Category: School of Medicine

Podcast: Can psychedelic drugs help treat mental illness?

In this episode, we discuss new research into psychedelic drugs as potential therapies for psychiatric illness. Several studies have suggested that drugs, such as psilocybin, may be useful in treating problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and depression. Psychiatry researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been using a brain-imaging […]

Njoku installed as Wise Chair in Pediatric Anesthesiology

Dolores B. Njoku, MD, the director of pediatric anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and anesthesiologist-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, has been installed as the new Rudolph L. and Mary Frances Wise Endowed Chair in Pediatric Anesthesiology. She also is a vice chair in the Department of Anesthesiology.  A member […]

Poverty negatively impacts structural wiring in children’s brains, study indicates

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that growing up in poverty may influence the wiring of a child’s brain. The study, published June 27 in JAMA Network Open, indicates a link between both neighborhood and household poverty and the brain’s white matter tracts, which allow for communication between […]

Lowe appointed vice chancellor for research

Mark E. Lowe, MD, PhD, an academic leader and accomplished pediatric physician-scientist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been appointed the university’s vice chancellor for research. He also has been named senior associate dean of research at WashU Medicine. Chancellor Andrew D. Martin, Provost Beverly Wendland and David H. Perlmutter, MD, […]

5 physician-scientists named Dean’s Scholars

Physicians who engage in research play a vital role in developing novel, innovative approaches to diagnosing and treating disease. Nurturing the careers of doctors whose work takes them to both patients’ bedsides and the laboratory bench is a top priority of the Division of Physician-Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Such was the […]

Altered gut bacteria may be early sign of Alzheimer’s disease

­People in the earliest stage of Alzheimer’s disease — after brain changes have begun but before cognitive symptoms become apparent — harbor an assortment of bacteria in their intestines that differs from the gut bacteria of healthy people, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings, […]

Doctoral training program expands mental health services

This fall, Washington University in St. Louis will launch a new mental health doctoral training program that will expand clinical mental health services on campus while cultivating a new generation of expert psychologists.  Designed to attract the nation’s top psychology doctoral students, the program will train a cohort of four residents annually and will be […]

Wang, nationally recognized geneticist, named head of genetics

Ting Wang, PhD, a national leader in genetics and genomics who has led groundbreaking studies in how the genome is regulated, has been named head of the Department of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. A computational biologist, he will begin his new role Aug. 1. Wang’s lab is focused on understanding how […]

Diagnosis of rare, genetic muscle disease improved by new approach

It’s not easy to distinguish between the dozens of subtypes of limb girdle muscular dystrophy — a rare, genetic muscle disease characterized by weakness in the hips and shoulders that causes difficulty walking and lifting the arms. Until now, determining the subtype has not been critical in caring for patients, because no specific treatments have […]

Prufrock to study how tooth formation affects face shape

As teeth grow from their germinal state as soft blobs of tissue to hard nuggets complete with enamel and roots, bones in the jaw are also taking shape. Scientists have understood that developing bones respond to the tissue and spaces around them, including primordial teeth, but the mechanisms aren’t fully explained.  Kristen Prufrock, PhD, an […]

The evolution of Ephraim Oyetunji

Ephraim Oyetunji likes a good challenge. “Everything is a mystery to be solved,” he said. A senior biology major on the neuroscience track, Oyetunji quickly established himself as a standout researcher. He’s been named a WUSTL ENDURE scholar, a Hope Center Scholar, and a recipient of the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Oyetunji discussed his path […]

Masters of perception

As part of the Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures, faculty members across Arts & Sciences are working together to decode the relationship between technology and the mind. Can artificial intelligence help us better understand the mechanics of the human brain? How can educators deploy virtual and augmented reality in the classroom? What does modern mindfulness look […]

Children’s brain scans provide clues to processing of emotional cues

Children with specific psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety, may struggle to understand emotional cues when people around them are happy, sad or angry, and that lack of understanding can make it difficult to respond appropriately in social situations. Studying brain scans from hundreds of children ages 5 to 15, researchers at Washington University School of […]

