Medicine & Health

MichalskiJeff Michalski, professor of radiation oncology, has been named interim head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, effective April 1. Michalski is replacing Simon Powell, who has taken a position as head of radiation oncology at Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Among the approximately 23,000 genes found in human DNA, scientists currently estimate that there may be as few as 50 to 100 that have no counterparts in other species. Expand that comparison to include the primate family known as hominoids, and there may be several hundred unique genes.

ZebrafishBy injecting a customized “genetic patch” into early stage fish embryos, researchers at the School of Medicine were able to correct a genetic mutation so the embryos developed normally. The research could lead to the prevention of up to one-fifth of birth defects in humans caused by genetic mutations, according to the authors.

The Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis now offers a major in healthcare management. Professors from both the medical and business schools will teach courses to both business and non-business majors. The degree will help develop a strong grounding in all aspects of the healthcare industry as well as in the science behind medicine.

The School of Medicine has received a five-year, $3.9 million grant to lead an international research effort designed to improve outcomes for children undergoing lung transplants. Lung-transplant patients are subject to more frequent infections, organ rejection and other complications than patients with other transplanted organs.

Anesthesiology researchers at the School of Medicine have found that a device used to ensure that surgery patients have no memories of their operations may not lower the risk of the phenomenon known as anesthesia awareness — an extremely rare but distressing occurance.

Human diseases and social networks seem to have little in common. However, at the crux of these two lies a network, communities within the network, and farther even, substructures of the communities. Weixiong Zhang, Ph.D., Washington University associate professor of computer science and engineering and of genetics, along with his Ph.D. student, Jianhua Ruan, has published an algorithm (a recipe of computer instructions) to automatically discover communities and their subtle structures in various networks.

When platelet activity was blocked (right), bones had much smaller tumors.Cancer cells get a helping hand from platelets, specialized blood cells involved in clotting. Platelets shelter and feed tumor cells that stray into the bloodstream, making it easier for cancer to spread, or metastasize. Research at the School of Medicine suggests that inactivating platelets could slow down or prevent metastasis.

Diagrams map connections between brain regions linked to contemplative thought.A brain network linked to introspective tasks — such as forming the self-image or understanding the motivations of others — is less intricate and well-connected in children, scientists at the School of Medicine have learned. They also showed that the network establishes firmer connections between various brain regions as an individual matures.

Mike Venso/Laumeier Sculpture ParkAschheim’s “Earworm (Node),” contains LEDs, plastic, speakers, music and copper.Artist Deborah Aschheim, known for her focus on interactive multi-sensory responses to neuroscience, memory and cognition, joins Washington University faculty from art, medicine, psychology and neuroscience for a free public panel discussion examining the relationship between Aschheim’s art and brain science at 6 p.m. March 20 in Room 110, January Hall. The “Deborah Aschheim: Reconsider,” exhibition, on display at Laumeier Sculpture Park, explores why we remember what we see and hear and why we forget, while offering a solution to curb the “forgetting curve.”