School of Medicine

A detailed new map by researchers at the School of Medicine lays out the landscape of the cerebral cortex – the outermost layer of the brain and the dominant structure involved in sensory perception and attention, as well as distinctly human functions such as language, tool use and abstract thinking.

School of Medicine researchers have found how sensory nerve cells work together to transmit itch signals from the skin to the spinal cord, where neurons then carry those signals to the brain. Their discovery may help scientists find more effective ways to make itching stop.

Audrey R. Odom, MD, PhD, a noted malaria researcher at the Washington University School of Medicine, has received a five-year, $500,000 award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund to further her research into the parasitic disease.

A study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, has identified a genetic error that weakens the aorta, placing patients with this and similar errors at high risk of aortic aneurysms and ruptures.

With a goal of treating worn, arthritic hips without extensive surgery to replace them, scientists at the School of Medicine have programmed stem cells to grow new cartilage on a 3-D template shaped like the ball of a hip joint.

A study in mice at the School of Medicine how genes stuck in the “on” position can lead to faulty brain wiring that affects learning and memory.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are launching a major study in African-American women with breast cancer to learn whether their genetic risks are influenced by the same mutations that affect white women or are altogether different mutations.

Celebrating innovation in St. Louis, the St. Louis Business Journal honored area individuals and companies with the publication’s third annual Innovation Awards in June. Among those honored were Washington University’s student-run IDEA Labs and Sasa Mutic, of the School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology.

Two new studies from the School of Medicine indicate that current clinical practices may be missing a key aspect of stroke-induced brain damage. For some cognitive functions, such as memory and attention, the severity of a person’s disability correlates with the extent of disruption to the brain’s communication networks – something that is not measured by most brain scans.

New research from the School of Medicine provides clues to why some patients with glioblastoma fare worse and identifies a drug target that potentially could improve survival.