Studying mice, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a neural circuit and a neuropeptide — a chemical messenger that carries signals between nerve cells — that transmit the sensation known as pleasant touch from the skin to the brain. Such touch — delivered by hugs, holding hands or caressing, […]
A new study has prompted scientists to reconsider a once-popular yet controversial idea in stroke research. Neuroscientists believed that, in the aftermath of a stroke, calming overexcited neurons might prevent them from releasing a toxic molecule that can kill neurons already damaged by lack of oxygen. This idea was supported by studies in cells and […]
Three experimental blood tests used to identify people in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease perform differently in Black individuals compared to white individuals, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study showed that a fourth blood test — the PrecivityAD test, which is commercially available in the […]
After a busy morning of sitting crisscross applesauce during story time, of standing still like a statue in line, and of remembering to raise a hand before speaking (even when you’re ready to burst with excitement), the Curious Caterpillars skipped and ran outside to the playground, eager to participate in one of the highlights of […]
People with sleep apnea wake up tired in the morning, no matter how many hours they actually sleep. The condition causes them to briefly stop and restart breathing dozens or even hundreds of times a night. Even though such breathing interruptions often don’t awaken those with apnea, they prevent them from sinking into deep, refreshing […]
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at Washington University in St. Louis presented outstanding mentor awards to James Stroud, PhD, Alexxai Kravitz, PhD, and John Russell, PhD, at the 17th annual Postdoc Symposium on March 21 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Medical Campus. Stroud, a postdoctoral research associate in biology, received the Outstanding […]
About 18 million children under age 5 suffer from severe acute malnutrition, and over 3 million children die from it each year. Treatment with high-calorie supplemental foods and antibiotics can prevent deaths, but these interventions often have limited impact on the long-term effects of severe acute malnutrition, such as persistent stunted growth, disrupted immune function […]
Mark A. Rutherford, PhD, assistant professor of otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research on the pore-forming and auxiliary subunit molecular anatomy of AMPA-type glutamate receptors in the cochlea […]
The Society for Research in Psychopathology has awarded its Joseph Zubin Lifetime Achievement Award to Deanna Barch, PhD, chair and professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences as well as the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry and professor of radiology at the School of Medicine, all at Washington University in St. Louis. The award, […]
Poverty and crime can have devastating effects on a child’s health. But a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that some environmental factors influence the structure and function of young brains even before babies make their entrances into the world. A study published online April 12 in […]
Naval warfighters may be exposed to explosions, impacts or high accelerations that increase their risk for traumatic brain injury. A team of researchers led by Philip Bayly, PhD, at Washington University in St. Louis plans a comprehensive study of skull-brain mechanics using imaging, computer and preclinical models to study the strains and stresses of the […]
In order to understand healthy neurodevelopment — and the threats to that health — researchers need a more comprehensive understanding of how the brain grows throughout childhood and young adulthood. To that end, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $753,181 grant to Deanna Barch, PhD, chair and professor of psychological and brain […]
Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named the 2022 Senior Scientist Winner of the Innovators in Science Award administered by the New York Academy of Sciences and sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Gordon, the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor, was selected by a jury of […]
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting March 4, numerous faculty members were appointed or promoted with tenure or granted tenure, effective July 1 unless otherwise indicated. Promotion with tenure Carlos A. Botero to associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences; Caitlyn M. Collins to associate professor of sociology in Arts & […]
Joseph P. Culver, PhD, the Sherwood Moore Professor of Radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named director of the Biophotonics Research Center (BRC) in the Division of Radiological Sciences. Culver’s work has been at the leading edge of functional and molecular biological imaging, particularly […]
