Medicine & Health

A grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will fund the Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control at Washington University. The center’s aim will be to reduce cancer disparities in Missouri and central and southern Illinois.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support an open-source database aimed at boosting personalized approaches to cancer treatment.

Premature infants are at high risk of developing life-threatening lung infections, partly because their lungs are underdeveloped at birth. A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found, in mice, that an inhaled drug promotes the development of lung immunity and reduces the risk of pneumonia.

The newly launched Social Policy Institute and the McDonnell International Scholars Academy are seeking proposals for collaboration between Washington University researchers and researchers at international partner universities.

A School of Medicine study has found that brain immune cells called microglia form the crucial link between protein clumping and brain damage. Suppressing such cells might prevent or delay the onset of dementia in people.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the gut microbiome has an impact on how the body breaks down processed foods, such as cereals, pastas, chocolate and soda. The new knowledge could help in the development of healthier, more nutritious processed foods.

A longtime leader in microbiome research, the School of Medicine plans to expand research into the microbiome with a new mouse facility that will further enable researchers to understand how microbes influence health and disease. The facility will be funded with an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and an additional $2.8 million from the School of Medicine.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis confirms that the brain tunes itself to a point where it is as excitable as it can be without tipping into disorder, similar to a phase transition. The new research from Keith Hengen, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is published Oct. 7 in the journal Neuron.

An immune cell that helps set the daily rhythms of the digestive system has been identified by researchers at the School of Medicine. The findings open the door to new treatments for digestive ailments targeting such cells.

One of the most frequently performed weight-loss surgeries in the world — Roux-en-Y gastric bypass — is effective, but another procedure rarely performed in the U.S. appears to be more effective at eliminating type 2 diabetes in patients with obesity. A study from the School of Medicine explains why.