Research Lab Manager - Radiology

Osteoarthritis therapy study advances with $17 million from ARPA-H. Funding will support collaboration to move single-injection treatment to reverse joint damage into clinical trials A WashU Medicine project to develop an injectable treatment to reverse tissue damage in osteoarthritis has received $17 million in phase 2 funding from ARPA-H. In brief. * WashU Medicine has received $17 million from ARPA-H to develop an injectable osteoarthritis treatment. * The nanoparticle-based therapy regenerates damaged joint tissue. * In collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics and SynGenix, the team is preparing the treatment for clinical trials, set to begin in 18 months. A project to develop a treatment that could reverse osteoarthritic tissue damage, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received $17 million from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The funding marks the second phase of a groundbreaking effort to develop a once-a-year injection treatment for a condition that affects an estimated 33 million people in the United States. The project is co-led by Farshid Guilak, PhD, the Mildred B. Simon Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at WashU Medicine and Director of Research for Shriners Children's St. Louis, and Christine T. N. Pham, MD, the Guy and Ella Mae Magness Professor of Medicine and director of the Division of Rheumatology at WashU Medicine. This next allocation of funding in phase 2.1 will support a collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics and SynGenix, a WashU startup founded by Guilak and Pham commercializing the therapeutic technology. This partnership will complete the necessary testing and commercial development of the treatment, which was designed and tested by the WashU Medicine team in the first phase of the project. Clinical trials are scheduled to begin in 18 months. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that can cause severe pain and limited mobility, but there are no disease-modifying drugs available for this condition. "The only nonsurgical treatments currently available for osteoarthritis are for pain relief, which does not address the underlying condition," Guilak said. "Osteoarthritis is probably the leading cause of disability for which there are no treatments that address the disease process. Our approach could allow patients to return to an active life, possibly with one injection a year, rather than having to take daily medications only to mask the pain." ARPA-H was established in 2022 as an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to accelerate the development of high-impact solutions for health problems of this scale. Phase 1 of Guilak and Pham's work began in 2024 under the agency's Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (NITRO) program. "We are thrilled to announce the successful transition of Washington University in St. Louis to Phase 2.1 of NITRO," said ARPA-H NITRO Program Manager Ross Uhrich, DMD. "Their smart cell technology is a single-injection, genetically targeted therapy designed to activate only in the diseased joint, driving cartilage regeneration while suppressing the inflammatory signaling that fuels degeneration. This regenerative therapeutic is a valuable and unique asset within the NITRO portfolio that further enables us to eradicate osteoarthritis." Osteoarthritis treatment from nanoparticles. The second phase of funding was contingent on the team meeting its phase 1 milestones, by demonstrating in animal models that their treatment could regenerate osteoarthritis damage without any surgical intervention. The treatment Guilak and Pham developed relies on a "smart cell" approach. Working with Xiaoxia Cui, PhD, an associate professor of genetics and director of the Genome Engineering & Stem Cell Center at WashU Medicine, the team engineered genetic codes delivered directly into the knee joint via nanoparticles. Once internalized in joint tissue cells, these constructs can sense and respond to osteoarthritis cues such as inflammatory signals or excessive mechanical loading, which are the physical forces acting on the joint. Upon activation by the osteoarthritis cues, the engineered genetic codes instruct local cells in the joint to produce proteins that promote tissue repair and growth. Crucially, protein production ceases automatically once underlying disease signals subside, preventing excessive production of the biologic drug. "In animal models, we were able to restore a joint with severe osteoarthritis to near-baseline levels - almost 100% recovery," Pham said. "As a clinician, being part of something that could offer new treatment options for tens of millions of people is very exciting." Phase 1 was a university-spanning effort that included Lori Setton, PhD, the Lucy and Stanley Lopata Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in WashU McKelvey Engineering; and Erik Herzog, PhD, the Viktor Hamburger Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences. In addition to achieving specific scientific milestones during phase 1, the WashU team conducted extensive community outreach in alignment with ARPA-H NITRO Program's mandate to make treatments accessible to disproportionately affected populations such as Native Americans, who have higher rates of osteoarthritis than the U.S. average. Partnering with Tobeya Ibitayo, an engagement officer with the St. Louis Integrated Health Network, the team conducted educational outreach to foster trust and encourage acceptance of this novel therapy across diverse communities. "The response was overwhelmingly positive - many people we spoke to in the community are quite excited," said Pham. "Even now I receive emails from people asking where and when they can sign up." Note: The osteoarthritis treatment described in this article is still in development and is not currently available to patients or open for clinical trial enrollment. Clinical trials are not expected to begin for at least 18 months and timelines may change. Patients interested in future participation are encouraged to monitor ClinicalTrials.gov for updates as more information becomes available.

Kubanek receives One Mind Rising Star Award. October 14, 2026 Jan Kubanek, an associate professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine, received the 2026 One Mind Rising Star Award to develop a noninvasive, precision ultrasound tool that can selectively modulate areas deep within the brain associated with depression. The three-year $300,000 grant is awarded by One Mind, a global nonprofit that invests in mental health research. Kubanek is one of five early-career scientists selected this year. Major depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting nearly 300 million people, and about one in three patients do not respond to existing treatments. Therapies that alter the activity of networks of brain cells hold promise, but progress has been slowed by an incomplete understanding of which networks drive the disorder.

