School of Medicine

Twin brothers Obi and Malachi Griffith and their colleagues at The Genome Institute have created a massive online database that matches thousands of genes linked to cancer and other diseases with drugs that target those genes.

Members of the Washington University in St. Louis community will gather at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, in the Ginkgo Room of Olin Library to remember Rita Levi-Montalcini, one of two women from the university who won the Nobel Prize. The event, which is hosted by the Woman’s Club of Washington University, is free and open to the public.

Scientists from the School of Medicine and in the Netherlands have found that a class of specialized cells in the stomach reverts to stem cells more often than researchers had thought. One or more chief cells, which normally make digestive juices in the stomach, have changed into a stem cell in the image shown.

Afghan-American journalist and Opium Nation author Fariba Nawa will participate in two Washington University in St. Louis programs exploring the current and future state of Afghanistan: She will give an Assembly Series talk, “Afghanistan, Heroin and Women,” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, in Umrath Lounge; and she will lead a panel discussion, “Aftershocks of the Afghanistan War: What’s Next for Those Who Left and for Those Left Behind,” at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in Mallinckrodt Center’s Multipurpose Room. Both are free and open to the public. Nawa was born in Afghanistan but later moved to California. She returned after the U.S.-led fight began against the Taliban and al-Qaida in that country, and in 2011 wrote a book about the addictions, violence and other tragedies borne of Afghanistan’s opiate industry.

The obesity epidemic and how science may be able to impact it is the focus of the upcoming annual conference of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH, deputy director of the Institute for Public Health and a disease prevention expert at Siteman Cancer Center, will deliver the keynote address.

Todd P. Margolis, MD, PhD, has been named head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the School of Medicine. The new appointment becomes effective Jan. 1.

At a Board of Trustees meeting in May, some faculty members were appointed with tenure or promoted. Read more to see details.

Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, manufacturing fuel so a cell can perform its many tasks, and also are well known for their role in cell death. School of Medicine researchers and colleagues have shown that mitochondria also orchestrate events that determine a cell’s future, at least in the embryonic mouse heart. The study identifies new potential genetic culprits in the origins of some congenital heart defects. Shown is an image of a normal heart.

The National Cancer Institute has awarded two major grants totaling $26 million to leukemia researchers and physicians at the School of Medicine. The funding has the potential to lead to novel therapies for leukemia that improve survival and reduce treatment-related side effects. Pictured are cancer cells from a patient with acute myeloid leukemia.

Project ARK and The SPOT have been tapped as a model and mentor to what is hoped will be a similar center in East St. Louis. The new clinic, funded through a federal grant, will emulate The SPOT, a School of Medicine program that celebrated its fifth anniversary in September. The SPOT addresses health risks facing youth ages 13-24 by providing health, social support and prevention services free of charge. Pictured are the center’s medical director, Katie Plax (left), and Kim Donica, the executive director.