Medicine & Health

Researchers at the School of Medicine have discovered that the ability to interact with other elements of the immune system is an indispensable part of the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies. The findings could help improve the design of the next generation of COVID-19 drugs.

An international team of researchers, including scientists at the School of Medicine, has formed a network to study the role of inflammation in heart disease, with a goal of finding new therapies to improve recovery after heart attacks.

Two faculty members from Washington University — Princess Imoukhuede and Philip R. O. Payne — have been named fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). AIMBE’s College of Fellows is limited to the top 2% of medical and biological engineers.

The university’s Bernard Becker Medical Library has compiled a COVID-19 resource guide, which includes information on the COVID-19 vaccine and its development as well as a list of vaccine pre-registration sites for community members in the St. Louis region.

School of Medicine researchers have received a grant to investigate whether immunosuppressive drugs prescribed for inflammatory bowel disease or psoriasis also can control blood sugar levels.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis describes a strategy that could lead to therapies for clearing HIV infection. The researchers showed that human immune cells have a natural alarm system that detects the activity of a specific HIV protein.

Weikai Li, along with Michael J. Greenberg, both at the School of Medicine, and Michael L. Gross, in Arts & Sciences, received a three-year $750,000 grant from American Heart Association for their research titled “Interdisciplinary structural studies of iron homeostasis in cardiovascular health.”

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have engineered cartilage cells to release an anti-inflammatory drug in response to stresses such cells undergo when they are compressed during weight bearing and movement.

Michael S. Kinch, associate vice chancellor and director of the Centers for Research Innovation in Biotechnology and Drug Discovery, and professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the School of Medicine,, received a one-year $280,385 grant from Arnold Ventures for his research titled “CDEK: Clinical Data Experience Knowledge-base.”

Alex Holehouse, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the School of Medicine, received a one-year $91,539 grant from Dewpoint Therapeutics for his research titled “Bioinformatic tools for the analysis of phase separating proteins.”