Category: Research

WashU Medicine Cardiovascular Division faculty members Mark Huffman, MD, MPH and Zainab Mahmoud, MD, MSc, along with cardiology fellow Aishwarya Vijay, MD, have published a perspective in Circulation addressing implementation of the newly released 2026 AHA/ACC/ADA/ASN Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome.

Anne C. Goldberg, MD, FACP, FAHA, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, is the senior author of an article published in April in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology. 

There is no shortage of popular diets to try, and they can generally produce weight loss if followed to the letter. But are all diet plans created equal in terms of reducing the cardiometabolic risks that come with obesity, such as Type 2 diabetes and liver disease?

Researchers and clinicians at WashU Medicine are helping reshape how hepatitis C virus (HCV) is treated during pregnancy, with a new study showing that a commonly used antiviral regimen can be used safely and effectively in pregnant patients in real-world care.

In a major announcement, an experimental mRNA vaccine has been shown in global clinical trials to prevent melanoma from returning or spreading in high-risk melanoma patients when combined with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, known commercially as Keytruda, and given after surgery.

In July, the DOLF team and collaborators at the University of Indonesia published two new manuscripts highlighting zoonotic and zoophilic filarial species in the Belitung district of Indonesia. Long-term collaborators Drs. Peter Fischer and Taniawati Supali are leading research that will help to better understand the role of animals in the transmission and elimination of […]

A new paper from the Bioethics Research Center at WashU Medicine, published in Frontiers in Neurology and led by Tristan McIntosh, PhD, an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, offers one of the first in-depth looks at how the people most affected by glioblastoma — patients, their caregivers, and the neurosurgeons who treat them — […]

A new study from the Mitreva lab sheds light on the relationship between the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica and its bacterial endosymbiont, Neorickettsia. Researchers found that while these bacteria are widely present in fluke populations across the Americas and Europe, they show low genetic diversity and strong geographic patterning. 

Maria S. Remedi, PhD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, is the senior author of an article published February 9, 2026, in MedComm (Volume 7, Issue 2). 

The bacteria enterotoxigenic E. coli and Shigella together cause hundreds of millions of infections each year and are among the leading causes of diarrheal death, especially in children. Decades of vaccine development efforts have come up short, in part because the usual vaccine targets vary too much from one strain to the next.

Lead author Clair Crewe, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in WashU Medicine’s Division of Cell Biology and Physiology and Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Lipid Research, the Crewe Lab and collaborators from the Department of Pathology and Immunology and the Center for Human Nutrition are authors of a study published May 5, 2026, in Cell Metabolism.

Jeffrey R. Millman, PhD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, has received research funding from Breakthrough T1D to support his project titled “Overcoming Production Barriers to Stem Cell-Islet Therapies Through Scalable Technologies.” The two-year grant supports efforts to address key challenges in bringing manufactured islet cell therapies for type […]

WashU Medicine infectious diseases researchers have developed a practical use of artificial intelligence to enhance patient safety, while potentially reducing costs and improving efficiency at hospitals. Abby Sung, MD, an assistant professor of medicine, and colleagues in the Division of Infectious Diseases, WashU McKelvey School of Engineering AI for Health Institute, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) found that a large language model (LLM) can strengthen a semi-automated surveillance tool used by infection prevention. 

Anne Carol Goldberg, MD, FACP, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, is a co-author of a study published February 27, 2026, in Nature Medicine. The article, titled “Obicetrapib in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia: the BROOKLYN randomized clinical trial,” explores a potential new option for people living […]

On March 1, Hani Soudah, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, along with collaborators, published a new systematic review and meta-analysis examining the broader physiological effects of semaglutide titled “A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Semaglutide Effects on Adipose Tissue and Emerging Effects on Brain and Cognition.” 

Irfan Lodhi, PhD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, and collaborators are authors of a study published January 8, 2026, in Nature Metabolism. The article, titled “A catecholamine-independent pathway controlling adaptive adipocyte lipolysis,” investigates how the body breaks down stable fat stores during conditions such as starvation, wasting and cachexia. 

Jennifer Alexander‑Brett, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, has been featured in a recent Nature Biotechnology article highlighting major advances in targeting interleukin‑33 (IL‑33) signaling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The article, “Newcomer anti‑IL‑33 makes strides in COPD,” underscores the growing impact of IL‑33–focused therapeutics and the importance of foundational biological insight in translating discovery to patient […]

Acute sinusitis leads to more antibiotic prescriptions for U.S. adults than any other condition, yet there has been no clear consensus on which antibiotic should be used for uncomplicated cases. 

