Medicine & Health

A study from School of Medicine researchers, published in the journal Nature, has found evidence that the immune response to the first two COVID-19 vaccines authorized by the FDA is both strong and potentially long-lasting.

The virus that causes COVID-19 normally gets inside cells by attaching to a protein called ACE2. School of Medicine researchers have found that a single mutation confers the ability to enter cells through another route.

New research at Washington University School of Medicine suggests that many COVID-19 therapies made from combinations of two antibodies are effective against a wide range of variants of the virus.

Wayland Cheng, MD, PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology at the School of Medicine, has received the 2021 Frontiers in Anesthesia Research Award from the International Anesthesia Research Society. The prestigious $750,000 award, which is given only once every three years, funds projects with an eye toward developing future leaders in anesthesiology.

A team led by researchers at the School of Medicine has identified, in mice, specific cells and proteins that control the sneeze reflex. Better understanding of what causes sneezing may point to treatments to slow the spread of infectious respiratory diseases.

Jai Rudra, assistant professor at the McKelvey School of Engineering, will use a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to study chirality in nanomaterials and ultimately help design safer synthetic nanomaterial vaccines.

Six winners have been selected for the 2021-22 Big Ideas Competition award. The competition identifies and supports high-priority, novel projects from collaborative teams developing innovations in informatics and health-care delivery.

Ramakrishna Kommagani, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the School of Medicine, received a five-year $1.86 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his research titled “Role of the Gut Microbiota in Endometriosis.”

Peter M. Burgers, at the School of Medicine, received a five-year $3.5 million renewal grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his research titled “Mechanisms of DNA replication and maintenance in eukaryotes.”

A multidisciplinary team at Washington University led by Hong Chen has developed a new brain stimulation technique using focused ultrasound that is able to turn specific types of neurons in the brain on and off and precisely control motor activity without surgical device implantation.