Tsai named a 2023 Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences

Tony Tsai, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of developmental biology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named a 2023 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. He is one of 22 early-career researchers in the biomedical sciences to receive the honor. The four-year grant will fund Tsai’s investigation into how the cells […]

Gordon wins Spain’s Asturias Award

Microbiome pioneer Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has won the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research. The Asturias awards, among the most prestigious honors in the Spanish-speaking world, are presented annually in eight categories. The awards are designed to recognize exceptional scientific, technical, cultural, […]

Powderly, Setton receive faculty achievement awards

William G. Powderly and Lori A. Setton will receive Washington University in St. Louis’ 2023 faculty achievement awards, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin announced.  They will be honored at the university’s annual Founders Day dinner Nov. 4. Powderly, MD, the Dr. J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine, will receive the Carl […]

The Institute for Public Health 2023 Summer Research Program kicks off with new research track, 34 trainees

The Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program launches this month with three tracks of study. This year, the program offers established tracks in Public and Global Health and in Aging and Neurological Diseases, and a new RADIANCE track in cardiovascular disease and blood disorders. Each summer, the program is open to students who seek challenge, research […]

Board grants faculty appointments, promotions

At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting May 5, numerous faculty members were appointed with tenure, promoted with tenure or granted tenure. Their tenure will take effect July 1 unless otherwise indicated. Appointment with tenure M. Paz Galupo as professor at the Brown School; and Elaine A. Peña as professor of performing arts […]

Cancer cells rev up synthesis, compared with neighbors

Tumors are composed of rapidly multiplying cancer cells. Understanding which biochemical processes fuel their relentless growth can provide hints at therapeutic targets. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technology to study tumor growth in another dimension — literally. The scientists established a new method to watch what nutrients are used at […]

Wearable, light-based brain-imaging tech to be commercialized with aid of NIH grant

Figuring out what’s going on inside people’s heads typically requires huge, expensive equipment and volunteers willing to spend hours performing repetitive tasks while lying inside a narrow metal tube. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are working on an alternative. They are developing a cap that can be worn while moving around normally that […]

Induction of a torpor-like state with ultrasound

Some mammals and birds have a clever way to preserve energy and heat by going into torpor, during which their body temperature and metabolic rate drop to allow them to survive potentially fatal conditions in the environment, such as extreme cold or lack of food. While a similar condition was proposed for scientists making flights […]

Moron-Concepcion appointed to NIH advisory board

Jose Moron-Concepcion, PhD, the Henry E. Mallinckrodt Professor of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been appointed to a four-year term on the National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council. The council is an extension of the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). […]

Findings may lead to improved insulin-secreting cells derived from stem cells

Diabetes researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered at least one reason insulin-secreting cells made from stem cells in the lab don’t work as well as natural cells. The discovery could help speed progress toward making insulin-secreting cells — called islet beta cells — more effective in the treatment of […]

Data from wearables could be a boon to mental health diagnosis

Depression and anxiety are among the most common mental health disorders in the United States, but more than half of people struggling with the conditions are not diagnosed and treated. Hoping to find simple ways to detect such disorders, mental health professionals are considering the role of popular wearable fitness monitors in providing data that […]

Bagnall wins grant to map neuronal connections

Martha Bagnall, PhD, an assistant professor of neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, received a $1.9 million R01 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to map neuronal connections in the zebrafish spinal cord. The Bagnall lab studies motor control […]

WashU Medicine joins national effort to ID genetic differences within the body

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has received two grants totaling $22.5 million to help lead national efforts to understand how DNA changes create differences in genomes across tissues within the same person. This variation — called somatic mosaicism — can change how cells operate and affect early development, disease risk, the aging […]

Washington University receives NSF Engines Development Award

A team led by Washington University in St. Louis has been awarded $1 million over two years from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines, or NSF Engines, program. The team, called NEURO360, is among some 40 teams nationwide to receive NSF Engines Development Awards, which aim to spur collaborations to create economic, societal […]

