New topical immunotherapy effective against early skin cancer

A combination of two topical drugs that have been in use for years triggers a robust immune response against precancerous skin lesions, according to a new study. The research, from the School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, shows that the therapy activates the immune system’s T cells, which then attack the abnormal skin cells. The study was published Nov. 21 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

STEM initiative receives support

Boeing Co. has awarded Washington University in St. Louis’ Institute for School Partnership a grant for STEMpact.

AAAS names three faculty as 2016 fellows

Three School of Medicine faculty members are among 391 new fellows selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. Azad Bonni, Phyllis I. Hanson and Gary D. Stormo will receive the highest honor awarded by AAAS.

Achilefu named to chemistry, optical societies

Samuel Achilefu
Samuel Achilefu, the Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Professor of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been elected as a fellow to the Royal Society of Chemistry and to The Optical Society.

Weight loss may help prevent multiple myeloma

New research at the School of Medicine shows that excess weight increases the risk that a benign blood disorder — called monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance — will progress into multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood.

Investing $25 million in imaging sciences

Washington University in St. Louis is launching a bold $25 million initiative over the next five years to develop innovative technologies aimed at improving science and medicine worldwide. The Imaging Sciences Initiative – a partnership between the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the School of Medicine – will support the development of new imaging technologies to diagnose and treat disease as well as study intricate biological structures, metabolism and physiology, and critical molecular and cellular processes.

‘Here Be Dragons’

With “Here Be Dragons,” his new exhibition at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, Sam Fox School dean Carmon Colangelo examines the limits of knowledge and the precarious social and political states that define our contemporary moment.