School of Medicine

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.

A new School of Medicine study in mice has shown that immunotherapy against pancreatic cancer can be effective when given in conjunction with drugs that break up the fibrous tissue in these tumors.

In a large study of 15,000 adults undergoing elective surgery, researchers at the School of Medicinefound that falling up to six months before an operation is common and often causes serious injuries — not only in elderly patients but across all age groups. Surprisingly, middle-aged patients fell slightly higher than those 65 or older.

Peter Nagele, MD, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the Ziskind-Somerfeld Research Award from the Society for Biological Psychiatry.

Buoyed by a $5.1 million grant, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will study novel strategies to reduce infections acquired in health-care settings and to limit the spread of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The funding is part of $26 million awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to five academic medical centers as part of a patient-safety effort known as the Prevention Epicenters Program.

The university’s Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences and the Center for Drug Discovery together have awarded Bear Cub grants totaling $225,000 to five teams. The funding helps scientists become entrepreneurs.