School of Medicine

In cells lining the airway, high levels of certain proteins have long been linked with the overproduction of mucus characteristic of diseases like asthma and COPD. New research from the School of Medicine provides clues to potentially counteract inappropriate mucus production.

The importance of human milk in evolution and modern health; biology and race in Ferguson; and the latest research on Cahokia Mounds will be among the presentation topics as three major human biology and anthropology professional groups converge in St. Louis for their annual scientific meetings March 24-28.

Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD, professor of developmental biology and of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a five-year, $1.56 million grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “eNAMPT-mediated Adipo-hypothalamic Communication for NAD+ Production and Aging.”

Researchers from around the world will gather April 10 to discuss the risk of emerging infectious diseases, and how best to translate research to clinical care, at the third annual conference of the Washington University Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease.

James M. DuBois, DSc, PhD, has been named the Steven J. Bander Professor of Medical Ethics and Professionalism at the School of Medicine. In his research, DuBois develops measures to assess outcomes of training programs in ethics and professionalism in medicine and conducts social science studies of patient and research participant attitudes.

​Avik Som, a second-year student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the School of Medicine, has been invited to attend the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting this summer in Lindau, Germany.

Stuart C. Sweet, MD, PhD, an international leader in pediatric lung transplantation, has been elected vice president/president-elect of the United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

Scientists are eager to make use of stem cells’ extraordinary power to transform into nearly any kind of cell, but that ability also is cause for concern in cancer treatment. New research at the School of Medicine has revealed that these stem cells are present even in slow-growing, less aggressive tumors.

Carl Frieden, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a five-year, $1.56 million grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Alzheimer’s Disease: Defining the apoE-amyloid-beta interaction.”

A reformulation of OxyContin (left) that makes it less likely to be abused than the older formulation (right) has curtailed the drug’s illicit use. But researchers at the School of Medicine have found that a significant percentage still abuse the drug despite package labeling that emphasizes its abuse-deterrent properties.