The death toll isn’t the only staggering statistic from the first two years of the pandemic. What’s become increasing clear is that some COVID-19 patients don’t get well right away. Since the earliest days of the pandemic, we’ve heard of survivors who continue to experience shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, lingering difficulty with taste and […]
John A. Olson Jr., MD, PhD, noted for his clinical and scientific expertise in endocrine surgical diseases, has been named head of the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He will take the helm July 1. The position is a homecoming of sorts for Olson, who also will become the William […]
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common and best known of the tauopathies, a set of neurodegenerative brain diseases caused by toxic tangles of the protein tau. A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown that targeting astrocytes — an inflammatory cell in the brain — reduces tau-related brain […]
Adding to a growing body of evidence that, for many, problems related to COVID-19 linger longer than the initial infection, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that some people infected during the pandemic’s early months experienced peripheral neuropathy — pain, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet — […]
The U.S. Senate passed a bill last week that would make daylight saving time permanent. If it gains full congressional approval, the change would take place in fall 2023 and would keep evenings lighter year-round, eliminating the seasonal adjustments of springing forward and falling back to move in and out of standard time. Many rejoiced. […]
Naresha Saligrama, PhD, an assistant professor of neurology and of pathology and immunology at the School of Medicine, is part of a team led by Lisa Wagar, of the University of California, Irvine, that has received a multiyear, multi-million-dollar grant through Wellcome Leap to use human tonsil organoids to study immune responses. Originally published on […]
As brain scans have become more detailed and informative in recent decades, neuroimaging has seemed to promise a way for doctors and scientists to “see” what’s going wrong inside the brains of people with mental illnesses or neurological conditions. Such imaging has revealed correlations between brain anatomy or function and illness, suggesting potential new ways […]
Heavy alcohol use is associated with missing work, but the scope of that relationship has not been well understood. Now, based on survey data from more than 110,000 U.S. adults with full-time jobs, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have quantified the extent of the problem. Among U.S. adults working full […]
Aaron DiAntonio, MD, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Developmental Biology; Joseph Bloom, PhD, assistant professor of genetics; and Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD, the James S. McDonnell Professor and head of the Department of Genetics, all at the School of Medicine, received a two-year $300,000 grant from the ALS Finding a Cure and […]
Albert H. Kim, MD, PhD, a professor of neurological surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named the inaugural William H. Danforth Washington University Physician Scholar. He is the first researcher named as part of the School of Medicine’s new Physician-Scientist Investigators Initiative, which aims to recruit and retain elite […]
Alzheimer’s disease usually is diagnosed based on symptoms, such as when a person shows signs of memory loss and difficulty thinking. Up until now, MRI brain scans haven’t proven useful for early diagnosis in clinical practice. Such scans can reveal signs of brain shrinkage due to Alzheimer’s, but the signs only become unmistakable late in […]
Mohini Sengupta, PhD received third place in the 2021 Mightex Research Excellence Awards. Sengupta, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Martha Bagnall, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, studies the connectivity among spinal neurons in zebrafish. Read more on the Department of Neuroscience website.
Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), visited Washington University School of Medicine last week to discuss lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the Department of Medicine’s weekly Grand Rounds series, she sat down March 3 with William G. Powderly, MD, the J. William […]
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and colleagues in Nairobi, Kenya, have shown that a screening tool developed at Washington University can help predict in about 5 minutes whether young people are at high risk for schizophrenia and may go on to develop the illness. The findings are published in the […]
Hongyu An, PhD, a professor of radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine, is the new chief of the Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Lab (BMRL) in the Division of Radiological Sciences. An is renowned for her expertise in magnetic resonance (MR) physics, pulse sequences and image reconstruction analysis. Read more on the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology website.
