Medicine & Health

A School of Medicine study may help explain how excess weight can contribute to diabetes and may provide researchers with a target to help prevent or delay diabetes in some of those at risk. The findings suggest that many people with elevated levels of insulin also have defects in an enzyme important to the processing of a key fatty acid.

A study, in mice, from the School of Medicine, suggests that the bacterium Acinetobacter can hide undetected in bladder cells and then reactivate when stimulated by medical intervention. The findings suggest that patients may bring the bacterium into hospitals.

Studying mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have found that proteins made by stem cells to help regenerate the cornea may become new targets for treating and preventing injuries to the cornea related to dry eye disease.

A nasal COVID-19 vaccine based on technology licensed from Washington University in St. Louis has been approved for emergency use in India as a booster for people who have already received two doses of other COVID-19 vaccines.

A study involving School of Medicine researchers supports the idea that some T cells that react to microbes also may react to normal human proteins, causing autoimmune disease. The findings promise to accelerate efforts to improve diagnostic tools and treatments for autoimmune diseases.

School of Medicine scientists have shown that the cancer therapy known as CAR-T can be applied to multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease of the nervous system. The findings extend the powerful tool of immunotherapy to autoimmune diseases, a class of diseases that are often debilitating and difficult to treat.

A research team that includes School of Medicine and pharmacy scientists has altered the chemical properties of fentanyl. The research holds promise for developing safer opioid drugs that still relieve pain.

Janet S. Lee, MD, a highly regarded physician-scientist in pulmonary and critical care medicine, has been chosen to lead the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine. Her appointment is effective Jan. 3.

Washington University medical experts share how students, faculty and staff can stay healthy this holiday season. They note that masks not only slow the spread of COVID-19, but also can stop dangerous viruses such as the flu and RSV, which are currently raging throughout the St. Louis region. 

School of Medicine physician-scientists have received an NIH grant to establish a Pediatric Center of Excellence in Nephrology. The researchers aim to create high-definition molecular reference maps showing genetic details of normal and diseased kidneys during various stages of childhood growth and development.