Medicine & Health

Timothy Miller, MD, PhD, the David Clayson Professor of Neurology at the School of Medicine, has been named a winner of the Rainwater Annual Prize for Outstanding Innovation in Neurodegenerative Disease Research.

In the seminar “Cognitive Illusions,” students in psychological and brain sciences examine the causes and consequences of errors in thinking.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have discovered that the fluid around the brain flows to areas critical for normal brain development and function, suggesting that disruptions to its circulation may play an underrecognized role in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Research from the lab of Hong Chen, at the McKelvey School of Engineering and the School of Medicine, and collaborators found that using focused-ultrasound-mediated liquid biopsy in a mouse model released more tau proteins and another biomarker into the blood than without the intervention. This noninvasive method could facilitate diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have discovered a biomarker for a rare, deadly brain disease known as corticobasal degeneration (CBD). The biomarker could accelerate efforts to develop treatments for CBD.

Seniors Sam Norwitz and Ephraim Oyetunji, both majoring in neuroscience in Arts & Sciences, were finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the world’s most prestigious academic honors.

New School of Medicine research provides clues to falling fast asleep — or lying wide awake. Studying fruit flies, the researchers found that brain neurons adapt to help the flies stay awake despite tiredness in dangerous situations and help them fall asleep after an intense day.

Research in animals led by Washington University and the Roslin Institute in Scotland shows that supplying a vital missing enzyme helps to improve CLN1 disease, a rare but fatal brain disorder.

Bruce Carlson, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, recently won a $980,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study neuronal plasticity and the evolvability of animal behavior.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have identified a pathway in the brains of mice that is activated when the animals see other mice scratching. They found that this so-called “contagious itching” is controlled through a visual pathway that operates independently of the visual cortex.