WashU Cardiovascular Division Global Health researchers have published a new article on disparity on heart failure care for Asian patients in the U.S. Mark Huffman, MD, MPH, William Bowen Endowed Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Global Health Center, and Anubha Agarwal, MD, MSc an associate professor of medicine and Co-Director of the Program in Global Cardiovascular Health […]

Following a rapid increase in popularity of GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss, such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, approximately one in eight U.S. adults now take these medications, which also provide cardiovascular benefits. However, when patients stop taking these drugs, they not only regain weight, but, according to a new study, they also incur […]

James Krings, MD, MSCI, Assistant Professor of Medicine, was recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The study, “A New Approach to Reliever Therapy in Asthma: Implications of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline”.

Researchers at WashU Medicine have identified a potent pathway that begins in the brain and leads to loss of all body fat without reducing food intake.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis show in a new study that GLP-1 medications may be effective at treating and preventing substance use disorders across all major addictive substances studied, suggesting these drugs target a common biological pathway underlying addiction.

Despite advances in the field of organ transplantation, long-term organ rejection that can become apparent a decade or more after a heart or lung transplant remains a common problem for patients. This chronic organ failure has long been attributed exclusively to the recipient’s immune system attacking the foreign organ over time.

White matter hyperintensity (WMH) burden is associated with cognitive decline, but its association with driving performance among older adults and the associations of modifiable risk factors remain unclear.

Sina Jasim, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, and Maria Papaleontiou, MD, associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology, and Diabetes at the University of Michigan, have published a narrative review in Thyroid®, the official journal of the American Thyroid Association. 

Billions of dollars are invested each year in scientific research, yet too often the benefits stop at journal publications rather than reaching patients, communities or policymakers. 

Max Petersen, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, is the lead author of a new research article published in the Journal of Lipid Research, titled “Influence of obesity and insulin resistance with hepatic steatosis on the human plasma lipidome.”

In the U.S., one in eight women will get breast cancer in their lifetime, and about half of them will have mastectomies. Many of those women opt to have their breasts surgically reconstructed, most commonly with implants, but a relatively high percentage develop infections after implant surgery, requiring intravenous antibiotics and often removal of the […]

Scientists have designed an immunotherapy that reduces plaque in the arteries of mice, presenting a possible new treatment strategy against heart disease. The antibody-based therapy could complement traditional methods of managing coronary artery disease that focus on lowering cholesterol through diet or medications such as statins, according to the findings of a new study led […]

A new study maps the immune cell landscape of bone marrow in patients with multiple myeloma, a rare cancer that develops in the plasma cells of the bone marrow and has no cure. This large immune cell atlas, which includes robust patient outcome data, provides unparalleled new insights into how the immune system interacts with […]

Startup companies built on Washington University in St. Louis discoveries attracted a record $1.7 billion in private-sector investment over the past year, accelerating the commercialization of WashU innovations into life-changing diagnostics, therapeutics and medical devices. Among those innovations are a blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease; immunotherapies to treat aggressive blood cancers; and an AI-based […]

WashU Nephrology proudly recognizes Gonzalo Matzumura, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of Acute Dialysis Services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, for his role as co-author and investigator in the landmark LIBERATE‑D (Liberation from Acute Dialysis) trial, published in JAMA  on November 7, 2025.  

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified central routes that two deadly viruses take to invade human cells and have designed decoy molecules that block the infections.

Sumanth Prabu, MD, Lewin Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases and Chief of the WashU Cardiovascular Division, co-authored the 2025 scientific statement published by the American College of Cardiology on the role of inflammation in cardiovascular disease. The new statement reviews residual inflammatory risk, screening & management, and new anti-inflammatory strategies.

Julie M. Silverstein, MD, Professor of Medicine and Neurological Surgery, and Medical Director of the Pituitary Center in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, is co-author of a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 

A new paper in JACC: Advances delves into the factors that may affect implementation of a polypill for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF)—assuming one proves safe and effective—and outlines strategies for an eventual rollout. This exercise “just reinforces the idea, in addition to previous data showing therapeutic inertia and reluctance to use other […]

Doxorubicin has been a mainstay in cancer treatment for more than 50 years. Sometimes called “red devil chemo,” it is potent and effective against many cancer types. But it comes with a major downside — increased risk of severe heart failure, even decades after successful cancer treatment.