shown that ovaries become progressively stiffer, more inflamed, and more fibrotic with age, changes that affect egg quality and may elevate ovarian cancer risk. - In April 2026, Duncan published findings that post-menopausal ovaries, long assumed dormant, continue emitting inflammatory signals that could harm health elsewhere in the body. - Duncan's lab is developing an ultrasound-based test to measure ovarian stiffness as a biomarker for aging and fertility outcomes, including IVF prediction. - Building on Duncan's cohesin research, a February 2026 Chinese study found an existing anti-fibrotic drug restored ovarian function in mice and, in early evidence, helped women with primary ovarian insufficiency.
- Northwestern researchers discovered that viral reservoirs in SIV-infected gut tissue exist within microenvironments resembling immune-suppressive "cold" tumor microenvironments. - The study integrated molecular imaging, spatial transcriptomics, and machine learning to create the first detailed map comparing viral and tumor microenvironments in gut tissue. - Persistent viral reservoirs showed increased activity in tissue remodeling and immune suppression pathways, while short-lived reservoirs resembled "hot" tumors with stronger immune responses. - Findings suggest future HIV cure strategies could benefit from approaches traditionally used in cancer therapy to disrupt protective tissue environments.
- Northwestern University chemists developed a method using flexible DNA strands as programmable "molecular glue" to direct proteins into diffraction-quality crystals with atomic-level order. - The approach replaces the traditional trial-and-error crystallization process with intentional design, successfully growing over 1,000 crystals and determining 28 distinct protein-DNA structures. - The work overturns the long-held assumption that flexible building blocks cannot produce crystals with atomic-level order, demonstrating that DNA bonds represent a fundamentally new class of chemical bond. - The breakthrough could accelerate drug target identification, rational drug design, and enable new flexible biomaterials for biosensing, drug delivery, and bioelectronics.
- The NSF has awarded Northwestern University $20 million over four years to establish DREAM, the nation's first publicly accessible AI-powered cloud laboratory for protein engineering. - DREAM aims to synthesize and characterize more than 300,000 proteins, generating up to 30 million data points to create one of the largest publicly available datasets for AI-guided protein engineering. - The facility will use AI models to propose protein designs, with robotic systems building and testing them through a design-build-test-learn cycle, removing critical bottlenecks in protein development. - DREAM will serve as the protein-engineering hub within a broader NSF-funded network of 20 Programmable Cloud Laboratory test beds, representing a $380 million national investment.
- A Northwestern Medicine study in PNAS reveals that aging tissues exhibit a length-biased shift in gene expression, favoring short stress-response genes while long neurodevelopmental genes decline. - RNA polymerase II transcription activity and frequency decrease with age, and interactions with the Mediator complex are reduced in aged mouse liver and brain tissues. - Long-read sequencing uncovered increased aberrant splice isoforms and intron-retention events in aged mouse brains, pointing to splicing defects as a hallmark of aging. - The findings highlight transcriptional elongation factors such as ELOA and SPT6 as potential targets for future anti-aging therapeutic development.
- Northwestern University chemists confirmed the precise three-dimensional structures of secalosides A and B from rye pollen for the first time using total synthesis. - The structural ambiguity had persisted for decades because traditional techniques like NMR spectroscopy could not distinguish between two mirror-image configurations. - Preliminary animal studies showed rye pollen could help clear tumors through an unknown, non-toxic mechanism, making structural confirmation a critical step toward therapeutic development. - The team now seeks immunology collaborators to investigate how these compounds interact with the immune system and translate findings toward potential clinical endpoints.
- Navi, a digital mental wellness platform co-designed with teens, launched statewide in New Mexico in June 2026, offering free access to all adolescents ages 13 to 18 through state funding. - The platform is built on evidence-based digital single-session interventions (SSIs) backed by over a decade of research from Northwestern University's Dr. Jessica Schleider. - Unlike many digital mental health tools, Navi does not use generative AI for user interaction and is not diagnostic; it offers offline access for rural and tribal communities with limited internet connectivity. - The launch began in Taos County following a pilot program where local teens helped customize the app, with plans to expand across all 33 New Mexico counties.
- Northwestern Medicine study reveals A2A receptor plays an unexpected dual role in driving CD8+ T-cell exhaustion through both sustained expression and loss of receptor activity. - Both too much and too little A2AR signaling independently push T-cells toward terminal dysfunction via distinct molecular pathways, including CD122-dependent signaling. - Findings help explain why A2AR-targeted therapies have shown limited efficacy in clinical trials for solid tumors such as metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma. - Researchers call for new therapeutic strategies that fine-tune rather than merely inhibit immune regulatory pathways to improve treatment outcomes.
- A Northwestern University study of 1,000 adults found 32.5% of Americans aged 35–64 have limited health literacy, struggling with prescription labels, medical forms, and recalling physician instructions. - Lower health literacy was associated with lower income, less education, unemployment, more chronic conditions, and poorer cognitive performance. - This is the first study to focus specifically on middle-aged adults, as prior research had concentrated on populations 65 and older. - Researchers recommend simplifying patient materials to a 6th- to 8th-grade reading level and investing more in helping patients use medications correctly.
