Inauguration week expert panel explores longevity, AI, regenerative medicine, and more

Some of Northwestern University’s brightest minds in biomedical science converged before a packed auditorium yesterday to discuss the hottest topics in their fields.

Hosted by Provost Kathleen Hagerty, “The New Frontiers of Biomedical Science and Biomedical Engineering” panel explored wide-ranging matters related to improving the quality of human life, including advances in artificial intelligence (AI), new approaches to treating cancer, the quest for longevity, the potential of regenerative medicine and the promise of bioelectronics.

Play the panel recording.

The event — which took place Tuesday, May 30, at Hughes Auditorium on the Chicago campus — was one of two academic panels organized to discuss contemporary topics of importance in higher education as the University gears up for the inauguration of President Michael H. Schill.

“We’ve been thinking about this symposium for a while and what constitutes a ‘new frontier’ in biomedical science or biomedical engineering,” said Dr. Eric G. Neilson, vice president for medical affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who moderated the event. “We thought the best way to talk about this was to identify scientists from Feinberg, McCormick and Weinberg College to talk about the research areas they have been attracted to and have an informal discussion about hot topics in those areas.”

Weinberg College panelist, Shana Kelley discussed the launch of the CZ Biohub Chicago as well as her work to use engineering-driven approaches to understand diseases, such as cancer. In recent studies, Kelley and her team pinpointed immune cells in blood that can recognize and destroy cancer cells. In an animal study, Kelley and her team leveraged these cells to completely eradicate solid tumors. Kelley is the the Neena B. Schwartz Professor of Chemistry.

“Our immune cells are constantly surveying the body, trying to figure out if there’s a disease or a cell that’s turned cancerous,” said Kelley, the Neena B. Schwartz Professor of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and McCormick, professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at Feinberg, and president of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago. “We know that immune cells eventually infiltrate into tumors to do hand-to-hand combat in there to get rid of tumor cells. But it had not been discovered previously that you can actually find these cells in the blood.”

Read the full story on Northwestern Now.