Studies have shown that Black children with serious illnesses are less likely than white children to obtain crucial genetic testing necessary to guide treatment decisions, but the reasons for this disparity have not been fully understood. A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis focused on children with neurological conditions finds […]
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has launched the Center for Rare, Undiagnosed and Genetic Diseases, supported by an $8.5 million grant from Children’s Discovery Institute (CDI), a partnership with St. Louis Children’s Hospital, St. Louis Children’s Hospital Foundation and WashU Medicine. The new center brings together WashU Medicine researchers and the rare […]
In the past two years, the Food and Drug Administration has approved two novel Alzheimer’s therapies, based on data from clinical trials showing that both drugs slowed the progression of the disease. But while the approvals of lecanemab and donanemab, both antibody therapies that clear plaque-causing amyloid proteins from the brain, were greeted with enthusiasm […]
Remarkably, Doug Whitney, 75, has escaped genetic destiny. Like many members of his family, Whitney inherited a rare genetic mutation that all but guarantees he would develop early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. But Whitney, whose relatives first showed symptoms of cognitive decline in their early 50s, remains mentally sharp with no signs of the devastating disease, and […]
On behalf of the Medical Scientist Training Program Committee, we are pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Medical Science Fellows: The Olin Fellowships recognize superior accomplishments in biomedical research by doctoral students at Washington University. 32 outstanding students were nominated for the Olin Fellows Award this year, […]
On Thursday, January 23, 2025, esteemed colleagues, students, and distinguished guests gathered to honor Dr. Daniel Kerschensteiner, MD, as he was installed as the Bernard Becker Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. This prestigious professorship recognized Dr. Kerschensteiner’s exceptional contributions to vision science and his dedication to advancing our understanding and treatment of visual disorders. […]
The first participants in an international clinical trial aimed at preventing Alzheimer’s disease in young adults at high risk of the disease have been enrolled. The trial, led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, aims to determine whether stopping the early molecular changes that lead to symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease can prevent the […]
Li-Feng Jiang-Xie, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in WashU Medicine Department of Pathology and Immunology, was awarded $10,000 as the winner of the 2024 WashU Medicine Bold Pioneer Award. Jetske van der Schaar, research associate at Amsterdam University Medical Center, and Nicolas Barthélemy, PhD, assistant professor at WashU Medicine Department of Neurology, were awarded $2,000 […]
As a leading researcher of rare diseases that affect children’s brains, Jonathan D. Cooper, PhD, thought little about the gastrointestinal (GI) system. That is, until the parents of children with a condition that Cooper studies urged him to investigate why debilitating digestive issues troubled their kids, who suffer from an incurable and fatal neurodegenerative brain condition […]
The Transdisciplinary Institute in Applied Data Sciences (TRIADS) has announced its newest crop of seed grant recipients, with eight teams of researchers receiving funding. Featuring faculty from four different WashU schools (Arts & Sciences, Brown School, McKelvey School of Engineering, and the School of Medicine), these projects leverage data science to address pressing societal issues. Each research […]
People with severe, treatment-resistant depression who received a nerve-stimulating therapy showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms, quality of life and ability to complete everyday tasks after a year, according to the results of a national, multicenter clinical trial led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings are published Dec. 18 in a […]
Demand for weight-loss medications sold under brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy continues to surge, with a recent study reporting one in eight Americans has taken or is currently using the drugs to treat diabetes, heart disease or obesity. Formally, these drugs are known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) and include Mounjaro and […]
Individuals with sickle cell disease – a chronic illness where misshapen, sticky blood cells clump together, reducing oxygen delivery to organs – are at a higher risk for stroke and resulting cognitive disability. But even in the absence of stroke, many such patients struggle with remembering, focusing, learning and problem solving, among other cognitive problems, […]
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting Dec. 6, numerous faculty members were appointed with or granted tenure, with new titles and roles effective that day unless otherwise indicated. Appointment with tenure Eric J. Huang, MD, PhD, as a professor of pathology and immunology at the School of Medicine (tenure took […]
After surgery, pain is expected and often subsides within a few weeks. But for around 20% of patients, persistent pain may continue for months or even years after a procedure, impacting quality of life and putting patients at risk for opioid overuse. Symptoms vary widely in severity and in the type of pain experienced, making […]
Neuroscientist Juliet Mwirigi, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named a Hanna H. Gray Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The fellowship supports promising early-career scientists as they transition to becoming principal investigators, by providing up to $1.5 million for up to eight years. Mwirigi’s research focuses […]
