WashU Experts: Science cuts would cause ‘chilling effect’
Proposed federal budget cuts to two major programs could translate into fewer treatments, fewer cures, fewer drug findings, fewer researchers and fewer breakthroughs in areas where the United States is a world leader, say science and health experts at Washington University in St. Louis.
$7 million aimed at illuminating the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease
Two new studies led by the School of Medicine aim to clarify the genetic underpinnings of Alzheimer’s disease. Funded by grants totaling $7 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers seek to find ways to predict who will develop the disease as well as new targets for therapies.
Brain hardwired to respond to others’ itching
Washington University School of Medicine researchers have found that socially contagious itching is hardwired in the brain. Studying mice, the scientists identified what happens in the brain when a mouse feels itchy after seeing another scratch.
Experts call for increased efforts to prevent cancer
Cancer prevention experts, led by Washington University School of Medicine’s Graham A. Colditz, MD, PhD, are calling for education efforts and expanded programs to help people improve their health and halt cancer development.
The father of the microbiome
Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, is expanding our understanding of human health into nonhuman realms, studying the bacteria that take up residence in the gut and help define who we become. Indeed, this research suggests you are what you — and your microbes — eat.
Key collaborators
Jeff Gordon’s influence in the race to understand the human gut microbiome extends to the many students he has mentored at the Washington University School of Medicine. Here is a small sampling of his former students and postdocs, and where they are now.
Sporting a new look
At the Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center, the university encourages healthy living through
state-of-the-art fitness and recreation facilities.
Improving lives for seniors
Marylen Mann is the founder of OASIS a nationwide program to help seniors remain active and engaged in their communities even after retirement.
New weight-loss therapy rids body of food before digestion
A new weight-loss therapy offers significantly overweight people a means to rid their bodies of some of what they eat before excess calories can be absorbed. Called aspiration therapy, the FDA-approved, nonsurgical therapy was developed by researchers at the School of Medicine and is available at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.
Common heart ailment target of new WashU Engineering research
More than 14 million Americans have an irregular heartbeat that predisposes them to sudden death. New research by a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis seeks to understand the issue at the molecular level with the goal of improving therapies.
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