Author: Brittney Wheeler

Repeated exposure to influenza viruses may undermine the effectiveness of the annual flu vaccine. A team of researchers led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has developed an approach to assess whether a vaccine activates the kind of immune cells needed for long-lasting immunity against new influenza strains. The findings could aid efforts to design an improved flu vaccine.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have identified a gene that plays an important role in fertility across multiple species. The study could have implications for understanding human infertility and early menopause.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has developed a saliva-based test for COVID-19 that is faster and easier than the swab tests currently in use. The test could help simplify and expand the availability of COVID-19 diagnostic testing across broad populations.

Chancellor Emeritus Mark S. Wrighton has been named the James and Mary Wertsch Distinguished University Professor. The professorship recognizes his accomplishments as both a university leader and a scholar in the field of chemistry.

School of Medicine researchers have received a $3.9 million grant supporting new technologies and therapeutics to advance a drug to treat debilitating lung diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The research is led by Michael J. Holtzman, MD.

In a mouse study, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that an antibody that targets the protein TREM2 empowers tumor-destroying immune cells and improves the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.

School of Medicine researchers are investigating whether a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat rare diseases of an overactive immune system could help critically ill patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have created a COVID-19 vaccine candidate from a replicating virus. This experimental vaccine has proven effective at preventing pneumonia in mice.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have shown that levels of a specific protein in the blood rise as amyloid plaques form in the brain. The discovery could pave the way toward a blood-based test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms appear.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have combined two types of immunotherapy into a single treatment that may be more effective and possibly safer than current immunotherapies for blood cancers.