Medicine & Health

Research in animals led by Washington University and the Roslin Institute in Scotland shows that supplying a vital missing enzyme helps to improve CLN1 disease, a rare but fatal brain disorder.

Bruce Carlson, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, recently won a $980,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study neuronal plasticity and the evolvability of animal behavior.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have identified a pathway in the brains of mice that is activated when the animals see other mice scratching. They found that this so-called “contagious itching” is controlled through a visual pathway that operates independently of the visual cortex.

Washington University has licensed the rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize its proprietary COVID-19 nasal vaccine in the United States, Europe and Japan to Ocugen Inc., a U.S.-based biotechnology company.

When people participate in studies of aging, they often want to know what their individual risks of developing dementia from Alzheimer’s disease are. Washington University researchers have developed an algorithm that can help provide them with information about what their risks may be.

The White House has sounded the alarm about vulnerabilities in the pharmaceutical supply chain. But new research from the Center for Analytics and Business Insights at Olin Business School found that the U.S. actually has the capacity to make the nation’s most essential and critical drugs — yet it’s mostly sitting idle.

Pioneering research at Washington University helped people understand the fundamental role of gut microbes in human health and disease. Now a community of local scientists is learning more about the diverse microbial systems that support animals, plants and ecosystems.

An award from Wellcome Leap will support Michelle Oyen’s study of fetal growth restriction during gestational development. The program aims to reduce stillbirth rates by half.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine are joining a national network, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to map the intricacies of the brain, with a goal of deepening knowledge of how the brain works and generating new insights into how the brain functions in healthy people — and how it malfunctions in Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism and numerous other conditions.

A comprehensive analysis of federal data by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine shows people who have had COVID-19 are at an elevated risk of developing neurological conditions within the first year after infection.