Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

How graduate and medical students from Washington University’s Young Scientist Program are helping share science with area students. The program has been in place more than 25 years.

Jason Q. Purnell, assistant professor in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and project director of For the Sake of All, the groundbreaking initiative on the health and well-being of African-Americans in St. Louis, was named 2016 Person of the Year by The St. Louis American.

Many with psychiatric problems want to quit smoking, but psychiatrists and caseworkers typically don’t prescribe medications to help them or refer them to services aimed at smoking cessation, researchers at the School of Medicine and BJC Behavioral Health in St. Louis have found.

Welders exposed to airborne manganese at estimated levels below federal occupational safety standards exhibit neurological problems similar to Parkinson’s disease, according to School of Medicine research. The more they are exposed to manganese-containing welding fumes, the faster the workers’ signs and symptoms worsen. The findings, published Dec. 28, suggest current safety standards may not adequately protect welders.

A new study by the School of Medicine, published Dec. 22 in Nature Communications, helps explain why development of a better vaccine for tuberculosis has been stymied.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have detailed the structure of a molecule that has been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. Knowing the shape of the molecule — and how that shape may be disrupted by certain genetic mutations — can help in understanding how Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases develop and how to prevent and treat them.

Measuring brain waves, Washington University researchers have found that clinically depressed children don’t respond to rewards the way other children do. The findings may show how the brain processes emotions in young children with depression.

While a particular metabolic pathway shows potential to slow down the aging process, new research indicates a downside: That same pathway may drive brain cancer. The pathway, known as the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) pathway, is overactive in a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are launching a study aimed at identifying effective treatment methods for seniors with depression that does not respond to standard medications.

Henry Schvey is a steadfast presence in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, having directed more than 25 plays in his nearly 30-year tenure, in addition to teaching and writing. Now, a new memoir is adding to his body of work in the place he calls home.