News

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that radiation therapy can reprogram heart muscle cells to what appears to be a younger state, fixing electrical problems that cause a life-threatening arrhythmia without the need for a long-used, invasive procedure.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a four-year, $8.8 million grant to ramp up research aimed at unraveling how an individual’s risks of cardiometabolic diseases, such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, are influenced by the interaction of specific genes with demographic and lifestyle factors.

Sumanth D. Prabhu, MD, an internationally recognized expert in how immunity and inflammation contribute to heart failure, has been named director of the Cardiovascular Division in the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He also will become cardiologist-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Tobias and Hortense Lewin Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases at the School of Medicine when his appointment begins Sept. 1.

J. Gmerice Hammond, MD, a cardiologist and health policy research fellow in the Cardiovascular Division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a Merck Fellowship Research Award from the Association of Black Cardiologists and the American College of Cardiology.

High cholesterol is the most commonly understood cause of atherosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries that raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. But now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a gene that likely plays a causal role in coronary artery disease independent of cholesterol levels. The gene also likely has roles in related cardiovascular diseases, including high blood pressure and diabetes.

Since early in the pandemic, COVID-19 has been associated with heart problems, including reduced ability to pump blood and abnormal heart rhythms. But it’s been an open question whether these problems are caused by the virus infecting the heart, or an inflammatory response to viral infection elsewhere in the body. Such details have implications for understanding how best to treat coronavirus infections that affect the heart.