Author: Jim Dryden

New research at the School of Medicine shows that chronic itching, which can occur in many medical conditions, is different from the urge to scratch a mosquito bite. Chronic itching appears to incorporate more than just the nerve cells that normally transmit itch signals. In the image shown, researchers identified elevated signaling (in red) in nerve cells involved in both itch and in pain.

Todd P. Margolis, MD, PhD, has been named head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the School of Medicine. The new appointment becomes effective Jan. 1.

The Department of Psychiatry is hosting a celebration Tuesday, Oct. 1, to mark the official launch of the Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research. The institute, dedicated to advancing the science underlying the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illnesses, was created with a $20 million gift from Andy and Barbara Taylor and the Crawford Taylor Foundation. Pictured are institute investigators.

Researchers at the School of Medicine and Imperial College London are the first to identify the site where the widely used anesthetic drug propofol binds to receptors in the brain to sedate patients during surgery. Shown is a photoanalogue of propofol to identify where it binds to receptors. The small green circles show the site.

Scientists at The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine helped lead an international team of researchers who have identified a genetic mutation linked to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in Americans over age 50. Shown is an eye with signs of macular degeneration.

By passing surgical instruments through a patient’s mouth, School of Medicine doctors have corrected a problem that prevented a woman from easily swallowing food and liquids. The operation is one of the first of its kind in the region performed through a natural opening in the body rather than an incision. Pictured is the surgical knife (blue) in the esophagus.

Washington University Orthopedics is opening a walk-in clinic for joggers, cyclists, high school athletes and weekend warriors who are injured outside of business hours.

Bernard Becker, MD, professor emeritus of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Wednesday Aug. 28, 2013, after a long illness. He was 93.

Part of the risk for alcohol dependence is genetic. The same is true for eating disorders. Now, School of Medicine researchers have found that some of the same genes likely are involved in both. They report that people with alcohol dependence may be more genetically susceptible to certain types of eating disorders and vice versa.

Fumihiko Urano, MD, PhD, has been named the new Samuel E. Schechter Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Shown (from left) are Larry J. Shapiro, MD; Urano; and Victoria J. Fraser, MD.