Vision researchers win prize for tool to track public data sharing
WashU Medicine researchers have won a $400,000 prize for creating a free online tool to help scientists track and showcase the real-world value of the raw research data they share with the public.
$11.7 million from NIH supports research on inflammation in blood cancers
A grant to WashU Medicine researchers will fund the study of how inflammation drives myeloproliferative neoplasms, a group of blood cancers at high risk of progressing to acute myeloid leukemia.
Medicine, Science, and Ancient Wisdom
Should medicine be more broadly defined? Can an emphasis on our shared humanity lead to better treatments? And what about joy? In this episode of Ideas Matter, WashU’s Sandro Galea, dean of the Bursky School of Public Health, and the University of Chicago’s Geeta Maker-Clark, a physician and expert on integrative nutrition, explore how a more holistic approach to medicine can benefit us all.
Geeta Maker-Clark
Blocking immune cells’ path into brain limits neurodegeneration
In a mouse study, WashU Medicine researchers show that a drug injected into the body can reduce damage caused by a protein called tau, which accumulates in the brain in Alzheimer’s and related neurological diseases.
Brain activity varies with age in children with autistic traits
WashU Medicine researchers find that children with more autistic traits favored a brain activity pattern tied to sight and movement before age 9 and one tied to social and emotional processing after 14, suggesting interventions could be tailored by age.
Frequent cannabis use tied to more severe epilepsy
A study led by WashU Medicine researchers found that near-daily cannabis users with drug-resistant epilepsy had over twice as many convulsive seizures as nonusers, and they became resistant to antiseizure medications faster.
A unique solution for bioelectronics: collagen and cacao butter
Biomedical engineers at WashU McKelvey Engineering developed an additive manufacturing method using a 3D printer that builds bioelectronic materials from collagen and a polymer that can carry electrical signals, work that could ultimately improve the function of medical implants.
Cancer survivors less likely to be physically active, study finds
Adults with a history of cancer are less likely to be physically active than those without a cancer history, finds a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.
Blood proteins reveal effects of Alzheimer’s drug
WashU Medicine researchers found that dozens of blood proteins shifted during treatment with the anti-amyloid medication lecanemab, which could enable future blood tests monitoring a person’s response to the drug.
Advice from the frontline of alpha-gal syndrome
WashU Medicine allergist and immunologist Maya Jerath, MD, PhD, has treated over 650 patients with alpha-gal, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction triggered by tick bites — and the prevalence is increasing rapidly, she says.
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