Research from the Vakoc lab, published in Nature Communications and Cell Reports, provides new insights into the master regulators of two severe forms of lung and pancreatic cancer, which can morph in response to treatment. The discoveries could someday lead to safer therapies with fewer and less harmful side effects.

A conversation in a scientist's hometown about a neighbor's angst over a relative's struggle with Alzheimer's became a turning point for the scientist. Now, that scientist and colleagues have made a discovery they said could reshape how scientists think about Alzheimer’s treatment. Their study, published in Nature Neuroscience, identifies a rare gene mutation that appears to protect the brain’s immune cells from the damage typically caused by the disease.

Researchers at WashU Medicine have developed a noninvasive medicine delivered through the nose that successfully eliminated deadly brain tumors in mice. The medicine is based on a spherical nucleic acid, a nanomaterial that travels along a nerve from the nose to the brain, where it triggers an immune response to eliminate the tumor.