Medicine & Health

Pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly and Company has purchased Disarm Therapeutics, a startup biotechnology firm founded by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine to speed the development of treatments for multiple neurodegenerative conditions.

Carlos Ponce, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience at the School of Medicine, is one of 20 people to receive a 2020 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. Packard fellows are among the nation’s top early-career scientists. Ponce studies how visual recognition works in the brain.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have received a grant to study the role of brain inflammation in Parkinson’s disease. The project focuses on whether inflammation aids the spread of Parkinson’s damage throughout the brain.

Keith Hengen, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received a three-year $1.8 million grant to study the role of sleep and waking behavior in shaping the brain’s neural dynamics. His research will help scientists understand how sleep contributes to healthy cognition and shed light on the mechanisms by which disrupted sleep worsens neurodegenerative and mental health disorders.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and their colleagues at other institutions have identified mutations in single genes that can be responsible for at least some cases of cerebral palsy.

An experimental drug for a rare, inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has shown promise in a phase 1/phase 2 clinical trial conducted at Washington University School of Medicine and other sites.

An interruption in blood flow to the brain causes a stroke. A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reveals that stroke care in rural areas lags significantly behind that available in urban centers.

A neuroscientist’s arm cast led him and fellow School of Medicine researchers to find previously undetected neuronal pulses in the human brain that activate after an immobilizing illness or injury. The pulses appeared on MRI scans used to measure brain activity.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a $3.7 million grant to investigate the link between manganese and cognitive problems by studying welders whose work exposes them to the metal.

Washington University scientists will receive $13.7 million in additional funding for ongoing research into adolescent brain development. Their work is part of the largest long-term study of brain development ever conducted in the United States.