Newsroom Stories

A diabetes drug may have benefits beyond lower blood sugar in patients with HIV. New research from the laboratory of Kevin E. Yarasheski, PhD, suggests the drug may prevent cardiovascular problems because it works to reduce inflammation that is linked to heart disease and stroke in these patients. The drug both improved metabolism and reduced inflammation in HIV-positive adults on antiretroviral therapy.

Washington University’s 154th Commencement is at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 15, in Brookings Quadrangle. The university will award 2,974 degrees to 2,825 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. The university also will bestow honorary degrees on five individuals. Here are details to help you cover WashU’s Commencement.

​To the nearly 2 million people in the United States living with the loss of a limb, prosthetic devices provide restored mobility, yet lack sensory feedback. A team of engineers and researchers at Washington University is working to change that so those with upper limb prosthetics can feel hot and cold and the sense of touch through their prosthetic hands.

​Americans are generally a pretty happy bunch, according to a new study that aims to further our collective understanding of happiness and its root causes. Lamar Pierce, PhD, associate professor of organization and strategy in the Olin Business School, helped lead the research.​

A newly discovered link between bacteria and immune cells sheds light on inflammatory bowel disease, an autoimmune condition that affects 1.6 million people in the United States, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

John VanderHeyden, a mechanic at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, said he is lucky to be alive after collapsing recently in a parking lot on the Medical Campus. He was revived by School of Medicine security officers, who immediately began chest compressions and used an automated external defibrillator (AED), a portable device that provides an electric shock to restore a heart’s normal rhythm.

Four School of Medicine nurses have received the 2015 Excellence in Nursing Award from St. Louis Magazine, honoring local nurses who have made a difference in the lives of their patients and colleagues.Pictured is Jennifer Wofford of the Department of Pediatrics, who received a perfect score from the award judges.

Transgender and non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual students are at greater risk for eating disorders, finds a new study from the Brown School and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study used data from 289,024 students at 223 U.S. universities participating in the American College Health Association–National College Health Assessment. Alexis Duncan, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School, was senior author on the study.

Snapshots captured in and around the Washington University campuses.

The list of authors for an article on the comparative genomics of a fruit fly chromosome, published online May 11 by the journal G3, includes 940 undergraduates from 63 institutions. It is the result of an effort, coordinated through Washington University in St. Louis, to provide many more students with a hands-on research experience than has traditionally been possible.