Michael J. Noetzel, MD, a leading pediatric stroke researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died of heart failure on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was 70. Noetzel, a professor of neurology and of pediatrics, was a respected clinician, researcher, teacher and administrator. He spent his entire 45-year career […]
The TV sitcom grandpa character who always seems to fall asleep at unfortunate moments is so common it’s almost a cliché. But daytime napping and disjointed sleep at night aren’t normal parts of aging. Sleep disturbances can be an early sign of a neurodegenerative condition, and they may be treatable. Researchers at Washington University School […]
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, will participate in a conversation about the pandemic Thursday, March 3, from 8 to 9 a.m. at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The virtual event, available via livestream, will be geared toward faculty, staff, students and trainees on the […]
A large study that investigates just what keeps our brains sharp as we age and what contributes to cognitive decline has been launched by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Minnesota Medical School and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Known as the […]
During the pandemic, news reports surfaced of a surge of young adults showing up at doctors’ offices with unexplainable movement disorders that looked, perhaps to a nonspecialist, a little bit like Tourette syndrome. But when those patients were sent to see a specialist, “They’d say, ‘that doesn’t look at all like any of my first […]
A blood test developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has proven highly accurate in detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s disease in a study involving nearly 500 patients from across three continents, providing further evidence that the test should be considered for routine screening and diagnosis. The study is available in the […]
Researchers and clinicians have been working to use focused ultrasound combined with microbubbles to open the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for both noninvasive diagnostic use as well as to deliver treatments to the brain for tumors and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the few existing devices for preclinical research are expensive, bulky and lack the precision needed for […]
When you seek medical care, you expect a diagnosis. You may need to answer a lot of questions and undergo tests, but usually doctors can figure out the root of the problem. This is not the case for a surprisingly large group of patients. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 25 million to […]
St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are tackling the issue of behavioral health support that has emerged as a leading health concern in our country — for people of all ages. The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed the number of children suffering and how few resources are […]
This episode of ‘Show Me the Science’ focuses on the pandemic’s role in anxiety, depression and other issues for health-care workers, as well as how to train future workers to get help before burnout begins. With U.S. hospitals crowded with COVID-19 patients for almost two years, the pandemic’s relentlessness has pushed many doctors, nurses and […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into its third year, countless people have experienced varying degrees of uncertainty, isolation and mental health challenges. However, those who have had COVID-19 have a significantly higher chance of experiencing mental health problems, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. […]
A study in mice — led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis — shows that a new class of compounds the scientists developed can improve multiple aspects of metabolic syndrome. An increasingly common group of conditions that often occur together, metabolic syndrome includes type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, fat buildup […]
After two years of wearing layers of protective equipment on crowded hospital floors and working shift after shift with COVID-19 patients, many front-line health-care workers are suffering burnout, anxiety, depression and other difficulties. Consequently, many have left the field or started to question whether to remain. Reducing burnout and promoting mental health and wellness among […]
Binyam Nardos, PhD, an instructor in the Program in Occupational Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died unexpectedly Jan. 29, 2022, in St. Louis. He was 39. Nardos joined the faculty in summer 2021 as an instructor in occupational therapy and neurology. As an instructor, his focus was research methods, evidence-based […]
Congratulations to Maren Loe on being named a 2022 Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow. The fellowship provides early career individuals with the opportunity to spend 12 weeks at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC learning about science and technology policy and the role that scientists and engineers play in advising the nation. Maren earned her […]
Sabin Nettles, a graduate student in the Department of Neuroscience at the School of Medicine, received the Pre/Postdoctoral Next Generation Award from the Society for Neuroscience in recognition of her outreach work introducing neuroscience to young students through the Brain Discovery initiative. Read more on the Department of Neuroscience website.
Eight faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis are among 564 new fellows selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. Arts & Sciences’ Leonard Green, PhD, Elizabeth S. Haswell, PhD, Sophia E. Hayes, PhD, Erik Herzog, PhD, Mark A. McDaniel, PhD, Jay W. Ponder, PhD and Crickette […]
Glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer in the brain or spinal cord, has proven stubbornly resistant to newer immunotherapies. And radiation and chemotherapy, the standard treatment for glioblastoma, result in fewer than 10% of patients surviving longer than five years after diagnosis. But a new study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis […]
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is part of a major international study aimed at identifying causes and effects of the early stages of schizophrenia in young people, with the goal of improving early diagnosis and treatment. The mental illness is characterized by alterations in thoughts, feelings and behaviors, which may include psychosis, […]
The burden of Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t fall on all communities equally. Black Americans face about double the risk of developing the devastating neurodegenerative disease than non-Hispanic white Americans do. The factors that place Black people at elevated risk remain poorly understood, partly because Black people historically and systematically have been underrepresented in Alzheimer’s studies. Without […]