School of Medicine

Researchers at the School of Medicine and the McKelvey School of Engineering have developed a noninvasive technique called sonobiopsy that uses ultrasound and microbubbles to release biomolecules from brain tumors. A blood draw can collect the biomolecules to help inform treatment decisions.

Sumanth Prabhu, MD, director of the Cardiovascular Division at the School of Medicine, is a heart failure specialist with a passion for patient care.

Jason Yi and Harrison Gabel, both at the School of Medicine, each have received two-year, $300,000 pilot grants from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative. The researchers will use the funds to investigate genetic diseases that result in autism.

Ying (Maggie) Chen, MD, PhD, at the School of Medicine, has received a match grant of $30,000 from the Center for Drug Discovery at Washington University. The grant will help fund proof of concept and related research directed toward targeting a novel receptor to treat uromodulin-associated chronic kidney disease.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have received a $5.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate immune responses to a cancer-causing virus after organ transplantation in children.

Natalie M. Niemi, an assistant professor at the School of Medicine, received a five-year $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research on mitchondrial function.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have identified a key step in the development of destructive tau tangles in the brain. The discovery could lead to new approaches to treating a group of neurodegenerative diseases known as tauopathies, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Multi-omics leverages the power of several different “omics” data types at once to build a detailed picture of factors that contribute to human health and disease. Under a $19.2 million grant award, Gary Patti, in Arts & Sciences, and Ting Wang, at the School of Medicine, will manage a new hub for multi-omics analyses at Washington University.

Six Washington University in St. Louis faculty members are being honored by the Academy of Science – St. Louis for their outstanding contributions to the field. They will be recognized at an awards dinner Sept. 20 at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Vikas R. Dharnidharka, MD, a professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been installed as the Alexis F. Hartmann Sr., MD, Professor of Pediatrics. He was installed in August on the Medical Campus.