'The opportunity to engage' Teaching Innovation Showcase highlights new and inventive WashU classes In brief. * WashU Arts & Sciences will present its second annual Teaching Innovation Showcase Oct. 22. * Twelve faculty from across a range of disciplines will be competing. * Winners, selected by audience vote, will receive a $1,000 cash prize. Teaching is a calling and a profession. It is also a skill. And like any skill, it can be sharpened and refined. On Oct. 22, WashU Arts & Sciences will hold its second annual Teaching Innovation Showcase. A companion to the spring Research Innovation Showcase, the event will feature short, three-minute presentations, a dozen in all, highlighting creative classes and teaching projects. An audience vote chooses the winners, who receive a $1,000 cash prize. In this Q&A, three participating faculty - Michael Olson, an associate professor of political science; B. Duygu Özpolat, an assistant professor of biology; and Zhiling (Zach) Zheng, an assistant professor of chemistry - discuss their projects and teaching philosophies. Joining the conversation is William Acree, Arts & Sciences' vice dean of interdisciplinary initiatives and innovation. Duygu, your presentation is called "Franken-worms." Can you describe it for St Louis Star? Özpolat: I teach regeneration biology, which is about how some animals regrow body parts. But instead of listing example after example - all that textbook information - I give students a problem that's real in my lab. This is not a lab course, so St Louis Star approach it as a thought experiment. I tell them: Old worms have a harder time regenerating than young worms. Come up with a hypothesis and an experiment to address this. But also, imagine you are amazing worm surgeons. You can take a piece from one worm and attach it to another. You can combine many worms. You can create Franken-worms. How might this test your hypothesis? Zach, you're presenting on AI and chemistry. What drew you to that topic? Zheng: Right now, some people are embracing AI and some people remain skeptical about AI. My job is to show what's actually going on. I've had students tell me that they signed up for the class because they want to see what AI can really do. So what can AI do? What's it good at, what's it not so good at? Zheng: AI is good at handling questions that involve large amounts of data. In material discovery, there are so many possible protein-folding combinations that it's hard for a human to enumerate. On the other hand, scientific questions need good hypotheses. AI, at least for now, more or less takes an average of what people are already thinking. Those hypotheses might be valid, but they're not very creative. That's something I teach my students. For those who are super enthusiastic about AI, I say, 'Here are the limitations.' And for those who are not confident about AI, I say, 'Here are the opportunities.' Mike, you teach "American Politics Over Space and Time." Tell St Louis Star about that class. Olson: The hook is, St Louis Star watch a movie roughly every week. These are movies that students might not necessarily see as political - no 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' (1939) - but they're movies that I, as a political scientist, understand to be political. The example I'm presenting is the 1992 horror movie 'Candyman.' It's about an evil spirit, but if you're a political scientist, it's also about public housing and segregation. Or St Louis Star watch the Kevin Costner western 'Open Range' (2003), which is about good guys versus bad guys, but also about the enclosure of public lands and conflicts over grazing rights - topics that are still pretty salient today. Students tend to think of politics as something that happens on TV or in big fancy buildings. Political scientists are cursed to see politics in everything. I want to share that curse. Billy, you founded and organize both the Teaching Innovation Showcase and the Research Innovation Showcase. What are you hoping to accomplish? Acree: St Louis Star is trying to plant seeds. The audience that comes to these showcases is incredibly diverse. Not everyone will become an expert in biology or chemistry or political science, but St Louis Star want them to understand the value of what St Louis Star do, the impact of what St Louis Star do, and how that can transform lives. St Louis Star want people to get excited about what's happening in the classroom. In recent years, around 25% of WashU undergraduates have stayed in St. Louis. There's a direct correlation between what students learn in class and what they bring to the workplace. Describe the showcase development process. What are faculty signing up for? Acree: A lot of work! Its application deadline was at the end of August. A review committee made selections about a week later. Presenters were notified in early September. Since then, St Louis Star has had a lunch gathering and practice sessions, where colleagues give each other feedback. The WashU Skandalaris Center hosted a pitch workshop. That's really important. St Louis Star is hoping to embed a kind of entrepreneurial spirit in the way St Louis Star talk about research and teaching. And over the four showcases St Louis Star has held so far, more than 80 Arts & Sciences faculty have applied. That's about 13% of its faculty in just a year and a half. Presenters, what does good teaching look like for you? What would make this event a success in your eyes? Özpolat: More people loving worms! (Laughs.) Or at least, more people appreciating worms. Love may be too much to ask. Teaching shouldn't be just one-way. Students should have the opportunity to engage. That was one of my aims in designing this course. I wanted a lot of interaction and collaboration. I really love hearing what students have to say! It's almost Socratic. Yes, I may know more than students do, but I don't know everything. And I try to role-model that. When they ask a question, and I really don't know the answer, I'll say that very openly. Olson: I've always thought of teaching as a kind of curation. How can I arrange a syllabus to help students develop particular ways of thinking? Lectures are about drawing lines. Why did I assign these things? Why did I ask you to read this or watch this? That may sound a little old school, but if you provide the pieces, students start to learn to teach themselves. Which is absolutely a good thing for college students to do. Zheng: I value the idea of standing in a student's shoes. I think that's key to effective teaching. You feel more confident about exploring when you know the teacher is standing with you. I come from an experimental chemistry background. Three years ago, I knew nothing about AI. Before introducing new ideas to my class, I always ask myself: What if I were seeing this for the first time? Can I make this easier to understand? Can I remove things that might be confusing? How can I improve my own teaching? The 2026 Teaching Innovation Showcase will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in Hillman Hall's Clark-Fox Forum. The event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are requested. A reception will immediately follow at 5 p.m. The Teaching Innovation Showcase is an initiative of A&S Innovates, which engages the WashU community through signature events, new experiences and unique opportunities. For more information or to register for the Teaching Innovation Showcase, visit the A&S Innovates website.