Medicine & Health

Hong Chen, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science and assistant professor of radiation oncology at the School of Medicine, reached across disciplines to work toward a more focused drug delivery system that could target tumors lodged in the brainstem, the body’s most precious system.

An experimental drug reduces brain atrophy in people with progressive multiple sclerosis, raising hopes that it also can reduce disability. The School of Medicine is one of 28 clinical sites participating in the study.

Using technology similar to what is found in many eye doctors’ offices, School of Medicine researchers have detected evidence suggesting Alzheimer’s in older patients who had no symptoms of the disease.

New School of Medicine research, in mice, indicates that a natural sugar called trehalose blocks glucose from the liver and activates a gene that boosts insulin sensitivity, reducing the chance of developing diabetes.

A research team at the School of Medicine has found that laser treatment designed to destroy the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma can add an average of two months to a patient’s life, compared with chemotherapy. The increase is small but meaningful for people who have only months left to live.

More investment is needed in research, funding and policy to improve the collection and analyses of disaggregated health data for the growing and diverse U.S. Latino population, finds a new report from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Research led by the School of Medicine found that community outreach and education are critical for individuals navigating health insurance options available in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. Such efforts at the state level may have contributed to a higher enrollment among Missourians in 2018.

People with depression who are treated with nerve stimulation experience significant improvements in quality of life, even when their depression symptoms don’t completely subside, according to results of a national study led by School of Medicine researchers.

School of Medicine researchers are trying a different approach to alleviate depression. Using CRISPR technology, the scientists have been able to target a different type of receptor in the brain that may be aided by natural mood-boosting substances.

Rachel Tabak, research associate professor at the Brown School, has received a five-year $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study ways to prevent weight gain and chronic disease among mothers age 18-35.