Medicine & Health

Three Washington University in St. Louis scientists are among the 84 members and 21 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences this year. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.

Scientists’ picture of how a gene strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease harms the brain may have to be revised, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. Washington University’s David M. Holtzman, MD, says leading researchers recently agreed that targeting this gene is a promising approach for gaining a better understanding of and improving treatments for the disease.

School of Medicine researchers have discovered why breast cancer patients with dense breasts are more likely than others to develop aggressive tumors that spread. The finding opens the door to drug treatments that prevent metastasis. Shown are collagen fibers at the boundary of a tumor. Fibers that tend to be perpendicular to the tumor’s surface indicate a poor prognosis.

School of Medicine 2013 commencement speakers

John Exton, MD, PhD, the author of “Crucible of Science” — a book about the history of a unique laboratory at Washington University and of Carl and Gerty Cori, the biochemists who established it — will make opening remarks at the Carl and Gerty Cori Lecture on May 8.

School of Medicine faculty member Elliot L. Elson, PhD, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The organization was formed in 1780 to cultivate the arts and sciences and to recognize individuals who have made prominent contributions to their disciplines and to society.

Several Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital nurses received the 2013 Excellence in Nursing Award from St. Louis Magazine. The award honors nurses who have made a difference in the lives of their patients and colleagues.

Paul Shaw, PhD, a researcher at the School of Medicine, has used what he learns in fruit flies to look for markers of sleep loss in humans. But now he has reversed the process in a new paper, taking what he finds in humans back to the flies and identifying a human gene that is more active after sleep deprivation.

A consortium of researchers led by the School of Medicine has identified virtually all of the major mutations that drive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a fast-growing blood cancer in adults that often is difficult to treat. The dark lines in the image pictured show all of the major mutations for AML that occurred in one patient with the disease.

The most in-depth look yet at endometrial cancer shows that adding genomics-based testing to the standard diagnostic workup could change the recommended course of treatment for some women. The new research is published in the journal Nature. Pictured are endometrial cancer cells under a microscope.