Author: Jim Dryden

C. Robert Cloninger, MD, the Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, received an honorary doctorate at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden in a ceremony Oct. 17.

Peter Nagele, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology, has received the 2012 Presidential Scholar Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The award, presented Oct. 15 at the society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., is given each year to an anesthesiologist who has dedicated the formative years of his/her career to research.

Brian K. Kobilka, MD, a former medical resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, is the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Neurologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received funding to study the brain following repeat concussions. The project is one of 15 around the country selected by NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League Owners.

The rare disorder Wolfram syndrome is caused by mutations in a single gene, but its effects on the body are far reaching. Now, researchers report that they have identified a mechanism that affects both insulin-secreting cells and neurons. The finding will aid in the understanding of Wolfram syndrome and also may be important in the treatment of milder forms of diabetes and other disorders.

Victoria J. Fraser, MD, has been named head of the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Washington University physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital are the first in Missouri to offer a new type of PET scan for patients being evaluated for Alzheimer’s disease. The test detects neuritic plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

Inflammation and cell stress are major factors in diabetes. Cell stress also plays a role in Wolfram syndrome, a rare, genetic disorder that afflicts children with many symptoms, including juvenile-onset diabetes. Now scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere have identified a molecule that’s key to the cell stress-modulated inflammation that causes insulin-secreting cells to die.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a potential target for treating diabetes and obesity. Studying mice, they found that when the target protein was disabled, the animals became more sensitive to insulin and were less likely to get fat.

Children with a rare syndrome that includes a form of insulin-dependent diabetes have brain abnormalities that appear to set the stage for cognitive problems later in life, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Scientists, including Tamara Hershey, PhD, had assumed those brain changes occurred late in the disease process, but the new findings suggest that some changes occur early in childhood.