Cornea appears to resist infection from novel coronavirus (Links to an external site)

New findings from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest the eye’s cornea can resist infection from the novel coronavirus. Although the herpes simplex virus can infect the cornea and spread to other parts of the body in patients with compromised immune systems, and Zika virus has been found in tears […]

Washington University begins recruiting participants for phase 3 COVID-19 investigational vaccine clinical trial (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is a testing site for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson’s phase 3 clinical research study, called the ENSEMBLE trial, to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Janssen’s investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate, JNJ-78436735, also known as Ad26.COV2.S.

Study provides insight on how to build a better flu vaccine (Links to an external site)

Flu season comes around like clockwork every year, and sooner or later everyone gets infected. The annual flu shot is a key part of public health efforts to control the flu, but the vaccine’s effectiveness is notoriously poor, falling somewhere from 40% to 60% in a typical year. A growing body of evidence suggests that […]

Nasal vaccine against COVID-19 prevents infection in mice (Links to an external site)

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a vaccine that targets the SARS-CoV-2 virus, can be given in one dose via the nose and is effective in preventing infection in mice susceptible to the novel coronavirus. The investigators next plan to test the vaccine in nonhuman primates and humans to […]

Major weight loss — whether from surgery or diet — has same metabolic benefits (Links to an external site)

Gastric bypass surgery is the most effective therapy to treat or reverse type 2 diabetes in severely obese patients. Many achieve remission of diabetes following surgery and no longer require diabetes medications. This observation has led to the theory that gastric bypass surgery has unique, weight loss-independent effects in treating diabetes, but this has remained […]

Clinical trial focuses on reducing overactive immune response in COVID-19 (Links to an external site)

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are investigating whether a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat rare diseases of an overactive immune system could help critically ill patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The drug blocks a specific protein of the immune system that doctors suspect contributes to […]

Experimental COVID-19 vaccine prevents severe disease in mice (Links to an external site)

An experimental vaccine is effective at preventing pneumonia in mice infected with the COVID-19 virus, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The vaccine, which is made from a mild virus genetically modified to carry a key gene from the COVID-19 virus, is described in the journal Cell Host […]

Washington University, St. Louis County collaborate on COVID-19 survey (Links to an external site)

Washington University in St. Louis, the St. Louis County Department of Public Health and other collaborators are conducting a survey of St. Louis County residents and offering COVID-19 testing to gauge the prevalence of and risk factors for the illness. Working with the county, Washington University’s Institute for Public Health is teaming up with other local public health and […]

Gut bacteria protect against mosquito-borne viral illness (Links to an external site)

Chikungunya virus, once confined to the Eastern Hemisphere, has infected millions of people in the Americas since 2013, when mosquitoes carrying the virus were discovered in the Caribbean. About half of all people infected with chikungunya virus never show symptoms, while some develop fever and joint pain that lasts about a week, and 10% to […]

COVID-19 vaccine trials to be conducted at Washington University, Saint Louis University (Links to an external site)

As U.S. scientists ramp up a national effort to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine candidates at clinical trial sites across the country, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Saint Louis University Center for Vaccine Development have been tapped to join the historic effort to find a COVID-19 vaccine that can prevent […]

Lab-made virus mimics COVID-19 virus (Links to an external site)

Airborne and potentially deadly, the virus that causes COVID-19 can only be studied safely under high-level biosafety conditions. Scientists handling the infectious virus must wear full-body biohazard suits with pressurized respirators, and work inside laboratories with multiple containment levels and specialized ventilation systems. While necessary to protect laboratory workers, these safety precautions slow down efforts […]

Effort to screen potential COVID-19 antiviral drugs underway (Links to an external site)

Six months into the pandemic, people diagnosed with mild cases of COVID-19 still are told to isolate themselves and wait out the infection at home. Doctors monitor such patients so they can intervene if their condition deteriorates, but no antiviral drugs have been shown to hasten recovery or forestall severe illness in people who are […]

COVID-19 antibody tests evaluated as diagnostic test in low-resource settings (Links to an external site)

With Brazil leading the world in newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases, Latin America has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, outbreaks continue to escalate in parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Public health authorities worldwide desperately need to expand testing so they can track the spread of the infection, but molecular diagnostic […]

Oral antibiotics work, shorten hospital stays for IV drug users with infections (Links to an external site)

People who inject illicit drugs can develop potentially deadly infections of the heart, blood, joints and soft tissues. Typically, such infections require weeks of hospitalization to treat effectively. But a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that drug users who, while in the hospital, started IV antibiotics […]

Patients with COVID-19 donate specimens to advance research efforts (Links to an external site)

In the weeks before the St. Louis region saw its first patients with COVID-19, physician-scientists at Washington University School of Medicine began planning and preparing how best to collect blood and other biological samples from such patients so specimens could be quickly disseminated to researchers seeking strategies to treat, prevent and contain the novel coronavirus.

COVID-19 mouse model will speed search for drugs, vaccines (Links to an external site)

The global effort to quickly develop drugs and vaccines for COVID-19 has been hampered by limited numbers of laboratory mice that are susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have developed a mouse model of COVID-19 that replicates the […]

Diabetes reversed in mice with genetically edited stem cells derived from patients (Links to an external site)

Using induced pluripotent stem cells produced from the skin of a patient with a rare, genetic form of insulin-dependent diabetes called Wolfram syndrome, researchers transformed the human stem cells into insulin-producing cells and used the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to correct a genetic defect that had caused the syndrome. They then implanted the cells into lab mice […]

Research in most university labs moved from bench to internet (Links to an external site)

When Washington University Vice Chancellor for Research Jennifer K. Lodge first sounded the alarm about the disruptive impact COVID-19 likely would have on labs across the university, the research community heeded her warning, taking steps to shut down lab work and move as much as possible online. Those in position to do so began pivoting their research […]

COVID-19 survivors needed to donate blood plasma (Links to an external site)

Infectious diseases physicians at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an expanded access program to give blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors to critically ill patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Led by principal investigator Rachel Presti, MD, PhD, an associate professor of medicine, a team of researchers began enrolling potential donors […]

Study to evaluate antidepressant as potential COVID-19 treatment (Links to an external site)

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are launching a clinical trial in patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 but who are not sick enough to be hospitalized. The trial is investigating whether the antidepressant medication fluvoxamine, which is currently used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), can be repurposed […]

Clinical trial launches to evaluate antimalarial drugs for COVID-19 treatment (Links to an external site)

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is launching a clinical trial for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The trial will investigate the effectiveness of different combinations of the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin in treating ill patients infected with the novel coronavirus. Express Scripts, a Cigna company, […]

Breast milk may help prevent sepsis in preemies (Links to an external site)

A component of breast milk may help protect premature babies from developing sepsis, a fast-moving, life-threatening condition triggered by infection. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have found — in newborn mice — that a molecule called epidermal growth factor in breast milk activates receptors […]

School of Medicine physicians, researchers tackle coronavirus (Links to an external site)

Soon after a novel coronavirus first appeared in China in late 2019, researchers, doctors and staff at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis began preparing for the possibility of an outbreak. Infectious disease physicians started planning how to respond if a person with suspected exposure to the virus arrived on campus, and researchers […]