When studying substance use disorders, scientists had thought some of the effects on the brain could stem from use of the substances themselves: People start drinking alcohol in early teens, that alcohol has a neurotoxic effect on the developing brain that begets more alcohol drinking, and a similar dynamic occurs with other substances. But research […]
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been awarded $7.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate a form of dementia caused by cerebral small vessel disease, the second-leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. The grant funds the Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia (VCID) Center, […]
Andrew Taylor, an emeritus trustee of Washington University in St. Louis, and his wife, Barbara, have made a $50 million gift to WashU Medicine’s neurosurgery department to enhance groundbreaking research, innovative patient care and the training of the next generation of neurosurgery leaders. In recognition of the Taylors’ generosity, the department has been named the Taylor […]
Virtually every cell in the human body has an internal clock. These clocks take their cues from a central clock in the brain. In a normal, biological process called synchrony, the central clock coordinates daily rhythms around the body, so that every cell and tissue recognizes the same external time of day. Knowing local time […]
Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia are devastating disorders that emerge following the buildup of misfolded proteins in the brain. The newest generation of Alzheimer’s therapeutics targets accumulations of the protein amyloid beta with engineered antibodies, but the results have been underwhelming, with some adverse effects, not to mention using engineered antibodies can be prohibitively expensive. […]
Deanna Barch, PhD, a leading scholar in the field of cognitive and language deficits in disorders like schizophrenia, recently won two honors from national organizations. Barch is vice dean of research and a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences and the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, […]
Infectious or chronic diseases such as long COVID, Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury can cause inflammation in the brain, or neuroinflammation, that weakens muscles. While scientists are aware of this link between inflammation and muscle weakness, the molecules and processes involved have been unclear. In our research, our team of neuroscientists and biologists uncovered the hidden conversation between the brain […]
Burel R. Goodin, PhD, a professor of anesthesiology at WashU Medicine, has received more than $3 million from the National Institute of Nursing Research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support postdoctoral training. The five-year award prepares scholars to conduct clinical research in pain and substance use disorder. Individuals affected by substance use […]
In a testament to the quality and national competitiveness of biomedical research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the school secured $683 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in federal fiscal year 2024 – a record high for WashU Medicine and an affirmation of its leadership in […]
More than half a century after the U.S. government deemed psychedelic drugs to be of “no medical use,” scientists have begun re-evaluating that dismissive assessment with the tools of modern science. Dozens of clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted therapies for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other conditions are underway or planned. So far, the results […]
The Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research has announced that Alex Evers, MD, the Henry E. Mallinckrodt Professor of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will receive the foundation’s 2024 Mentoring Excellence in Research Award. Recipients of the international award must be nominated by former mentees who are now in research, teaching or […]
Fructose consumption has increased considerably over the past five decades, largely due to the widespread use of high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener in beverages and ultra-processed foods. New research from Washington University in St. Louis shows that dietary fructose promotes tumor growth in animal models of melanoma, breast cancer and cervical cancer. However, fructose […]
A multitude of genes have been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Specifically how those genes might influence the progression of neurodegeneration remains something of a black box though, in part because of the challenges of examining in molecular detail the brain of a living patient. Using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected from living patients, […]
Adam Eggebrecht, PhD, an associate professor of radiology at WashU Medicine, received $4 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to disseminate powerful cloud-based resources to the brain mapping community. A researcher at WashU Medicine’s Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR), Eggebrecht and collaborators — […]
The Office of the Provost recently awarded two separate batches of funding as part of the “Here and Next” commitment to research excellence at WashU. The grants represent a significant investment in supporting multidisciplinary projects with the potential for local, national and global impact. “We are proud to support the important academic work happening here at WashU,” […]
