Newsroom Stories

A team of researchers, including neuroscientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has developed a wireless device the width of a human hair that can be implanted in the brain and activated by remote control to deliver drugs to brain cells. The technology, demonstrated for the first time in mice, one day may be used to treat pain, depression, epilepsy and other neurological disorders in people by targeting therapies to specific brain circuits.

Studying mice, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified two signaling molecules that are required for the proper development of a part of the inner ear called the cochlea. The study contributes to the understanding of inner ear development, a first step toward the goal of being able to recover lost hearing.

​During a recent trip to China, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton had a productive visit to Xi’an Jiaotong University. In addition to delivering an address at the university’s commencement, the chancellor signed a letter of partnership with Xi’an Jiaotong, outlining future collaborations and support between the two universities.

Scientists attending a workshop at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory  slipped the leash of scientific caution and tried to imagine what they would do if they could redesign plants at will. The ideas they dreamed up may make the difference between full bellies and empty ones in the near future when population may outrun the ability of traditional plant breeding to increase yields.

Larry Taber, PhD, the Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and four co-authors received the 2015 Richard Skalak Award for the best paper published in 2014 in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering.

Faculty and staff in the plastic and reconstructive surgery, urologic surgery and public health sciences divisions in the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have completed all four levels of training offered by the medical school’s diversity and inclusion team.

Images captured in and around the Washington University campuses.

Infections with one of the most troublesome and least understood antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” are increasing at alarming rates, particularly in health-care settings. But by studying A. baumannii, a frequent cause of difficult-to-treat infections in hospitals,  researchers have identified a naturally occurring​ process that restores its vulnerability to antibiotics.

​Why downsize the O-R-E-O? Joseph Goodman, PhD, associate professor of marketing at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School, it’s a matter of matching tastes to the market.​​

John A. Cooper, MD, PhD, has been named head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine.