Newsroom Stories

​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.​

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.

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.

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.

Researchers led by John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, at the School of Medicine have designed a way to mitigate graft-versus-host disease, a common and often life-threatening complication of bone marrow transplants that are used to treat leukemia and other blood cancers. The method also employs a molecular imaging tool to help doctors identify patients most likely to develop this dangerous condition.

​IdealTap, a medical device that would make spinal taps easier and more efficient for the patient and physician, has won $25,000 in cash in the 2015 Discovery Competition in the School of Engineering & Applied Science.

The Washington University AIDS Clinical Trials Unit is the first in the nation to open a clinical trial evaluating whether statins reduce heart attacks and strokes in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).