Chicagoland Researchers Present & Receive Live Feedback At A Special Eureka Talks Event - Institute For Translational Medicine

Chicagoland Researchers Present & Receive Live Feedback at a Special Eureka Talks Event

Chicagoland researchers came together with about one hundred members of the community in downtown Chicago on April 25 to share stories about their groundbreaking research and receive live feedback from the audience during the Eureka Talks 2025 event.

Three researchers presented their ongoing projects at an annual event showcasing the science communications training they receive as part of their award package, which is fueled by the National Institute of Health’s Career Development (K12) Awards administered by the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) and Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS).

“Giving these talented physician researchers access to communication education and custom coaching, as well as an opportunity to connect with a live audience of the public whom they’re working to serve – this is rare among professional training programs,” said Eric Beyer, MD, PhD, ITM leader of the Career Development Core and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Chicago. “It’s great to see scientists connect with the community and put their skills to use now and throughout the rest of their careers.”

Presentation topics ranged from the benefits and risks of cannabis use to preventing deadly side effects of cancer treatments to super germs living inside humans. The researchers competed for the best talk that the audience voted on at the end of their presentations.

“These researchers and physicians can’t make any breakthroughs without all of you coming together to team up,” said event MC Sara Serritella, ITM’s Director of Communications who teaches science communication courses at the University of Chicago. “If there’s nobody participating in science, it can’t inform people and change the world.”

Hanna Molla, PhD

Hanna Molla, PhD, Instructor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, kicked off the presentations with a talk on benefits and risks of marijuana use, and how much is too much.

“There’s been an increase in the use of cannabis over the past decade among adults in the United States,” said Molla. “As of 2022, about 1 in 4 individuals report using cannabis at least once over the past decade. If you look to the left or to the right or in front of you, chances are one of you have used cannabis pretty recently.”

She went on to share an example of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the potential benefits they experience when using cannabis. Cannabis may help calm people’s nervous systems, which many of the 20 million individuals with PTSD find helpful.

But more research on cannabis and its risks and benefits is necessary, especially because historically it’s been hard for scientists to conduct cannabis studies due to legal and logistical reasons.

Molla’s lab at UChicago is helping change that sparse research landscape. If you’re interested in teaming up with a cannabis or other substance study or learning more, contact Hanna at hmolla@bsd.uchicago.edu.

Kevin McNerney, MD

The audience next heard from Kevin McNerney, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Lurie Children’s Hospital, Northwestern University. McNerney started with a story of a young patient diagnosed with leukemia. Two rounds of chemotherapy and radiation couldn’t beat it. The patient and his family decided to participate in a clinical trial that used a special treatment where the patient’s cells are extracted, modified in a lab, and then given back into the patient, where they attack and kill the cancer cells. This patient went from having a 20% survival rate after his last chemotherapy treatment, to still being cancer free years later thanks to the CAR-T cell therapy used in the clinical trial.

“I didn’t expect to get emotional,” McNerney said. “But this is something that made me get really passionate about CAR-T cell therapy and made me pursue a career in research and what I do clinically.”

But the treatment is not risk-free. Side effects range from milder flu-like symptoms to more intense complications like seizures, kidney failure, and more, that can lead to hospitalizations and even death. The worse the cancer is, the worse the treatment’s side effects.

McNerney is currently studying to prevent the side effects. If you’re interested in children’s cancer research or preventing side effects, contact McNerney at kmcnerney@luriechildrens.org.

Sarah Sansom, DO

Sarah Sansom, DO, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, and Director of Infectious Diseases at RUSH, closed the presentation portion of the afternoon.

Anti-microbial resistance happens when the germs that cause infections outsmart how medicines like antibiotics work, making those medications completely ineffective.

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 5 million people will die this year because of anti-microbial resistance. That’s more than the number of people dying from colon, lung, and breast cancers combined. And the number is expected to keep growing.

“Anti-microbial resistance can literally happen to anyone,” said Sansom.

That’s why she is working to understand how resistant germs happen, how they get into a person, and then how they go on to cause infections. Interested in teaming up or learning more? Email Sansom at Sarah_E_Sansom@rush.edu.

After the talks, audience members had an opportunity to connect with the researchers and enjoy a red-carpet reception with food and ITM cupcakes.

“My favorite part about the event was being able to listen to speakers engage with the audience in a way that’s not typically done in science,” said event attendee Kara Ferracuti from Northwestern University. “It was nice to hear people really connect with the audience and communicate in ways that everyone can relate to.”

In addition to community members, many researchers came out to enjoy the event including Felipe Gonzalez, MD. Gonzalez is part of a RUSH team that was selected as ITM Pilot Award finalists for a project focused on preventing running injuries.

“It was amazing,” said Gonzalez about Eureka Talks. “We were able to see top researchers presenting their research for a broader audience in a very cool way, very engaging. Very good learning experience. As a researcher, it was pretty nice to see those teaching and presentation techniques in practice.”

Gonzalez was joined by his wife, Brenda Moore, who is an engineer.

“For me the passion of people talking about their research was amazing and really got my attention,” said Moore. “It was really good to not be in the field but still be able to understand everything that they’re talking about.”

About the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)

The Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) helps you live your best life by making research breakthroughs happen and getting those discoveries into the real world to improve your health as soon as possible.

The ITM is a partnership between the University of Chicago and Rush in collaboration with Advocate Aurora Health Care, Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Loyola University Chicago, and Endeavor Health that’s fueled by about $51 million in grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program.

The ITM is part of a network of more than 50 CTSA Program-supported hubs across the country working to slash the time it takes to develop and share new treatments and health approaches. We work with you and for you to make participating in health research easy, so that together we improve health care for all.

Join the movement and learn more about how we help researchers, physicians, community members, industry, government organizations, and others. Visit us at chicagoitm.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn @ChicagoITM.

ITM Contact: Sara Serritella, Director of ITM Communications, serritella@uchicago.edu

This project is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that supports the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) through Grant Number UL1TR002389.

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