School of Medicine

A new exhibit in the Bernard Becker Medical Library celebrates the centennial anniversary of Washington University School of Medicine’s three original campus buildings on what was once considered the “new” Forest Park campus.

Washington University in St. Louis student Beakal M. Gezahegn has been named a 2015 STRIDE Undergraduate Research Fellow by the American Physiological Society.

Two new studies explain why some parasite infections, such as those common in developing countries, sometimes can’t be cured with standard treatments. The research shows the parasite Leishmania — which infects 12 million people worldwide — often harbors a virus that helps the parasite survive treatments.

Calming a neural circuit in the brain can alleviate stress in mice, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis that lays the foundation for understanding stress and anxiety in people. The researchers also showed they could shine a light into the brain to activate the stress response in mice that had not been exposed to stressful situations.

Faculty may apply for the Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows Program at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. Aug. 21.

Researchers led by Gregory Storch, MD, have developed a diagnostic test to quickly detect enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), a respiratory virus that caused unusually severe illness in children last summer and fall. The outbreak caused infections at an unprecedented rate, with over 1,000 confirmed cases and 14 reported deaths nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New insight into one of the most common inherited causes of brain tumors may help physicians diagnose and treat the learning disabilities that often accompany the condition, neurofibromotosis 1. The School of Medicine’s David H. Gutmann is the study’s senior author. 

Beginning this September, changes to the telephone system used on the Washington University Medical Center campus and at all BJC HealthCare facilities will require employees to “Dial 10” when placing calls to internal and external numbers.

The Pew Charitable Trusts have named two early-career faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis among their Pew scholars in the biomedical sciences. They are Qin Liu, PhD, of the School of Medicine, and Gary J. Patti, PhD, of Arts & Sciences.

A study published July 20 in JAMA Pediatrics provides even more compelling evidence that growing up in poverty has detrimental effects on a child’s brain. Dealing with this must become “our top public health priority,” writes the School of Medicine’s Joan Luby, MD, in an accompanying editorial.