Lunin and Maldacena recently found a simple method to generate AdS_5 supergravity backgrounds dual to exactly marginal deformations of SCFTs. In the first part of the talk, we will consider extensions to AdS_4 backgrounds, concentrating on those for which dual IR 3d field theories have been proposed. In the second part, we will concentrate on the deformation of N=4 SYM in 4d and analyze a certain Penrose limit. We will be led to consider a 'modified Landau problem' and relate it to the different set of chiral operators of the deformed N=4.

In the last year and a half, many new tests of the AdS/CFT correspondence have been achieved by studying a certain class of non-topological solitons corresponding to rotating strings which carry (at least) two large angular momenta. They are dual to CFT operators which are far away from the 1/2 BPS operators of Berenstein, Maldacena and Nastase. We will discuss to which point can these results test the AdS/CFT away from supersymmetry.