Detailed human pangenome reference captures human diversity

The Human Genome Project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ended in April 2003 and produced a human genome sequence made up of a patchwork of data from a small number of individuals. This lack of diversity limited its usefulness as a research tool for understanding human health and disease. Now, researchers have […]

Paul Taghert awarded $1.9 million Outstanding Investigator Award

The National Institutes of General Medical Sciences has awarded an Outstanding Investigator Award of nearly $2 million to Paul Taghert, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine, to study how the circadian clock orchestrates multiple biological cycles that operate at different phases. Physiological and behavioral rhythms, such as sleep, hormone fluxes, and eating, […]

Four inducted into Bouchet Graduate Honor Society

The Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, established in 2005 by Yale University and Howard University to recognize outstanding scholarly achievement, recently inducted four doctoral candidates from Washington University in St. Louis. Named after the first African American doctoral recipient in the United States, the honor society recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in […]

Discovery suggests route to safer pain medications

Strategies to treat pain without triggering dangerous side effects such as euphoria and addiction have proven elusive. For decades, scientists have attempted to develop drugs that selectively activate one type of opioid receptor to treat pain while not activating another type of opioid receptor linked to addiction. Unfortunately, those compounds can cause a different unwanted […]

Abt wins 2023 Quatrano Prize

Julian Abt, a senior majoring in Neuroscience, with minors in Medical Humanities and Russian Language and Literature, in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2023 Ralph S. Quatrano Prize by the Department of Biology. Established through a generous donation by Katherine Day Reinleitner, the Quatrano Prize is awarded […]

Bateman to receive lifetime achievement award

Randall J. Bateman, MD, the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Distinguished Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will receive the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutic Research. Bateman has been chosen to receive the honor for his groundbreaking work in Alzheimer’s research, including the development of plasma […]

Rays Wahba and Zhang win 2023 Spector Prize

Each year, the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis awards a prize to a graduating senior in memory of Marion Smith Spector, a 1938 graduate who studied zoology under the late Viktor Hamburger. The Spector Prize, first awarded in 1974, recognizes academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in […]

Congratulations to 2023 Friedman Lecture Award Winners

Jamie Opsal, MS, executive director of the St. Louis City Senior Fund received the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Award for excellence in Service to Older Adults. Beth Prusaszcyk, PhD, MSW, assistant professor at Washington University School of Medicine won the Alene and Meyer Koplow Award for Geriatrics, Psychiatry, and Neurology.  The Mark S. Wrighton […]

Bloodstream infections in preemies may originate from their gut microbiomes

Dangerous bacterial bloodstream infections in preemies may originate from the infants’ gut microbiomes, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Such infections are of substantial concern, as about half of infants who are extremely preterm or have very low birth weights experience at least one episode of the life-threatening infection […]

Gabel Lab identifies molecular links between Sotos and Tatton Brown Rahman Syndromes

Sotos Syndrome and Tatton Brown Rahman Syndrome bear striking similarities, so much so that patients with one have been misdiagnosed as having the other. Both rare diseases cause large stature and head size, also known as overgrowth, distinct facial features, a high prevelance of autism, and intellectual disability. But the two diseases have different genetic […]

Inaugural Danforth St. Louis Confluence conference elevates community research

Matthew Kreuter, a faculty member at the Brown School, is the first recipient of the William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award (STLCA), the Office of the Provost announced. The award focuses on and elevates Washington University in St. Louis’ investment in the region by encouraging research that enhances community impact. “William H. Danforth is the […]

Stress increases Alzheimer’s risk in female mice but not males

Women are about twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Some of that is age; in the U.S., women outlive men by five to six years, and advanced age is the strongest risk factor for Alzheimer’s. But there’s more to it than that, so Alzheimer’s researchers continue to look for other […]

Woodard named head of Department of Radiology

Pamela K. Woodard, MD, a national leader in cardiothoracic imaging, has been named head of the Department of Radiology, director of Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) and the Elizabeth E. Mallinckrodt Professor of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She will begin her new role July 1. In this new role, she […]