Medicine & Health

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo(Left to right) Cindy Richard-Fogal, Ph.D., research scientist in biology in Arts & Sciences, Elaine Frawley, graduate research assistant, and Robert Kranz, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, examine an *E. coli* culture.Robert G. Kranz, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study pathways in bioenergy conversion. The first, for $1,203,250, is a long-term NIH R01 renewal that began Aug. 1 titled “Cytochrome c Biogenesis.” The renewal award means that NIH has funded Kranz continuously for 22 years.

A multinational team of researchers has shown for the first time that the immune system can stop the growth of a cancerous tumor without actually killing it. Scientists have been working for years to use the immune system to eradicate cancers, a technique known as immunotherapy. The new findings prove an alternate to this approach exists: When the cancer can’t be killed with immune attacks, it may be possible to find ways to use the immune system to contain it.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Age-related macular degeneration (week of Nov. 7) • An eye on curing diabetes (week of Nov. 14) • Obesity and heart disease in kids (week of Nov. 21) • Depression and diabetes (week of Nov. 28)

The cowpox virus, a much milder cousin of the deadly smallpox virus, can keep infected host cells from warning the immune system that they have been compromised, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. The scientists also showed that more virulent poxviruses, such as the strains of monkeypox prevalent in Central Africa, likely have the same ability.

A gene linked to pediatric brain tumors is an essential driver of early brain development, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. The study, published in October in Cell Stem Cell, reveals that the neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) gene helps push stem cells down separate paths that lead them to become two major types of brain cells: support cells known as astrocytes and brain neurons.

The anthropological works of Glenn Conroy, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and neurobiology and of anthropology, are on display through January 2008 in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are seeking volunteers with Parkinson’s disease for two studies. One is investigating the effects of antidepressant drugs on depression and motor function. The second study is assessing the safety and effectiveness of a drug for Parkinson’s patients who also have psychotic symptoms. In the NIH-funded depression study, investigators are evaluating paroxetine (Paxil) and venlafaxine XR (Effexor) for their success in alleviating depression and for their potential effect on motor function in Parkinson’s patients.

An innovative cancer imaging center at the School of Medicine has received a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The grant will fund a second cycle of research at the Washington University Molecular Imaging Center, where scientists from many different specialties collaborate on advanced imaging projects.

An estimated one million smokers will attempt to kick the habit this month as part of the annual Great American Smokeout. The Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital will offer its annual “Siteman Smokeout for Life,” Thursday, November 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Center for Advanced Medicine at the corner of Euclid and Forest Park.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are seeking volunteers who are slightly overweight or who have elevated blood pressure. They want to see whether it’s possible to reduce the progression of atherosclerosis in healthy people by giving low doses of the malaria drug chloroquine.