Medicine & Health

Timothy Ley, MD, has been investigating leukemia, particularly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), for decades. His research team now knows the mutations they need to go after ­aggressively, the nature of the ­mutations that need to be targeted and why patients relapse.

At Washington University, training the next generation of leaders in translational medicine is a key focus. Here, Cheryl Leyns and Phat Huynh share stories of working in the lab of David Holtzman, MD, researching pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease.

For Ira Kodner, MD, emeritus professor of surgery, Frankenstein has many ethical lessons for young scientists, physicians and society at large.

Researchers have identified a potential way to prevent chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs). Their research points to a key protein that bacteria use to latch onto the bladder and cause UTIs, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Vaccinating mice against the protein reduces the ability of bacteria to cause severe disease.

A new School of Medicine study in mice has shown that immunotherapy against pancreatic cancer can be effective when given in conjunction with drugs that break up the fibrous tissue in these tumors.

People who suffer itching with no clear cause may have previously unrecognized immune system defects. In a small study of such patients, researchers from the Center for the Study of Itch at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identified immune system irregularities that may prompt the urge to scratch.

New research from David Gutmann, MD, PhD, may help doctors determine which medical issues are likely to manifest in patients with the inherited cancer syndrome neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). The findings indicate that varying mutations in the NF1 gene may lead to different clinical outcomes.

Studying mice with a variety of viral infections, scientists at the School of Medicine have demonstrated a way to dial up the body’s innate immune defenses while simultaneously attacking a protein that many viruses rely on to replicate. The findings reveal previously unknown weapons in the body’s antiviral immune arsenal and provide guidelines for designing drugs that could be effective against a broad range of viruses.

Three antibiotics that, individually, are not effective against a drug-resistant staph infection can kill the deadly pathogen when combined as a trio, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They have killed the bug — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) — in test tubes and laboratory mice, and believe the same strategy may work in people.

Infections with one of the most troublesome and least understood antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” are increasing at alarming rates, particularly in health-care settings. But by studying A. baumannii, a frequent cause of difficult-to-treat infections in hospitals,  researchers have identified a naturally occurring​ process that restores its vulnerability to antibiotics.