School of Medicine

Stroke is commonly thought of as a concern only for older adults, but pediatric strokes annually affect 13 of every 100,000 U.S. children. In the St. Louis area, many of these patients are seen by Washington University specialists at the Pediatric Stroke Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Nanocages that efficiently convert light to heat are the basis for a targeted form of phototherapy that would destroy tumors without making cancer patients sick.

For years, electronic surveillance has been used to track and capture a host of evil suspects — terrorists, mobsters and spies among them. Keith Woeltje, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, relies on electronic surveillance, too. He is a modern-day microbe hunter, tracking bugs that are invisible to the naked eye but capable of causing mayhem in hospitals.

The School of Medicine has received a $14.3 million grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand its high-powered data center for genomics. The facility’s sophisticated computer networks store massive amounts of genomic data used to identify the genetic origins of cancer and other diseases.

The Longer Life Foundation has awarded grants to six research projects on issues related to aging at Washington University School of Medicine. Over the last 10 years, the foundation has awarded more than $2 million to the university to fund independent research into improving methods for predicting long-term mortality.

Most people at risk for developing glaucoma due to high eye pressure do not need treatment, according to a large, multi-center study.

The National Cancer Institute has awarded Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine a prestigious Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant in endometrial cancer. 

A genome-wide study into the genetic roots of alcoholism has identified several areas of DNA that appear to contribute to the disease. But researchers say those genes make relatively modest contributions to overall risk of alcoholism.

Children with asthma who continue to have symptoms while using low-dose inhaled corticosteroids could benefit from increasing the dosage or adding one of two asthma drugs, according to a new study at the School of Medicine and other institutions. The research is published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A newly identified cancer biomarker could define a new subtype of breast cancer as well as offer a potential way to treat it, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The biomarker is found frequently in breast cancers that have poorer outcomes and can be inhibited by a protein discovered in the same laboratory, which could become an effective drug against the breast cancer type.