Author: Ken Duenke

Multiple sclerosis (MS) results when the body’s own defense system attacks nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Now scientists led by John Russell at the School of Medicine have shown that interferon-gamma plays a deciding role in whether immune cells attack and injure the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) in mice.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton addresses the WUSTL community on the importance of Proposition M.

The Alumni Association will commemorate Washington University’s founding at the annual Founders Day ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 8, at the America’s Center.

Drugs widely used to treat type 2 diabetes may be more likely to keep working if they are used in moderation, researchers at the School of Medicine have found in a study using an animal model. The drugs, sulfonylureas, help type 2 diabetics make more insulin, improving control of blood sugar levels. But in most patients the effects of sulfonylureas are lost after several years of use, causing insulin secretion to shut down.

Video capture by James Collins*C. elegans* roundwormMany animals live longer when raised on low calorie diets. But now researchers at the School of Medicine have shown that they can extend the life spans of roundworms even when the worms are well fed — it just takes a chemical that blocks their sense of smell.

Clubfoot, one of the most common birth defects, has long been thought to have a genetic component. Now, researchers at the School of Medicine report they have found the first gene linked to clubfoot in humans. Their research will be published in the Nov. 7 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Working as part of a multi-institutional collaboration, scientists at the School of Medicine have assembled the most complete catalog to date of the genetic changes underlying the most common form of lung cancer. The research, published Oct. 23 in Nature, helps lay the foundation for more personalized diagnosis and treatment of a disease that is the leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths.

Dancer, choreographer and creative/performance artist Liz Lerman, together with Washington University faculty, will participate in a panel discussion on the intersection of art and community. The Assembly Series program “Still Crossing: Expressing Identities, Building Communities” begins at 4 p.m. Oct. 30 in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Panelists are Sunita Parikh, Ph.D., associate professor of […]

Photo by David KilperPatrick Gibbons, Ph.D. (center), professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, shows teachers how to make paper models showing differences in the sun’s rotation through the Department of Education’s Science Outreach program.

Researchers have shown that self-induced breaks in the DNA of immune cells known as lymphocytes activate genes that cause the cells to travel from where they’re made to where they help the body fight invaders. The new finding is the first to link such serious damage to activation of genes not directly involved in the cells’ attempts to either fix the harm or self-destruct to stop themselves from becoming cancerous.