Washington University in St. Louis

​Immunotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that seeks to supercharge the body’s natural immune defenses, but pancreatic cancer is one that has so far been able to evade its advances. Scientists are now reporting a discovery that might help the immune system regain the upper hand.

Tuberculosis is currently curable, but the bacteria responsible for it are fast evolving resistance to our antibiotics, thwarting attempts to keep the disease under control. Scientists have found a new compound that can boost the power of existing antibiotics and even reverse the bugs’ resistance.

A possible diabetes cure could be found by replenishing a patient’s own supply of beta cells, which naturally produce insulin. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are a step closer to that kind of treatment, after tweaking the recipe for turning stem cells into beta cells.

Water filters get less effective as bacteria builds up on their surface. Now, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new type of membrane that reduces such biofouling by actively killing bacteria with graphene – and in an interesting twist, it’s built by bacteria.

We might be losing the war against bacteria, as they rapidly develop resistance to our best drugs. Now researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have found a way to potentially prevent bacteria from spreading antibiotic resistance to each other.

A new study suggests that the mantle is home to much more water than was previously believed. Seismic activity around the Mariana Trench have revealed that subducting tectonic plates are dragging more water deeper into the Earth, which could change our understanding of the global water cycle.

The blood-brain barrier is an effective shield against infection, but it’s not so helpful when you’re trying to get drugs in there. Nasal sprays could bypass the barrier, and now researchers have developed a way to use ultrasound pulses to drive the drugs to where in the brain they’re needed.

Researchers have discovered a new way to reduce the risk of diabetes – sugar. Trehalose is a natural sugar that has now been found to deprive the liver of glucose and activate a gene that improves insulin sensitivity and triggers the burning of more fat.

Strong as steel and tougher than Kevlar, spider silk is one of nature’s most impressive materials. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have now engineered bacteria to produce biosynthetic spider silk that they say performs as well as the real stuff.

Nitrogen is a vital nutrient for plants, but they can't pull it out of the air, hence the need for artificial fertilizer. But now, researchers have engineered bacteria that can efficiently suck nitrogen out of the air, and the long-term goal is to develop crops that can do the same.

Researchers at Washington University in St Louis have isolated a small cluster of “grandmother” neurons that tell the rest of the brain when to go to bed, and found that stimulating those could help combat jet lag.

An experimental, non-opioid drug known as EMA401 is showing promise, and now researchers at Washington University in St Louis have found that it works by targeting a different part of the body, outside of the nervous system.