Medicine & Health

Researchers at Washington University and King’s College London have independently identified DNA on chromosome 3 that appears to be related to depression. The new studies identify a DNA region containing up to 90 genes. Both are published May 16 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. 

David E. Kennell, PhD, professor emeritus of molecular microbiology, died April 20, 2011. He was 78 and lived in University City, Mo.

Phillip Tarr, MD, is a busy investigator juggling meetings, research, teaching and patient care. And he is a man driven to find answers to fight deadly diseases in newborns.

Washington University has awarded five Bear Cub Fund grants totaling $240,000 to support innovative research that has shown commercial potential.

New data offer hints to why Parkinson’s disease so selectively harms brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine, says Karen O’Malley, PhD, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Three School of Medicine nurses received the 2011 Excellence in Nursing Award from St. Louis Magazine April 20. The award winners were Jeane Kuensting, nurse practitioner in the Department of Internal Medicine’s Bone Marrow Transplant division; Jennifer Seigel, nurse practitioner in the Department of Surgery; and Lori Watkins, head nurse in the Department of Internal Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases.

Two Washington University scientists have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. John E. Heuser, MD, professor of cell biology and physiology, and Scott J. Hultgren, PhD, the Helen L. Stoever Professor of Molecular Microbiology and director of the Center for Women’s Infectious Disease Research, are among the 72 new members and 18 foreign associates elected to the academy this year.

Nutrition and longevity researchers, including Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD, have found more evidence that eating less may help people live longer. They report that individuals who significantly reduce their calorie intake have lower core body temperatures. Mice and rats consuming fewer calories also have lower core body temperatures, and they live significantly longer than littermates eating a standard diet. 

Matthew C. Spitzer, MD, president of the board of directors for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders USA, will be the keynote speaker at Washington University School of Medicine’s 2011 Commencement.

In the first large trial of its kind in the United States, researchers have shown that estrogen-lowering drugs can shrink tumors and reduce mastectomy rates for patients with stage 2 or 3 breast cancer.