Medicine & Health

Critically ill patients who need a ventilator to breathe face a high risk of pneumonia. The lung infection, however, is exceedingly difficult to diagnose because a patient’s underlying condition often skews laboratory test results and masks pneumonia’s symptoms – a reality that can delay appropriate antibiotic treatment. Using gene chip technology, scientists at the School of Medicine demonstrate for the first time they can distinguish pneumonia associated with ventilator use from other serious illnesses.

Preventing Alzheimer’s disease is a goal of Raphael Kopan, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and pharmacology at the Washington University School of Medicine. The moss plant Physcomitrella patens, studied in the laboratory of Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor and chair of the biology department on WUSTL’s Danforth Campus, might inch Kopan toward that goal.

“Chemical chaperones” might be able to help a mutant protein (green) do its job of removing excess cholesterol (blue) from cells.An unexpected finding turned out to be a clue leading researchers at the School of Medicine to propose a new treatment approach for Niemann-Pick disease, a rare, deadly neurodegenerative disorder. To overcome the genetic defect in Niemann-Pick disease, the researchers suggest that chemical compounds could potentially “chaperone” mutant protein molecules through the cell’s quality control machinery.

Scientists at the School of Medicine are seeking individuals who have depression and are overweight to volunteer for a study evaluating whether a diabetes drug might help improve mood. The five-year, NIH-funded study seeks 200 people with depression who are overweight and at risk for developing diabetes.

Eighteen School of Medicine faculty were presented with the first Distinguished Faculty Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in clinical care, community service, research and teaching.

Medical professionals from Washington University and Barnes-Jewish College of Nursing are helping older adults in underserved areas of St. Louis identify and address wide-ranging health problems — from osteoporosis and frailty to impaired physical function and depression.

Patients with Parkinson’s disease who took part in regular tango dance classes for 20 sessions showed significant improvements in balance and mobility when compared to patients who did conventional exercise, a new study by researchers at the School of Medicine shows.

With a key protein disabled, a pair of kidney filtering units can’t keep antibodies (shown in red) from building up in the filter.The kidney actively cleans its most selective filter to keep it from clogging with blood proteins, scientists from the School of Medicine reveal in a new study. Researchers showed that breakdown of this self-cleaning feature can make kidneys more vulnerable to dysfunction and disease.

Innovative researcher George Whitesides will speak on revolutionary ideas in chemistry that may lead to a new understanding of the origin of life for the Ferguson Science Lecture at 11 a.m. on Wed., Feb. 6 in Graham Chapel as part of the Assembly Series.

Washington University and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. will collaborate more closely under a new $25 million, five-year biomedical research agreement that has the potential to move discoveries from the laboratory bench to patients’ bedsides more quickly. The collaboration represents a new model of partnership between academia and industry.