School of Medicine

Mitochondria manufacture energy in every cell of the body, including heart muscle cells. A new study from the School of Medicine shows that cardiac mitochondria are abnormal in the offspring of mouse mothers that become obese due to a high-fat, high sugar diet. Those offspring then pass on the mitochondrial defects at least two more generations.

Adult depression has long been associated with shrinkage of the hippocampus, a brain region that plays an important role in memory and response to stress. Now, new research from Washington University in St. Louis has linked participation in team sports to larger hippocampal volumes in children and less depression in boys ages 9 to 11.

A combination of two topical creams lowers the risk that patients will develop squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, according to new research at the School of Medicine. The combination already has been shown to clear precancerous skin lesions from sun-damaged skin.

Mary E. Klingensmith, MD, and Gerald L. Andriole, MD, surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine, have been elected to the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators. Launched in 2017, the academy recognizes surgeon educators poised to advance the science and practice of surgical education and training.

The School of Medicine’s innovative program to introduce lay people to the world of medicine gets underway late this month. Mini-Medical School II runs March 28 through May 9 and includes lectures, labs and more.

With a growing demand for mental health services at colleges, a research team led by the School of Medicine has received a $3.8 million grant to test a mental health phone app to treat depression, anxiety and eating disorders in a study involving some 8,000 students at 20 colleges, universities and community colleges.

The School of Medicine’s Rupa Patel, MD, and Anne Glowinski, MD, are working with a Bangladeshi organization to help deliver mental health care to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Patel also is gathering forensic evidence of violence the Rohingya suffered.

Pain researchers at the School of Medicine have shown in rodents that they can block receptors on brain cells that are responsible for the negative emotions associated with pain, such as sadness, depression and lethargy. The findings could lead to new, less addictive approaches to pain treatment.

Applications are now being accepted for the Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grants for research related to leukemia and pancreatic cancer.

Developmental biologists Irving Boime and Douglas Covey, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have been named senior members of the National Academy of Inventors.