Roughly 4% of the population is affected by a congenital brain malformation that has eluded researchers’ efforts to find causes and treatments. For the condition, Chiari type-1 malformation, the diagnosis is straightforward: the lower part of the brain, known as the cerebellum, protrudes at least five millimeters through the gap in the skull that connects […]
The Washington University in St. Louis community came together Nov. 9 at its annual Founders Day celebration to honor the outstanding achievements of some of the university’s most distinguished faculty, alumni and friends. The event was held at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel. Four faculty were among those recognized at the event, which was […]
Washington University School of Medicine and BJC Health System, both located in St. Louis, have launched the joint Center for Health AI to harness the power of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and fundamentally change the way health care is provided. The center will focus on making care more personalized and effective for patients and more […]
Andrew Yoo, PhD, a professor of developmental biology at WashU Medicine, has received the 2024 Transformative Research Award, a two-year $1 million grant from the Hereditary Disease Foundation. Yoo and his collaborator, Osama Al Dalahmah, MD, PhD, of Columbia University, will use this support to pursue potential therapeutics for Huntington’s disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder […]
Even treated with the most advanced therapies, patients with glioblastoma — an aggressive brain cancer — typically survive less than two years after diagnosis. Efforts to treat this cancer with the latest immunotherapies have been unsuccessful, likely because glioblastoma cells have few, if any, natural targets for the immune system to attack. In a cell-based […]
Most people who visit a doctor when they feel unwell seek a diagnosis and a treatment plan. But for some 30 million Americans with rare diseases, their symptoms don’t match well-known disease patterns, sending families on diagnostic odysseys that can last years or even lifetimes. But a cross-disciplinary team of researchers and physicians from Washington […]
Harnessing this process may offer therapies for neuroinflammatory diseases such as MS, mouse study suggests
Four faculty members from Washington University in St. Louis were named Distinguished Investigators by the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research. Adam Eggebrecht, PhD, Manu Goyal, PhD, Abhinav Jha, PhD and Daniel Thorek, PhD were honored for their outstanding contributions to the field of medical imaging. All four honorees are associate professors at WashU Medicine’s Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, and […]
Sheng Chih (Peter) Jin, PhD, an assistant professor of genetics at WashU Medicine, has received a $3.2 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genetic and molecular underpinnings of congenital hydrocephalus, a buildup of too much cerebrospinal fluid in the brain […]
Guoyan Zhao, PhD, an assistant professor of genetics and of neurology, and Erik Musiek, MD, PhD, the Charlotte & Paul Hagemann Professor of Neurology, both of WashU Medicine, have received a $433,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study brain cells called astrocytes and their roles […]
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting Sept. 27, numerous faculty members were granted tenure, effective that day. Granting of tenure Kirsten Gilbert Alberts, PhD as an associate professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine; Robert A. Campbell, PhD as an associate professor of emergency medicine at WashU Medicine; Carmen M. Halabi, MD, PhD as […]
To address childhood malnutrition — which affects 200 million children globally — researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis developed a therapeutic food that nourishes the collections of beneficial microbes that reside in the gut, and improves children’s growth and other measures of their health. But to understand just how this food […]
Device delivers naloxone upon sensing drop in respiration, animal study shows
Event honored scientists who received their first R01 research grants from the National Institutes of Health
When trying to understand how genetic influences factor into youth behavior, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have taken the “big trawl” approach, casting their net wide to pull in all the measured traits, behaviors and environments that make up who we are and examine associations with the genetic building blocks comprising risk for […]
Public health is often the unseen force that keeps our communities thriving. From ensuring clean water to managing vaccination programs and regulating food safety, it is the vital infrastructure that promotes healthier lifestyles and safeguards our environments. Without it, communities are left vulnerable to emerging threats, underscoring the critical need to reinforce this infrastructure. What […]
Three researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have received highly competitive and prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s awards for “High Risk, High Reward” medical research funding totaling $10 million over five years. Hong Chen, PhD, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering and of neurosurgery at the […]
Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been awarded the 21st annual Nierenberg Prize from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. The prize is awarded for outstanding contributions to science in the public interest. Gordon, director […]
For the first time, annual research funding to Washington University in St. Louis has surpassed $1 billion. External funding supports WashU investigators tackling big challenges from Alzheimer’s disease to air pollution to childhood depression. Research funding also ripples across the economy, sparking job growth, new construction and local spending, said Chancellor Andrew D. Martin. “There […]