Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

Using immature stem cells to create a miniature model of the gut in the laboratory, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Pittsburgh have determined how infection-causing enteroviruses enter the intestine.

As the Zika epidemic took hold, leaders at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) realized they needed to learn about the virus quickly. They started phoning select scientists, and offered funding for Zika research. The School of Medicine answered the call

A multifaceted study — one of three major approaches School of Medicine researchers are using to unravel the physical and psychological underpinnings of autism — aims to detect, treat and even reverse the disorder.

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.