https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Most well-studied proteins are folded, meaning they have a defined three-dimensional shape that helps determine each protein's specific function. But as the tools of science have improved, so has the understanding that many important proteins—or sections of proteins—don't maintain a fixed shape even as they carry out vital cellular processes. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-source-tool-wiggly-proteins.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 04 Sep 2025 15:26:03 EDT news676218362 When injured, cells have well-regulated responses to promote healing. These include a long-studied self-destruction process that cleans up dead and damaged cells as well as a more recently identified phenomenon that helps older cells revert to what appears to be a younger state to help grow back healthy tissue. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-cells-vomit.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 28 Aug 2025 16:44:04 EDT news675618241 As we age, our cells replicate, and the DNA in these cells can acquire mistakes—or mutations—every time the sequence is copied. Most newly acquired mutations are harmless, but some can tip the balance toward cancer development later in life. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-genetic-ways-blood-cancer-earlier.html Oncology & Cancer Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:56:29 EDT news675010583 Cerebral palsy affects around one in 345 children in the U.S., and more than half of them experience a problem called dystonia—involuntary and often painful muscle contractions, most commonly in the legs, that lead to abnormal movement and postures and make regular activities such as walking difficult. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-straightforward-method-accurately-severity-movement.html Neuroscience Thu, 14 Aug 2025 17:03:04 EDT news674409781 What infectious disease is deadliest worldwide? HIV? COVID-19? Malaria? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-tuberculosis-world-deadliest-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 11 Aug 2025 10:20:58 EDT news674126451 Biomolecular condensates are distinct molecular communities made of DNA, RNA and proteins that "condense" molecules to key locations inside cells. Intense efforts have focused on uncovering the numerous ways in which condensation is controlled, modulated and regulated inside cells. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-myosin-cell.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 28 May 2025 15:30:10 EDT news667664793 Pediatric pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) is a common type of low-grade brain tumor in children, influenced by specific genetic changes. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have conducted a study using advanced stem cell techniques to investigate the genetic alterations that cause PA and how they affect tumor growth. Their findings shed light on molecular pathways that could lead to new targeted therapies, offering hope for better treatment options for children with PA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-genetic-factors-pediatric-brain-tumor.html Oncology & Cancer Mon, 05 May 2025 15:59:03 EDT news665679541 Findings from a study published in Nature Medicine show that donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA), also called liquid biopsy, has the potential for early detection of kidney transplant rejection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-dna-fragments-kidney.html Genetics Wed, 07 Aug 2024 04:10:59 EDT news642222651 A clinical trial led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown that a T cell immunotherapy—in which the patients' own T cells are genetically modified to attack and kill cancer cells—is effective in treating some patients with rare cancers of the body's soft tissues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-clinical-trial-sarcoma-patients-cell.html Oncology & Cancer Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:21:04 EDT news630843662 Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is one of the first centers nationwide to offer a newly approved cell-based immunotherapy that targets melanoma. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-cell-based-immunotherapy-melanoma.html Medications Sat, 24 Feb 2024 10:40:02 EST news627734403 Diagnoses of breast cancer have increased steadily in women under age 50 over the past two decades, with steeper increases in more recent years, according to a study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The surge is driven largely by increases in the number of women diagnosed with estrogen-receptor positive tumors, cancerous growths fueled by estrogen. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-breast-cancer-younger-women.html Oncology & Cancer Mon, 29 Jan 2024 13:34:22 EST news625757659 For decades, scientists have been sequencing the DNA of many cancer types, identifying errors in the genetic code to help understand the formation of tumors, how they grow and what leads to their spread. But sometimes cancer is driven by subtle changes in the way the genetic code is executed, rather than by mistakes in the code itself. This layer of regulation is called the epigenome. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-role-epigenome-cancer-revealed.html Oncology & Cancer Thu, 02 Nov 2023 11:16:02 EDT news618142561 Malnutrition threatens the lives of millions of children under age 5, causing about 500,000 deaths per year in low- and middle-income countries. Short courses of antibiotics paired with a therapeutic peanut butter-based food are the standard of care for treating severe acute malnutrition in children—but using antibiotics in this vulnerable population is controversial; public health experts worry about the worsening problem of antibiotic resistance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-antibiotic-treatment-malnourished-children-gut.html Pediatrics Fri, 20 Oct 2023 10:19:09 EDT news617015946 Under normal circumstances, tau protein is part of the brain's infrastructure, important for stabilizing neurons into their proper shapes. But sometimes tau gets knotted up into tangles and turns toxic, injuring brain tissue and causing tauopathies, a group of brain diseases characterized by problems with learning, memory and movement. Alzheimer's disease is the most common tauopathy, but the group also includes Parkinson's disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and several rare genetic conditions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-09-key-toxic-protein-accumulation-alzheimer.html Neuroscience Thu, 21 Sep 2023 11:04:47 EDT news614513083 Pain from an injured back, shoulder or hip can make a person feel frustrated, anxious or even depressed. Many in health care may assume that when such injuries heal, mental health also improves. But a new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that over the long term, symptoms of depression and anxiety often don't subside when an orthopedic patient's physical pain improves. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-orthopedic-health-necessarily-mental.