School of Medicine

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the National Cancer Institute finds a possible link between slow walking pace and an increased risk of death among cancer survivors.

School of Medicine researchers have found that new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 can evade antibodies that work against the original form of the virus, potentially undermining the effectiveness of vaccines and antibody-based drugs being used to prevent or treat COVID-19.

The drug buprenorphine is an effective treatment for opioid use disorder, but many who misuse opioids also take benzodiazepines to treat anxiety and similar conditions. School of Medicine researchers found that buprenorphine lowered the overdose risk, even in people who also took benzodiazepines such as Valium or Xanax.

A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides evidence that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can invade and replicate inside heart muscle cells, causing cell death and interfering with heart muscle contraction.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have received an eight-year, $8.8 million grant to study ion channels as potential targets for new drugs to treat disorders affecting the brain, heart and muscles.

Alzheimer’s researchers David M. Holtzman, MD, and Celeste Karch, PhD, at the School of Medicine, have been recognized by the Rainwater Charitable Foundation for scientific achievements that could lead to new, effective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases associated with the accumulation of tau protein in the brain. Alzheimer’s is the best known such disease.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has uncovered a previously unknown role for exosomes in inflammatory respiratory diseases. The study has implications for finding new therapies.

Pathologist Richard J. Cote, MD, the Edward Mallinckrodt Professor at the School of Medicine, has been elected a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors.

Applications are now being accepted for the Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Leukemia Career Enhancement Program and the Developmental Research Program, under principal investigator Daniel Link, MD, at the School of Medicine. Those interested should apply by April 30.

Samantha Kirstin Barrick, a postdoctoral scholar in biochemistry and molecular biophysics and in the laboratory of Michael J. Greenberg at the School of Medicine, received a three-year $208,182 fellowship award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).