School of Medicine

David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD, the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor and vice chair for research affairs in the Department of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the Advocate of Hope Award from the national Neurofibromatosis (NF) Network.

Catherine Lang, professor of physical therapy, among other roles at Washington University School of Medicine, has been named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association.

An in-home monitoring program for COVID-19 patients who are not sick enough to be hospitalized has been launched by the School of Medicine and BJC HealthCare. By keeping close watch over COVID patients, doctors hope to identify signs of deterioration early so that they can intervene and, ideally, keep more people out of the hospital.

Disabling a gene in specific mouse cells, School of Medicine researchers have prevented mice from becoming obese, even after the animals had been fed a high-fat diet. The researchers blocked the activity of a gene in immune cells called macrophages, key inflammatory cells.

People with the genetic condition neurofibromatosis type 1 are prone to developing tumors on nervous system tissue. A new study from Washington University School of Medicine has found that the development and growth of such tumors are driven by nearby noncancerous neurons and immune cells.

In the COVID-19 wards of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where Washington University physicians are fighting an exhausting battle against a new, baffling and sometimes lethal disease with the help of the hospital’s nurses, other medical professionals and support staff.

A biomarker in newborns may signal autism spectrum disorder months or even years before troubling symptoms develop and such diagnoses typically are made. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and Stanford University found that some newborns had very low levels of a neuropeptide years before their diagnoses with autism spectrum disorder.

Washington University in St. Louis has stepped up to help doctors and nurses who need somewhere to stay amid their intense work caring for the sick during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing rooms and meals at the Knight Center and the Lofts apartments.

The COVID-19 WashU/BJC Maker Task Force has emerged as a central hub for St. Louis-area makers to help people in health-care settings stay safe as they care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The multidisciplinary group is working to develop everything from isolation gowns to ventilator replacement parts.

Aerosol research at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis is working at breakneck speed to understand the novel coronavirus and its effects at scales ranging from ecosystems to virus particles suspended in droplets.