Lingering respiratory viruses set the stage for chronic lung disease, mouse study shows
Category: In the News
WashU Medicine leads two major pandemic preparedness research projects (Links to an external site)
Two grants totaling $30 million a year for three years support efforts to design vaccines, drugs for understudied virus families
Newly ID’d enzyme helps pathogenic fungus build protective cell wall (Links to an external site)
Dr. Tamara Doering and Dr. Liza Loza have identified a novel enzyme involved in building the cell wall of Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungus that causes lung infections and potentially deadly cases of meningitis, primarily in people with AIDS.
Christina Stallings named 2024 Dean’s Impact Award Recipient (Links to an external site)
Christina L. Stallings, PhD, acts as an outstanding mentor and sponsor for a total of 46 trainees in her own laboratory — including those currently in training. This diverse group of trainees includes undergraduates, post-baccalaureates, PhD, MD/PhD, postdoctoral fellows and senior scientists.
WashU Celebration of Inventors 2024 (Links to an external site)
On April 25, 2024, the Office of Technology Management hosted the seventh annual Celebration of Inventors, an event to honor and recognize Washington University inventors, researchers and faculty entrepreneurs. Honorees included Molecular Microbiology’s Scott Hultgren and Jerome Pinkner.
Ding receives Michelson Prize for advancing human immunology (Links to an external site)
Siyuan Ding, an assistant professor of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a Michelson Prize: Next Generation Grant from the Michelson Medical Research Foundation and the Human Immunome Project.
Viruses Finally Reveal Their Complex Social Life (Links to an external site)
New research has uncovered a social world of viruses full of cheating, cooperation and other intrigues, suggesting that viruses make sense only as members of a community.
Respiratory syncytial virus co-infections might conspire to worsen disease (Links to an external site)
Emerging evidence suggests that pathogens can pair up to work together against immune system defences. Virologists are beginning to ask questions about which pathogens tend to infect cells at the same time, and whether these affect clinical outcomes. “What co-infections are more common or more impactful in the clinic?” says López. Clinical samples give infectious-disease […]
Ding receives junior investigator award from virology society (Links to an external site)
Siyuan Ding, PhD, an assistant professor of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the 2023 Ann Palmenberg Junior Investigator Award from the American Society of Virology.
Some hospitalized patients’ infections may develop from their own bacteria (Links to an external site)
Taylor Nye, a postdoctoral research scholar in the Hultgren Laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected for the shortlist in Nature’s competition for Inspiring Women in Science. (Links to an external site)
The Inspiring Women in Science awards celebrate and support the achievements of women in science, and all those who work to encourage girls and young women to engage with STEM subjects and stay in STEM careers around the world.
Recurrent UTIs linked to gut microbiome, chronic inflammation (Links to an external site)
Antibiotics may increase risk of further UTIs by disrupting microbiome
Ernie Simms — a groundbreaking researcher and mentor in St. Louis (Links to an external site)
Beverley was both the inaugural recipient and namer of the Ernest St. John Simms distinguished professorship, which honors the first Black man to hold a tenured academic appointment at the WashU School of Medicine. Simms had an amazing life story.
65 Fellows Elected into the American Academy of Microbiology (Links to an external site)
In February, the American Academy of Microbiology (Academy) elected 65 new Fellows to the Class of 2022, including Dr. Carolina Lopez and Dr. Christina Stallings.
‘It’s very promising’ | WashU’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine prevents disease in mice (Links to an external site)
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a COVID-19 vaccine candidate that has prevented pneumonia in mice.
Wash U Researchers Genetically Engineer Coronavirus Lookalike (Links to an external site)
To allow more labs to conduct coronavirus research, Whelan and a team of Washington University researchers devised a workaround: a genetically engineered virus.
Lab-created virus can help COVID-19 research, developers say (Links to an external site)
A lab-created virus that’s similar to but not as dangerous as the new coronavirus could aid efforts to create COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, according to scientists who created it.