Medicine & Health

Artificial intelligence can turn from a mere tool into a full-fledged partner in the research process. A new book from a faculty member at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis serves as a guide to the future of research.

Wearable brain-imaging tech aims to reveal how the brain works in natural, realistic situations. Washington University researchers received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to develop and commercialize a brain-imaging cap that uses LED light to gauge brain activity.

Some mammals and birds have a clever way to preserve energy and heat by going into torpor, during which their body temperature and metabolic rate drop. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis safely and noninvasively induced a torpor-like state in mice and rats by using ultrasound to stimulate the hypothalamus preoptic area in the brain.

Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the School of Medicine is launching a prostate cancer screening initiative along with an educational campaign in the St. Louis region to address racial disparities in prostate cancer.

A mouse study at Washington University School of Medicine points to data that could be key to developing an effective vaccine for the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae. The bug is often resistant to antibiotics, making it difficult to treat in some.

A team of researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering and the School of Medicine are using Fitbit data and deep learning to detect depression and anxiety.

Katie Westby, a vector and disease ecologist at Tyson Research Center, applies a strong DEET repellant and wears treated clothing when she’s headed deep into the woods, but uses a lighter touch at home. She warns that pet dogs and cats can also be affected by mosquito bites.

Diabetes researchers at the School of Medicine have learned why islet beta cells produced from stem cells may not be as good at making insulin in response to blood sugar. The findings could improve treatment for those with insulin-dependent diabetes.

Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering discovered how to use focused ultrasound with microbubbles to examine the glymphatic system. Impairments in this system may contribute to brain diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases and stroke.

A team led by Washington University in St. Louis has been awarded $1 million over two years from the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program to help advance neuroscience technologies.