For some, GI tract may be vulnerable to COVID-19 infection (Links to an external site)

No evidence so far indicates that food or drinks can transmit the virus that causes COVID-19, but new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that people with problems in the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract may be vulnerable to infection after swallowing the virus.

Global trial to test whether MMR vaccine protects front-line health-care workers against COVID-19 (Links to an external site)

An international research network of physicians and scientists is launching a clinical trial to evaluate whether the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) can protect front-line health-care workers against infection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The trial aims to enroll up to 30,000 health-care workers globally.

5 physician-scientists named inaugural Dean’s Scholars (Links to an external site)

The newly formed Division of Physician-Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has selected five physicians for its inaugural Dean’s Scholar Program, which provides up to two years of financial support and mentorship to aspiring, early-career physician-scientists, along with dedicated time for conducting laboratory research.

Biomarker predicts which pancreatic cysts may become cancerous (Links to an external site)

Pancreatic cancer kills more than 45,000 people in the U.S. each year, mostly due to the fact that it is detected too late for surgery to remove and halt the spread of the cancer. Cysts in the pancreas sometimes develop into the invasive cancer, depending on the type of cyst, but such growths often are […]

Similarities found in cancer initiation in kidney, liver, stomach, pancreas (Links to an external site)

Recent research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrated that mature cells in the stomach sometimes revert back to behaving like rapidly dividing stem cells. Now, the researchers have found that this process may be universal; no matter the organ, when tissue responds to certain types of injury, mature cells seem to […]

Study prompts new ideas on cancers’ origins (Links to an external site)

Rapidly dividing, yet aberrant stem cells are a major source of cancer. But a new study suggests that mature cells also play a key role in initiating cancer — a finding that could upend the way scientists think about the origins of the disease. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have […]

New insight into origin of stomach cancer (Links to an external site)

Conventional wisdom holds that the loss of cells that secrete acid in the stomach leads to a condition that eventually can develop into stomach cancer. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates otherwise. Researchers found that damage to acid-secreting cells alone doesn’t jump-start the transformation of healthy cells into […]

Washington People: C. Prakash Gyawali (Links to an external site)

C. Prakash Gyawali grew up on the other side of the world, in Kathmandu, Nepal, about 100 miles from Mount Everest. Although the city sits in a valley, it is about 4,600 feet above sea level, or about 4,000 feet higher than St. Louis. “If you want to know whether I miss mountains, the answer […]