School of Medicine

From July 21 through Sept. 23, McKinley Avenue between Taylor Avenue and the Olin Circle will be closed to pedestrians, vehicles and shuttle bus traffic. The closure will allow for installation of an underground tunnel to connect the School of Medicine’s Environmental Health and Safety building, currently under construction, with the Scott McKinley Research Building, also under construction.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are leading a nationwide clinical trial to determine whether one of the most commonly used probiotics can safely and effectively treat infants and toddlers suffering from acute gastroenteritis, otherwise known as stomach virus or “stomach flu.” David Schnadower, MD, is the trial’s principal investigator.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have produced the first detailed images of a protein important to viral infection. The images, from Phyllis Hanson, MD, PhD, and her colleagues, are of molecular scissors that let viruses such as HIV bud from infected cells.

Arnold Bullock, MD, is highly regarded for his expertise in urology and his community outreach efforts, which are helping to reduce cancer disparities. He has been named the inaugural Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Urology at the School of Medicine.

David C. Linehan, MD, has been named the inaugural Neidorff Family and Robert C. Packman Professor at the School of Medicine. Linehan is a professor of surgery and chief of the Section of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Gastrointestinal Surgery.

Jeffrey A. Lowell, MD, of the School of Medicine is also a commander in the U.S. Navy. He currently is deployed to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa. He’s checked in to tell us about his experience there — and about the gratitude of service members who recently received care packages from some generous Washington University employees.

Hundreds of thousands of American youth are following marijuana-related Twitter accounts and getting pro-pot messages several times each day, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. They said the tweets are cause for concern because young people are thought to be especially responsive to social media influences and because patterns of drug use tend to be established in a person’s late teens and early 20s.

Colin Nichols, PhD, the Carl F. Cori Endowed Professor and director of the Center for the Investigation of Membrane Excitability Diseases, has been elected to the Royal Society, an honorary English organization equivalent to the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.

Matthew J. Matava, MD, has been recognized as one of the top knee surgeons in North America by Orthopedics This Week, a newsletter for professionals in the field.

New research from the School of Medicine raises the prospect that some cancer patients with aggressive tumors may benefit from a class of anti-inflammatory drugs currently in use against rheumatoid arthritis.