School of Medicine

Studying mice, School of Medicine researchers found that a drug can deliver itch relief by targeting particular opioid receptors on neurons in the spinal cord. The drug is being tested for its anti-itch effects in the U.S., but until now scientists haven’t understood how it works.

A new automated text messaging service may curb opioid abuse and reduce the likelihood of relapse while also decreasing treatment costs, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and Epharmix, a St. Louis-based digital health company.

Megan Cooper, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics and of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named director of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic and Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have identified how the highly contagious norovirus infection begins, in mice. Norovirus is a major cause of gastrointestinal illness worldwide.

Applications for the Pancreas SPORE Developmental Research Award, Disparities Developmental Research Award and Career Enhancement Awards are being accepted through May 15. The award supports innovative translational pancreas research and provides up to $75,000 for a year. 

Neurosurgeon Ralph G. Dacey Jr., MD, of the School of Medicine, is now the namesake for an award that pays tribute to his spirit and accomplishments in the area of cerebrovascular research, his myriad contributions to neurosurgery, and his unwavering leadership in the area of resident training and education.

An international team of researchers led by School of Medicine scientists has identified genetic links between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia, two conditions previously thought to be unrelated.

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).