We report on some recent results within the string/gauge theory correspondence, both in the conformal and in the non conformal cases, for a recently found class of [MATHEMATICAL SCRIPT CAPITAL N] = 1 dual pairs. These results provide the first cross check of AdS/CFT and field theory techniques like a-maximization. Moreover, they furnish new examples of cascading gauge theories and the first instance of 4d dynamical supersymmetry breaking embedded in the correspondence.
