Newsroom Stories

The School of Medicine Commencement Recognition Ceremony May 15 at the Ferrara Theater at America’s Center recognized the academic achievements of 109 students: 80 students earned the doctor of medicine degree; 16 earned a dual doctor of medicine/doctor of philosophy degree (M.D./Ph.D.); and 13 earned the doctor of medicine/master of arts degree (M.D./M.A). Michael V. Drake, M.D., chancellor of University of California-Irvine, spoke at the ceremony about “The Privilege of Practice.”

Targeted therapies for endometrial cancer, the fourth most common cancer of U.S. women, have lagged behind that of many other cancers, say researchers at the School of Medicine. But the researchers have taken an important step toward changing that by identifying a genetic marker for high-risk endometrial cancer, opening the door for more directed and risk-appropriate treatments.

Women of childbearing age can reduce the risk of having a child born with a neural tube defect such as spina bifida by eating enough folate or folic acid. However, folate prevents only about 70 percent of these defects. New research using mice at the School of Medicine confirms the importance of another nutrient, inositol, to protect against the development of neural tube defects.

Landscape in pine plantation forest.Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, along with collaborators at three other universities, have discovered that the biodiversity in a patch of habitat can extend outside the borders of a protected area; this effect is magnified when corridors — skinny strips of land — connect the habitats. Their findings, reported in this week’s online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provide a strategy for managing nature preserves to maximize biodiversity in the small spaces that are already formally protected.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are collecting blood samples, mammograms and other medical data to populate a unique new women’s health repository. This wealth of information will be used to support future research projects focused on breast cancer and breast cancer treatments.

A 47-million-year-old primate fossil, a purported “missing link” between primates and humans, was unveiled this week in New York. The fossil, formally called Darwinius masillae but nicknamed Ida, could, due to it being an essentially whole skeleton, shed light on the construction of the primate family tree, says an expert on primate evolution at Washington University in St. Louis.

The New America Foundation and Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis announce a new College Savings Initiative to examine and improve 529 college savings plans so more people have the opportunity to attend and complete college. “Saving money is not easy, but research shows many people can save when they have incentives and a way to do so. More low-income families may save with well-designed 529s and incentives,” said Margaret Clancy, Policy Director at CSD. “We will study 529 innovations to see which ones are effective. This will inform 529 policy so that it can benefit families of all income levels.”

When people look for something to pop into view at a particular spot—a baseball batter looking to a pitcher, for example—evidence has suggested that the visual centers of the brain can prepare themselves to respond more quickly and efficiently when the anticipated stimulus appears. Now researchers have provided experimental confirmation of how this happens: a shift in the brainwave patterns in the visual cortex.

Top: normal lungs. Bottom: asthmatic lungs.Many young children who get a severe skin rash develop asthma months or years later. Doctors call the progression from eczema, or atopic dermatitis, to breathing problems the atopic march. Now scientists at the School of Medicine have uncovered what might be the key to atopic march. They’ve shown that a substance secreted by damaged skin circulates through the body and triggers asthmatic symptoms in allergen-exposed laboratory mice.

A new drug-free treatment for asthma has been shown to be effective in an international study of patients with severe, uncontrolled asthma. The results showed statistically significant improvements in quality of life and reductions in asthma attacks and emergency room visits for patients who underwent the treatment.