Category: Research

Funding from Ron Shaich helps advance promising drug development at WashU Medicine

Scientists know that many proteins and pathways are involved in the development and progression of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and that these proteins can be detected in the plasma of people with the conditions. But it hasn’t been clear exactly which proteins are distinct to one disease […]

A new AI-based technology that rapidly maps the brain to locate sensitive areas that control speech, vision, movement and other critical functions has received authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), enabling it to be marketed to hospitals with the aim of enhancing the precision of neurosurgeries. The technology was developed by researchers and […]

An ongoing clinical trial designed to answer critical questions regarding treatment protocols for anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a relatively rare but often devastating condition, is continuing to expand trial sites and enroll participants, building excitement in the medical and patient communities. At Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, David Clifford, MD, the Melba and […]

Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis report mechanistic insights into the role of biomolecular condensation in the development of neurodegenerative disease. The collaborative research, published in Molecular Cell, focused on the interactions that drive the formation of condensates versus the formation of amyloid fibrils and how these relate to […]

A common sleep aid restores healthier sleep patterns and protects mice from the brain damage seen in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The drug, lemborexant, prevents the harmful buildup of an abnormal form of a protein called tau in the brain, […]

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have upended decades-old dogma of how connections between brain cells are rearranged during states of heightened vigilance or attention. The team found that a brain chemical associated with alertness, attention and learning alters brain connectivity and function not by acting directly on neurons, the cells […]

A team of WashU Medicine researchers has discovered a promising new use for Prozac, which is the brand name of the antidepressant fluoxetine, in the treatment of children with rare forms of epilepsy. In a Frontiers of Pharmacology case report published earlier this year, the researchers describe how fluoxetine treatment of two siblings with developmental and epileptic encephalopathy […]

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2023 of lecanemab — a novel Alzheimer’s therapy shown in clinical trials to modestly slow disease progression — was met with enthusiasm by many in the field as it represented the first medication of its kind able to influence the disease. But side effects — brain swelling and […]

As researchers make progress in understanding how Alzheimer’s disease develops, there are growing opportunities for healthy research participants to learn their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease dementia in the future. While many organizations often advocate for investigators to share risk estimates with individual participants, there are ethical concerns around doing so, given that there are […]