IDDRC@WUSTL announced on August 10 that Dr. Joe Dougherty will serve with Dr. Christina Gurnett as its Co-Director. Congratulations, Joe, & well-played, IDDRC@WUSTL, in selecting him to co-lead w/ Chris. Quite a dynamic team you’ve put together!
Be sure to check out these recently published articles: Congrats to Kelsey Krus (DiAntonio/Milbrandt labs) on her paper demonstrating that loss of STMN2 in mice induces slowly progressive motor deficits, a cardinal feature of ALS. Exciting work from the DiAntonio...
June 20, 2022: Jennifer Karlow’s latest paper, “Developmental pathways are epigenetically reprogrammed during lung cancer brain metastasis”, is out today in AACR Journals. April 14, 2022: Congratulations to DBBS’ own Yiran Hou (MGG, Wang...
May 20, 2022: The Jin lab has received a 5-year Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation Grant to investigate the impact of non-coding variants in cerebral palsy.
April, 12, 2022 We liked Dr. Bernard Mulvey recent tweet, “This was a fun little side hustle in the last few months of my PhD with @CarpeRibosomam. Great work everyone!”. Check out the Dougherty lab’s latest publication, “Typical hippocampal...
Gabor Egervari, MD, PhD, has accepted our offer to join WashU this coming academic year. Gabor is interested in the metabolic underpinnings of epigenetic regulation and how epigenetic changes influence brain function. He will join the Departments of Genetics and...
Turner lab: “From karyotypes to precision genomics in 9p deletion and duplication syndromes” in Cell. “Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2nd Edition” is out now. Dutcher lab: “Ciliary central apparatus structure reveals mechanisms of...
February 11, 2022: Six researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have been named senior members of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Richard Axelbaum, PhD, at the McKelvey School of Engineering, along with five researchers at the School of Medicine —...
Dr. Xiaoxia Cui in the McDonnell Genome Institute has a Biomek FX available to a good laboratory home. She says it is functional but requires regular service. It has been used to transfer ~1 ul to ~20 ul with a 96-well head and it can accommodate 96-well and...
March 4, 2022: Congratulations to Caitlin Dingwall and the Milbrandt/DiAntonio labs on their new preprint, “Macrophage depletion blocks congenital SARMI-dependent neuropathy”.
March 14, 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Elena Minakova on being awarded the American Federation of Medical Research Scholar Award at the Eastern Medical Research, for her outstanding work on how ontogenetic oxycodone exposure affects developing and adult mice! March 3,...
A new review out of the @PETERJIN999 lab provides an overview of recent methods for identifying rare and common variants and understanding their roles in disease etiology. Co-1st authors are postdoc, Yung-Chun Wang, grad students, Shujuan Zhao & Julie Choi, and...
Washington University announced in a recent press release that the National Academy of Inventors has elected Drs. Douglas Covey, Jeffrey Milbrandt, and Dan Moran to its 2021 cohort of fellows. The NAI fellowship is the highest professional distinction reserved solely...
Clarice Hong, a PhD student in the lab, recently had her paper published in Genome Research. Jeff Hansen, an MSTP student in the lab, recently had his paper published in eLife. Congratulations to Clarice and Jeff and the entire @BarakACohen...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/embargo/Amazon%20molly%20.mp3The very rare animals that reproduce asexually — only about one in 1,000 of all living vertebrate species — are thought to be at an evolutionary disadvantage compared with their sexually reproduced...
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have transformed skin cells from patients with Huntington’s disease into the type of brain cell affected by the disorder. The resulting mass of neurons serves as a new tool to study the degenerative...
Two viruses closely related to Zika – West Nile and Powassan – can spread from an infected pregnant mouse to her fetuses, causing brain damage and fetal death, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings suggest...
Researchers helped mice recover faster from stroke by clipping their whiskers (as shown in video). This temporarily shuts off neural signaling between the whiskers – an important sensory organ for mice – and the brain, opening up a vacant space in the brain and making...
The current influenza outbreak – the worst across the United States in nearly a decade – is worrisome but still far less dire than a pandemic flu, which could kill millions. Such pandemics are exceedingly difficult to predict, but new research at Washington University...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/JAMA%20N%20.mp3People with Alzheimer’s disease are known to have disturbances in their internal body clocks that affect the sleep/wake cycle and may increase risk of developing the disorder. Now, new research at Washington...
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is joining with Sun Pharma Advanced Research Co. (SPARC) to support new drug development through the university’s Center for Drug Discovery and the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and...
The Milbrandt lab had a paper published recently in Current Biology. The paper, “TIR Domain Proteins Are an Ancient Family of NAD+-Consuming Enzymes,” shows that TIR domain proteins from both bacteria and archaea cleave NAD+ into nicotinamide and ADP-ribose (ADPR),...
Respiratory infections peak during the winter months, and most people recover within a few weeks. But for those with a rare genetic lung disease, the sniffling, coughing and congestion never end. The tiny hairlike structures called cilia that normally sweep mucus...
A new anti-cancer strategy wields light as a precision weapon. Unlike traditional light therapy — which is limited to the skin and areas accessible with an endoscope — this technique can target and attack cancer cells that have spread deep inside the body, according...
