Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

Long before People StyleWatch named her “The DIY Beauty Queen,” Alexis Wolfer had the DIY mentality as she set out to create “The Beauty Bean,” an online women’s magazine that would change the way women talk about beauty, health and wellness.

The buzz continues about GiftAMeal, a startup incubated with the help of Washington University students. The venture had two wins at the RECESS Pitch Competition in Los Angeles: the Audience Choice Award and an award for best explanation video. The startup also locked in its first major corporate deal.

Michael Lagieski, a senior in the School of Engineering & Applied Science and a member of the Washington University swim team, will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team in the 100-meter breaststroke June 26 in Omaha, Neb.

The School of Medicine has received a $4.3 million award from the Alzheimer’s Association to expand a major international clinical trial evaluating whether drugs can prevent Alzheimer’s disease in patients genetically predisposed to develop the devastating disease at a young age.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have found that a program aimed at helping abused and neglected children and their families is improving outcomes for kids and providing children with stable home environments as their cases move through the courts.

A team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified a single gene pathway that is vital for Zika and other flaviviruses to spread infection between cells.

New research from the School of Medicine suggests that mothers who eat high-fat, high-sugar diets can predispose multiple generations to metabolic problems, even if their offspring consume healthy diets.

As young people reach adulthood, preferences for sweet foods typically decline. But for people with obesity, research from the School of Medicine suggests that the drop-off may not be as steep and that the brain’s reward system operates differently in obese people than in thinner people. The findings are published in the journal Diabetes.

New Alzheimer’s disease research details a technique that speedily measures levels in the brain of a damaging protein fragment, and insight into why mutations in a specific gene increase the risk of developing the disease. Both studies, from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, are available online in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Examining databases of proteins’ 3-D shapes, scientists at School of Medicine have identified more than 850 DNA mutations that appear to be linked to cancer. The information may expand the number of cancer patients who can benefit from existing drugs. The study, published June 13 in Nature Genetics, detailed a list of the mutations and associated drugs that may work against them.