Category: Research

Impeding a link between the body’s natural clock and the brain may help reduce neurodegeneration in mice modeling Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study led by researchers at WashU Medicine and published in Nature Aging.  

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (or ALS), also known as Motor Neuron Disease, is a devastating condition that gradually reduces a patient’s ability to move, speak, and ultimately breathe. Among the various forms of ALS, about 2% of cases are linked to a mutation in a gene called SOD1. For years, there has been no effective treatment […]

September 15, 2025 (Washington, DC)—The Kissick Family Foundation, in partnership with the Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC), today announced that the Kissick Family Foundation Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) Grant Program has awarded four two-year grants to basic and early-stage translational research teams to advance scientific understanding of the neurodegenerative disorder. These philanthropic grants total […]

Pain and sleep disturbances often go hand in hand — more than 30% of the U.S. population lives with pain, and a majority of those with pain also report sleep disorders — but the relationship between the two has remained largely unexplored.

Blocking a chemical messenger in the brain that helps tumor cells multiply could offer new route to treatment

You can see it coming in right there, that little spot,” says neuroscientist and engineer Laura Lewis. A remarkably bright pulsing dot has appeared on the monitor in front of us. We are watching, in real time, the brain activity of a graduate student named Nick, who is having an afternoon nap inside an imaging […]

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. Traditionally, doctors have relied on subjective […]

Alzheimer’s disease scientists at Washington University in St. Louis researching early clues that the disease may be developing recently pinpointed one: changes or disturbances in circadian rhythm, or “body clock.”  Their recent study found that circadian rhythm changes which cause disrupted sleep can occur as many as 20 years before Alzheimer’s symptoms begin … and well […]