John C. Morris, MD (right), director of the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, examines a patient at the center. A long-term study of adult children of Alzheimer’s patients – led...
More than 10,000 people in the United States are living with memory loss and other persistent neurological problems that occur after West Nile virus infects the brain. Now, a new study in mice suggests that such ongoing neurological deficits may be due to unresolved...
More than a million people in tropical countries contract the parasite Leishmania every year through the bites of infected sand flies. Most people develop disfiguring – but not life-threatening – skin lesions at the sites of the bites. But if the parasite spreads to...
A 15-year global study of children genetically predisposed to developing Type 1 diabetes found that drinking formula made with cow’s milk did not increase such children’s risk for developing the disease. The findings provide a long-awaited answer to the question of...
Have you resolved to take better care of yourself in the new year? Here’s a relatively painless way to do it: Catch a few more zzz’s every night. A third of American adults don’t get enough sleep, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/Mills%20met%20.mp3Rapidly dividing, yet aberrant stem cells are a major source of cancer. But a new study suggests that mature cells also play a key role in initiating cancer — a finding that could upend the way scientists...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/VT%20radiation%20.mp3Radiation therapy often is used to treat cancer patients. Now, doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that radiation therapy — aimed directly at the heart — can be...
When trying to help children lose weight, involving a parent in the treatment makes the entire family healthier, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown. Investigators from the university’s Center for Healthy Weight and Wellness...
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have received a $3.9 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop bacteria that manufacture renewable biofuels — energy sources made from plants or microbes. The researchers, representing a...
Research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue new treatment guidelines aimed at accelerating global elimination of lymphatic filariasis – a devastating tropical disease. An estimated 70...
Diabetes is known to increase a person’s risk of kidney disease. Now, a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that the converse also is true: Kidney dysfunction increases the risk of diabetes. Further, the researchers deduced...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/NM%20Cer%20Cort.mp3Scientists have identified brain networks involved in a baby’s learning to walk — a discovery that eventually may help predict whether infants are at risk for autism. The findings build on previous...
People who carry the APOE4 genetic variant face a substantial risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a compound that targets the APOE protein in the brains of mice and protects...
Not all patients with blood clots in their legs – a condition known as deep vein thrombosis – need to receive powerful but risky clot-busting drugs, according to results of a large-scale, multicenter clinical trial. The study showed that clearing the clot with drugs...
A new study hints that even large physician practices may have trouble moving to a payment system that rewards quality of health care over quantity of services delivered. The analysis included data from the first year of a program run by the Centers for Medicare and...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/Long-Hedgehog%20.mp3Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a way to prevent fat cells from growing larger, a process that leads to weight gain and obesity. By activating a...
Of the top-grossing domestic movies of 2017 to date, three of the Top 5 feature superheroes: Wonder Woman; Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2; and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Similarly, in 2016, five of the Top 10 movies focus on adventure and heroes, including Captain...
Lilianna Solnica-Krezel (right), PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor and Chair of Developmental Biology, and Farshid Guilak (center), PhD, professor of orthopaedic surgery, co-direct the Center of Regenerative Medicine and Simple Model...
At Washington University, training the next generation of leaders in translational medicine is a key focus. “The young people in our labs are smart and dedicated, and they know that what we’re doing will change medicine — 20 years, 10 years, 5 years from now,” Skip...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/NIH%20cuts%20.mp3A proposal to slash funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) could severely impair the development of new, life-saving drugs, according to a new analysis by researchers at Washington University...
Patients who go to the emergency room (ER) with chest pain often receive unnecessary tests to evaluate whether they are having a heart attack, a practice that provides no clinical benefit and adds hundreds of dollars in health-care costs, according to a new study from...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/nitrous-suicide%20story.mp3Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are studying the use of nitrous oxide — laughing gas — as a treatment for patients who are hospitalized due to suicidal...
The busy world inside a cell is directed by its DNA blueprint. When the blueprints are altered, cells can sicken, die or become cancerous. To keep DNA in working order, cells have ways to detect and mend damaged DNA. Now, researchers at Washington University School of...
John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a $6 million outstanding investigator award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support research aimed at improving...
A defective gene linked to autism influences how neurons connect and communicate with each other in the brain, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Rodents that lack the gene form too many connections between brain neurons...
The British have a pithy way of describing people who dither over spending 20 cents more for premium ice cream but happily drop an extra $5,000 for a fancier house: penny wise and pound foolish. Now, a new study suggests that being penny wise and pound foolish is not...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/Luby%20ACEs%20.mp3Adverse experiences in childhood — such as the death of a parent, growing up in poverty, physical or sexual abuse, or having a parent with a psychiatric illness — have been associated with physical and...
Sebastian Nasamu, an MD/PhD student at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, battled successive bouts of malaria as a child growing up in Ghana. He survived – but decided long ago to commit himself to eradicating the disease. The possibility that his...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/RG%20Psyc%20Med%20.mp3More than a decade of data indicates teens have become far less likely to abuse alcohol, nicotine and illicit drugs, and they also are less likely to engage in delinquent behaviors, such as fighting...
