Medicine & Health

Researchers at the School of Medicine have discovered that the genetic variant APOE4 – long linked to dementia – spurs the spread of harmful clumps of Parkinson’s proteins through the brain. The findings suggest that therapies that target APOE might reduce the risk of dementia for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Studying mice, researchers at the School of Medicine and their colleagues have shown that a drug compound can block damage caused by too much glutamate signaling, raising the possibility of medication that prevents noise-induced hearing loss.

A new study led by the School of Medicine lays out a genetic road map of immune responses to tuberculosis (TB) infection across three species.

New research led by the School of Medicine indicates that 1 in 4 of the children given antibiotics in U.S. children’s hospitals are prescribed the drugs inappropriately. The overuse of antibiotics poses an increasing threat to children who develop — or already have — drug-resistant infections.

Timothy Miller, MD, PhD, the David Clayson Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and a group of his colleagues have received the inaugural Healey Center International Prize for innovation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research from the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital.

High-protein diets may help people lose weight and build muscle, but a School of Medicine study in mice suggests they also lead to more plaque in the arteries. The findings also show that high-protein diets spur unstable plaque, the kind most prone to rupturing and causing blocked arteries.

New School of Medicine research indicates that “jumping genes” play a surprising role in stabilizing the 3D folding patterns of the DNA molecule inside a cell’s nucleus.

School of Medicine researchers have received $29 million from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health to continue a long-running, international Alzheimer’s study aimed at understanding how the disease develops and progresses.

A new study from the School of Medicine suggests that bone marrow — or blood stem cells — from healthy donors can harbor extremely rare mutations that can cause health problems for the cancer patients who receive them. Such stem cell transplants are important for treating blood cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia.

Exposure to chemotherapy and radiation during cancer treatment leads to bone loss and increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. A new School of Medicine study identifies the trigger for this bone loss and suggests ways to prevent it.