This year, the Breakthroughs podcast released 17 episodes on topics including improvements in mental healthcare delivery, precision medicine therapies for rare diseases, an introduction to bedside medicine and much more. For more than seven years, the Breakthroughs podcast has highlighted the latest high-impact research coming out of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Two of the top episodes of 2025 explored drug development for Alzheimer’s disease: the effectiveness of new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease and how a new class of drugs work to clear plaques in the brain. Our top episode of the year was about the invention of a tiny pacemaker — the smallest in the world.

3. A Promising Drug for Alzheimer’s Disease with William Klein, PhD, and Richard Silverman, PhD

An experimental drug called NU-9 was invented at Northwestern University by Richard Silverman, PhD. The drug has been approved for clinical trials in patients with ALS and may hold promise for other neurodegenerative diseases.

In this episode, Silverman and William Klein, PhD, talk about their collaboration to tailor the drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease. This discovery is giving scientists hope that the drug could be effective in multiple neurodegenerative diseases by addressing the underlying mechanisms of these diseases.

Klein is professor in Weinberg College of Arts and Science’s Department of Neurobiology and in Feinberg’s Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology. Silverman is the Patrick G. Ryan/Aon Professor in Weinberg’s Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences and of Pharmacology with an additional appointment in the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute.

2. How Alzheimer’s Drugs Work with David Gate, PhD

There are many challenges facing existing Alzheimer’s drugs, particularly those aimed at targeting amyloid beta, a protein believed to be a major contributor to the disease. Despite the arrival of new therapies, such as anti-amyloid antibodies, there is still controversy surrounding their effectiveness. 

In this episode, David Gate, PhD, discusses how his team is focused on understanding how anti-amyloid drugs work and how their efficacy can be improved. Using a new technique called spatial transcriptomics, his lab examined the brain’s response to Alzheimer’s therapies, revealing new molecular targets that could enhance the effectiveness of current therapies and not just slow the disease, but potentially improve patient outcomes. 

Gate is an assistant professor in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology and director of the Abrams Research Center on Neurogenomics.

1. Inventing a Tiny Pacemaker with John Rogers, PhD

When a patient undergoes heart surgery, there’s often a need to temporarily pace the heart to ensure it maintains a safe rhythm during recovery. Traditional temporary pacemakers use bulky wires and external devices, which can be cumbersome and uncomfortable.

In this episode, John Rogers, PhD, discusses how Northwestern engineers and Feinberg investigators came together to develop this innovative solution to meet a need for patients. 

Rogers is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and a professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Neurological Surgery. He is also the director of the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics and the Querrey Simpson Institute for Translational Engineering for Advanced Medical Systems.

When you listen to the Breakthroughs podcast, you can earn Continuing Medical Education credit. Breakthroughs is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.