Medicine & Health

Douglas Berg, PhD, soon-to-be professor emeritus of molecular microbiology, establishes collaborations across disciplines.

In a boon for teenagers everywhere, scientists have discovered there are “bad” strains of acne bacteria associated with pimples and “good” strains that may protect the skin.

A survey of tanning salon operators in Missouri shows that 65 percent would allow children as young as 10 to 12 years old to use tanning beds. That’s despite evidence that any tanning bed use increases the risk of all skin cancers, including melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, later in life.

In research that one day could improve the success of stem cell transplants and chemotherapy, scientists have found that distinct niches exist in the bone marrow to nurture different types of blood stem cells.

A large team of scientists has decoded the genome of a sea lamprey – one of the few ancient, jawless species of vertebrates that has survived through the modern era.

ICU patients who are bathed daily with antiseptic wipes have significantly lower rates of bloodstream infections and are less likely to acquire antibiotic-resistant bacteria on the skin, according to a new study from researchers including David Warren, MD, medical director for infection prevention at the School of Medicine.

Washington University in St. Louis administrators are urging Congress and the White House to reach a compromise to avoid wide-ranging, across-the-board federal spending cuts that would take effect March 1.

The most common inherited form of mental retardation and autism, fragile X syndrome, turns some brain cells into chatterboxes, scientists at the School of Medicine report. The extra chatter may make it harder for brain cells to identify and attend to important signals, potentially establishing a parallel at the cellular level to the attention problems seen in autism.

In the weeks, months and years after a severe head injury, patients often experience epileptic seizures that are difficult to control. A new study in rats suggests that gently cooling the brain after injury may prevent these seizures.

Robert Mecham, PhD, has been named interim head of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.