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 29 Jun 2023 07:49:16 EDT news607243666 On a cold spring morning, Washington University in St. Louis virologist Jacco Boon, Ph.D., and wildlife ecologist Solny Adalsteinsson, Ph.D., flap and drag a large white flag through a woodsy area on the western edge of St. Louis County. Boon, an associate professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Adalsteinsson, a senior scientist at the university's Tyson Research Center, are looking for lone star ticks that carry the potentially deadly Bourbon virus. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-tick-borne-bourbon-virus-infects-people.html Ecology Thu, 15 Jun 2023 13:52:42 EDT news606055946 Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a process in immune cells that links vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in offspring. The researchers also found that these immune cells and their embedded genes can be used to transfer type 2 diabetes into otherwise healthy mice. The research is published June 13 in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-maternal-vitamin-d-deficiency-lifetime.html Diabetes Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:23:42 EDT news605870619 Children with specific psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety, may struggle to understand emotional cues when people around them are happy, sad or angry, and that lack of understanding can make it difficult to respond appropriately in social situations. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-children-brain-scans-clues-emotional.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 09 Jun 2023 11:11:05 EDT news605527862 In the U.S., the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae is a common cause of urinary tract infection, bloodstream infection and pneumonia. While infections with the bacterium can be easily treated in some, Klebsiella has a dangerous flip side: It also is frequently resistant to antibiotics, making it extraordinarily difficult to treat in others. About half of people infected with a hypervirulent, drug-resistant strain of the bacterium die. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-mice-clues-vaccinating-deadly-bacteria.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 19 May 2023 10:04:05 EDT news603709442 Diabetes researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered at least one reason insulin-secreting cells made from stem cells in the lab don't work as well as natural cells. The discovery could help speed progress toward making insulin-secreting cells—called islet beta cells—more effective in the treatment of insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-insulin-secreting-cells-derived-stem.html Diabetes Thu, 18 May 2023 09:25:04 EDT news603620701 Women are about twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Some of that is age; in the U.S., women outlive men by five to six years, and advanced age is the strongest risk factor for Alzheimer's. But there's more to it than that, so Alzheimer's researchers continue to look for other reasons why women have an elevated risk of the deadly neurodegenerative disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-stress-alzheimer-female-mice-males.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 02 May 2023 09:25:04 EDT news602238301 Studying blood plasma samples from COVID-19 patients, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified specific proteins that may help predict which patients may need to be placed on ventilators to breathe and which are most likely to die of the virus. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-04-covid-patients-blood-plasma-severely.html Medical research Fri, 07 Apr 2023 09:12:01 EDT news600077514 The risk of long-term health problems, hospitalization and death after a COVID-19 infection diminishes among those who take the antiviral drug Paxlovid within five days after testing positive, according to an analysis of federal health data by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-paxlovid-long-term-health-problems-death.html Medications Fri, 24 Mar 2023 09:20:04 EDT news598868401 People who have had COVID-19 are at increased risk of developing gastrointestinal (GI) disorders within a year after infection compared with people who haven't been infected, according to an analysis of federal health data by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-covid-infections-long-term-gastrointestinal-problems.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 07 Mar 2023 11:20:04 EST news597410401 Computer software developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis can predict what happens to complex gene networks when individual genes are missing or dialed up more than usual. Such genetic networks play key roles in early embryonic development, guiding stem cells to form specific cell types that then build tissues and organs. Mapping the roles of single genes in these networks is key to understanding healthy development and finding ways to regrow damaged cells and tissues. Likewise, understanding genetic errors could provide insight into birth defects, miscarriage or even cancer. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-ids-roles-individual-genes-early.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 10 Feb 2023 10:28:52 EST news595247247 Teen mental health was in crisis before COVID-19. Persistent feelings of hopelessness and sadness almost doubled over a 10-year period ending in 2019, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Also during this time, attempted suicide and thoughts about suicide skyrocketed among U.S. high school students. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02-pediatric-primary-front-lines-teen.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 03 Feb 2023 10:00:05 EST news594640801 Patients with glioblastoma, a devastating brain cancer, receive treatment that frequently leads to the unfortunate side effect of low white blood cell counts that lasts six months to a year. The low numbers of white blood cells are associated with shorter survival—but the specific reason for the prolonged drop in white blood cells and the link with shorter survival has vexed scientists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-patients-brain-cancer-benefit-treatment.html Oncology & Cancer Mon, 30 Jan 2023 11:27:02 EST news594300419 Three types of fungi that cause serious lung infections and were once thought to be confined to certain regions of the United States are now widespread. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-fungi-lung-infections.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 05 Jan 2023 08:50:01 EST news592130939 More than 10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson's disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement, balance and thinking. Severity of the disease is measured through external symptoms, as there are no effective biomarkers that indicate the phase of the illness. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-biomarkers-parkinson-disease-sought-imaging.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Fri, 21 Oct 2022 11:56:03 EDT news585572161 Researchers have been experimenting with different ways to deliver genes to the brain to treat central nervous system diseases and tumors. One of the obstacles, however, is the ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier while having minimal effect on the other organs in the body. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-approach-effective-gene-therapy-delivery.html Neuroscience Tue, 18 Oct 2022 09:51:00 EDT news585305456