Author: Julia Evangelou Strait

Hearing loss is common for soldiers coming home from deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, but another perhaps equally vexing problem is tinnitus, a condition that causes them to hear sound that isn’t there. Using MRI scans, researchers hope to identify differences in brain activity that will aid development of preventive strategies to alleviate the effects of tinnitus.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is launching a new master of science degree in biostatistics. Tailored to students with undergraduate degrees or higher in mathematics, statistics, biomedical engineering or other quantitative sciences, it is the university’s first program dedicated to training in biostatistics.

Raphael Kopan, PhD, professor of developmental biology in the School of Medicine, is addicted to discovery. Growing up on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, he discovered snakes, butterflies and bits of ancient pottery. Today, his discoveries continue in his lab, working to understand how cells communicate.

Whether on a battlefield, in a factory or at a rock concert, noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common hazards people face. Jianxin Bao, PhD, and other researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a low-dose, two-drug cocktail that reduces hearing loss in mice when given before they are exposed to loud noise.

The way the heart responds to an early beat is predictive of cardiac death, especially for people with no conventional markers of cardiovascular disease, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Peter Burgers, PhD, the Marvin A. Brennecke Professor of Biological Chemistry at the School of Medicine, is an expert in DNA replication and repair — fundamental cellular processes shared across organisms, from yeast to humans.

Bacteria often attack with toxins designed to hijack or even kill host cells. To avoid self-destruction, bacteria have ways of protecting themselves from their own toxins. Now, researchers have described one of these protective mechanisms, potentially paving the way for new classes of antibiotics that cause the bacteria’s toxins to turn on themselves.

For almost two decades, cardiologists have searched for ways to see dangerous blood clots before they cause heart attacks. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that they have designed nanoparticles that find clots and make them visible to a new kind of X-ray technology.

Scientists, including Gerald W. Dorn, MD, have identified the first DNA sequence variant common in the population that is not only associated with an increased risk of heart failure, but appears to play a role in causing it.

Peter M.J. Burgers, PhD, has been named the Marvin A. Brennecke Professor of Biological Chemistry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.