Author: Chris Amelung

Ultra-miniature bialy-shaped particles — called nanobialys because they resemble tiny versions of the flat, onion-topped rolls popular in New York City — could soon be carrying medicinal compounds through patients’ bloodstreams to tumors or atherosclerotic plaques. The nanobialys are an important addition to the stock of diagnostic and disease-fighting nanoparticles developed by researchers at the School of Medicine.

Barry Sleckman, associate professor of pathology and immunology, has been named director of the Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine at the School of Medicine. The appointment was announced by Skip Virgin, Edward Mallinckrodt Professor and head of Pathology and Immunology.

The waters are receding, but the consequences of flooding in surrounding areas are only beginning to surface. These consequences are not just in physical and financial damage, but major indoor and outdoor health threats to children and their families, including disease-carrying mosquitoes and allergy-irritating mold.

Colorado Rockies All-Star pitcher Aaron Cook always has a spare rib for good luck. It’s not part of his pregame meal. The rib came out of his own body and sits in his locker. Cook suffered from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS), a condition in which the space between the collarbone and the uppermost rib gets cramped, pinching nerves, veins or arteries. Rather than cut his career short, he turned to WUSM surgeon Robert Thompson, one of the few doctors in the country using a surgical procedure that gets athletes back on the field.

Rendering of Shriners Hospital for ChildrenThe Shriners Hospital for Children broke ground July 3 on a new hospital at the Washington University Medical Center. This relocation will allow St. Louis Shriners Hospital to return to the medical school campus. The Shriners’ first area hospital opened in 1924 on Euclid Avenue on the medical school campus.

The School of Medicine will receive approximately $9 million over 5 years to investigate new ways to diagnose and treat stroke. The new research center will become part of a national network of stroke centers.

There’s a new and improved way for people to get involved with clinical trials at the School of Medicine — Volunteer for Health, the university’s organization for clinical study recruitment, is now using an improved web site backed by a more sophisticated database management system. Called the Research Participant Registry (RPR), the new system offers volunteers better access to clinical trials and gives researchers more powerful tools for recruiting participants.

Washington University Office of Public Affairs is pleased to provide broadcast quality video downloads for the news media. Vice Presidential Debate Video Downloads Browse the current selection of broadcast-quality video pertaining to the vice presidential debate on our download server. All videos are packaged in H.264 MPEG-4 format to provide the highest quality video at […]

All mental processes, including thinking, learning and memory, depend on the electrical properties of individual nerve cells in the brain and on the connections between them. In turn, the electrical responses of each nerve cell, or neuron, reflect the unique set of pores — called ion channels — that perforate its surface and allow the passage of charged particles, or ions. So researchers at the School of Medicine were a little surprised when they saw no harmful effects in mice after eliminating an important type of potassium ion channel from neurons in the brain.

Presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry speak to town hall participants during the Oct. 8, 2004 debate.Washington University in St. Louis will host the 2008 vice presidential debate, scheduled for 8 p.m. CDT on Oct. 2, 2008, according to an announcement made today by Paul G. Kirk Jr. and Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., co-chairmen of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Full story >>