Medicine & Health

Researchers knew that prions, the misfolded proteins that cause mad cow disease and other brain disorders, were killing off a class of important brain cells in a transgenic mouse model. But when they found a way to rescue those cells, they were astonished to discover the mice still became sick.

The Center for Mental Health Services Research (CMHSR) in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to become the nation’s first Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research at a school of social work. CMHSR will celebrate its new designation and expanded research agenda during an opening and reception from 1:30-3 p.m. Jan. 11 in the Brown Hall Lounge. Visitors can hear about the center’s current and future research from CMHSR leaders. For more information about the center or the open house, call the center at 935-5687 or go online to gwbweb.wustl.edu/users/cmhsr.

Rendering of the new CORTEX buildingEfforts to develop a significant biotechnology industry in St. Louis got a major boost with the groundbreaking for a new laboratory and office building that will provide space for growing companies. The new building at 4300 Forest Park Avenue in midtown St. Louis is being developed by CORTEX, the Center of Research, Technology & Entrepreneurial Exchange.

Jeffrey Petersen uses laser heat to treat varicose veins.Some 41 percent of American women may have varicose vein disease by the time they reach their 40s and 50s. Now Washington University in St. Louis dermatologic surgeons are among a growing group of physicians offering a procedure that uses heat to treat the problem.

Bobtail squidA molecule that triggers damaging changes in the lungs of children with whooping cough lets a bobtail squid living off the coast of Hawaii acquire the ability to glow, scientists have discovered.

Neuroscientists at the School of Medicine have received a five-year, $11.6 million grant to fund a Silvio O. Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders. Since 2001, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has funded a feasibility center at Washington University, but the new grant upgrades the center’s status, funding and number of research projects.

Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research and co-director of the Cardiovascular Division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named the Alumni Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases.

An improved stem cell transplant regimen that is well-tolerated and has a high success rate has been developed by researchers at the School of Medicine. The procedure holds promise for treatment of blood and bone marrow disorders, immune dysfunction and certain metabolic disorders.

Salmonella entericaEvery year in developing nations, typhoid fever infects more than 16 million people and kills more than half a million. Researchers hoping to reduce this heavy toll have an important new tool: completed genomes for the two bacteria that are the leading causes of typhoid fever.

Alcohol and drug abuse remain the biggest problems among homeless individuals.The homeless population is changing. In the days of the Great Depression, many homeless people were victims of bad luck and a worse economy. But after studying St. Louis’ homeless population since the 1980’s, experts at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say the problem has become more complex in recent times.