Amanda Cashen, MD, examines patient Marie Miceli at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Miceli successfully responded to a new immunotherapy — called CAR-T cell therapy — that targets certain blood...
An estimated 120 million people worldwide are infected with lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic, mosquito-borne disease that can cause major swelling and deformity of the legs, a condition known as elephantiasis. Health-care workers rely on leg measurements to assess...
CaoBin Cao, a Washington University postdoctoral researcher who studies how the placenta protects the fetus from infections such as Zika virus, has been named a 2017 Wunderkind by the national biomedical publication STAT News. The award honors young scientists and...
Scientists drilling down to the molecular roots of Alzheimer’s disease have encountered a good news/bad news scenario. A major player is a gene called TREM2, mutations of which can substantially raise a person’s risk of the disease. The bad news is that in the early...
One of the health care issues about which seemingly all Americans agree: Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed. And they keep going higher. How do Americans get better value for their health care dollars? One answer may be novel pricing models that more closely...
Warfarin is a blood thinner that is commonly prescribed to patients to prevent life-threatening blood clots. Despite its longtime use, warfarin remains tricky to dose because a person’s genetic makeup influences how the drug is processed in the body. Too much warfarin...
The overuse of antibiotics has left some doctors questioning whether to give such drugs to children diagnosed with uncomplicated staph infections. Such infections often occur on the skin and look like a pus-filled bug bite. Now, research led by Washington University...
Brazil and other areas hardest hit by the Zika virus – which can cause babies to be born with abnormally small heads – are also home to dengue virus, which is spread by the same mosquito species. A new study led by researchers at Washington University School of...
Kow Essuman was awarded the FEBS Journal Poster Prize for an outstanding poster at the FASEB Conference on NAD+ Metabolism and Signaling. The conference was held July 9-14, 2017, in New Orleans. Congratulations, Kow! Powered by WPeMatico
Outdoor air pollution has long been linked to major health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A new study now adds kidney disease to the list, according to researchers at Washington University School of...
The mummified remains of a 7-month-old baby boy and pieces of skull from two teenage Triceratops underwent computed tomography (CT) scans Saturday, Sept. 16, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in hopes researchers could learn more about the...
Nearly a quarter century ago, a genetic variant known as ApoE4 was identified as a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease — one that increases a person’s chances of developing the neurodegenerative disease by up to 12 times. However, it was never clear why the...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/PexRAP%20Cell%20rep.mp3There’s good fat and bad fat in our bodies. The good fat helps burn calories, while the bad fat hoards calories, contributing to weight gain and obesity. Now, new research at Washington University...
A new study of children living in inner-city areas and at high risk of developing asthma suggests that exposure to certain pet and pest allergens in infancy lowers the risk of developing asthma by age 7. The research also provides evidence that the type of bacteria...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/Med%20marijuana-med%20edu.mp3Although 29 states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana use for medical purposes, few medical students are being trained how to prescribe the drug. Researchers at Washington University...
Before symptoms become pronounced, there is no reliable way to identify who is on track to develop Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating movement disorder characterized by tremors, slowness of movement, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. But...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/Binder%20rrAD%20.mp3Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are recruiting volunteers for a national study that is exploring whether strategies to improve cardiovascular health also reduce the...
Privately insured children and those with Medicaid at the time of a cancer diagnosis experience largely similar survival trends, with slight evidence for an increased risk of cancer death in children who were uninsured at diagnosis, finds a new study from the Brown...
https://biomedradio-media.wustl.edu/episodes/JAK%20itch%20.mp3The roots of chronic itching have long remained a mystery. Meanwhile, those with the condition suffer from an unrelenting and sometimes debilitating urge to scratch. Now, new research at Washington...
Siteman Cancer Center will begin seeing patients July 1 at its newest satellite location, Christian Hospital in north St. Louis County. Siteman Cancer Center is based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, and the new location is...
By age 2, most children have been infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which usually causes only mild cold symptoms. But people with weakened immune systems, such as infants and the elderly, can face serious complications, including pneumonia and – in some...
Washington University’s McDonnell Genome Institute has received $10 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to sequence the DNA of people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, in an effort to identify the genetic roots of chronic obstructive...
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infections, and they tend to come back again and again, even when treated. Most UTIs are caused by E. coli that live in the gut and spread to the urinary tract. A new study from Washington University School of...
Labs on the move Opening of research facility signals new era in collaborative science Robert Boston The facility at 4515 McKinley Avenue becomes a hub for collaborative research. It also will be a popular lunchtime destination, with designated parking for food trucks...
Geneticists seek to understand how genes are inherited, modified, and expressed. Geneticists have been remarkably successful in deciphering the genetic code and in providing a clear picture of the nature of the gene, but much remains to be learned about fundamental...
Samantha comes to us from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School where she has been a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of George Daley. Her current work focuses on directing cell fate using information gleaned from gene regulatory network...
Barak A. Cohen, PhD, and Robi D. Mitra, PhD, have been named Alvin Goldfarb Distinguished Professors of Computational Biology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Cohen The relatively new field of computational biology blends genetics and...
