School of Medicine

What can we learn from Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein 200 years after it was published? A lot, insofar as the book’s central conflicts — between science and ethics, society and the other — still resonate today.

Washington University and the National University of Singapore partnered to present a multi-day symposia, “University Partnerships for Innovation: Advancing Human Well-Being.”

Researchers nationwide have reached a major milestone in describing the genetic landscape of cancer. Scientists at the School of Medicine and other institutions have completed the genetic sequencing and analyses of more than 11,000 tumors from patients, spanning 33 types of cancer — all part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project, funded by the National Cancer Institute and National Human Genome Research Institute, both of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

New research at the School of Medicine suggests that aging immune cells increase the risk for age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness in the United States.

Belly fat affects the odds of women surviving kidney cancer but not men, according to a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Very slow brain waves may be more important than anyone had realized. Researchers at the School of Medicine have found that very slow waves are directly linked to state of consciousness and may be involved in coordinating activity across distant brain regions.

School of Medicine scientists have combined the gene-editing tool CRISPR with a deactivated virus to deliver a healthy gene to a precise location in the bodies of living mice. And more importantly, the researchers demonstrated that the inserted gene remained properly activated in mice for at least six months.

Doctors recommend against taking antibiotics for viral infections because they don’t kill viruses — and they promote antibiotic resistance. A new study from the School of Medicine suggests another reason to avoid the pills: Taking antibiotics increases susceptibility to subsequent viral infection, at least in mice.

Scientists have designed a new drug compound that dials down inflammation, suggesting possible future uses against autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. The new inhibitor is more selective than other compounds, according to new School of Medicine research.

Sticky amyloid plaques play a role in Alzheimer’s disease. School of Medicine researchers have shown that an antibody targeting a minor part of the plaques – a protein known as APOE – can sweep away the damaging plaques, opening potential treatment options.