School of Medicine

School of Medicine researchers are studying a protein, TREM-2, that may be an important contributor to the disease.

For the first time, WUSTL scientists have decoded the complete DNA of a cancer patient and traced her disease to its genetic roots. The pioneering work sets the stage for using a more comprehensive, genome-wide approach to unravel the genetic basis of cancer.

School of Medicine scientists have determined that the same factors play key roles in three different diseases that can lead to blindness.

Multiple sclerosis results when the body’s own defense system attacks nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Now scientists led by John Russell, Ph.D., at the School of Medicine have shown that interferon-gamma plays a deciding role in whether immune cells attack and injure the central nervous system in mice.

Scientists have shown for the first time that neuroprosthetic brain implants may be able to help stroke patients with partial paralysis. Researchers found that implants known as brain-computer interfaces (BCI) may be able to detect activity on one side of the brain that is linked to hand and arm movements on the same side of the body. They hope to use these signals to guide motorized assistance mechanisms that restore mobility in partially paralyzed limbs.

A test that reveals brain changes believed to be at the heart of Alzheimer’s disease has bolstered the theory that education can delay the onset of the dementia and cognitive decline that are characteristic of the disorder. Scientists at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the School of Medicine found that some study participants who appeared to have the brain plaques long associated with Alzheimer’s disease still received high scores on tests of their cognitive ability. Participants who did well on the tests were likely to have spent more years in school.

Mark Twain, a skeptic of the idea of free will, argues in his essay “What Is Man?” that humans do not command their minds or the opinions they form. Twain’s views get a boost this week from researchers at the School of Medicine and University of Chieti, Italy. In Nature Neuroscience, scientists report that a simple decision-making task does not involve the frontal lobes, where many of the higher aspects of human cognition, including self-awareness, are thought to originate.

The Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Program is seeking applications from junior faculty with a medical degree, doctorate or M.D./Ph.D. who are pursuing a research career in areas relevant to women’s health. These include autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, depression, complications of pregnancy, diabetes and obesity, osteoporosis, infectious diseases and cancer. The program supports […]

School of Medicine scientists have assembled the most complete catalog to date of the genetic changes underlying the most common form of lung cancer.

Photo by Michael Worful(From left) Jessica Dasher and Denise Curl, who work with Kerri Morgan at the Enabling Mobility Center, congratulate Morgan on her performance at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing at a welcome home party for Morgan in the Program in Occupational Therapy lobby.