School of Medicine

This year the Spector Prize has been awarded to two students, Megan Kelly and Jennifer Stevens.The prize, given by the Department of Biology in memory of a 1938 WUSTL graduate, recognizes outstanding undergraduate achievement in research. Kelly did research on the chemical signals used by malaria parasites and Stevens on evolutionary trade-offs in weakly electric fish.

To highlight career flexibility benefits, the Office of Faculty Affairs is hosting faculty forums on family resources, work-life fit and career paths from noon-1 May 6-8 in Schwarz Auditorium. The program is free for School of Medicine faculty and includes lunch. Shown, Bess Marshall, MD, associate professor of pediatrics, used the flexibility benefit to work part time when a relative suffered a heart attack.

Andrew Scharlach, PhD, the Eugene and Rose Kleiner Professor of Aging at the University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the 2013 Friedman lecture May 3 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Washington University School of Medicine campus. The title of his lecture is “Creating Aging-Friendly Communities.”

School of Medicine researchers have described a missing link in understanding how damage to the body’s cellular power plants leads to Parkinson’s disease and some forms of heart failure. A mouse heart, in gray, shows signs of heart failure because it is missing a newly discovered key molecule in the process that culls unhealthy mitochondria from cells. Superimposed on the heart is a fruit fly heart tube, shown in color. It shows signs of failure because it is missing another key molecule in mitochondrial quality control.

Charles Ward Parker, MD, a Washington University faculty member whose pioneering research helped improve treatment of allergies and asthma, died Tuesday, April 23, 2013, from pancreatic cancer at his home in Webster Groves. He was 83.

As students begin to leave campus for the summer, many will head off to internships, hoping to add to their classroom experiences and enhance their future opportunities by immersing themselves in the real world of work. But to get the most out of the experience, it’s imperative that they have a clear plan.

The Graduate Student Senate recognized eight faculty with Outstanding Faculty Mentor Awards during its 14th annual awards ceremony, held April 10 in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Six other faculty received special recognition for excellence in mentoring.

Central Table, a new, 10,000-square-foot restaurant at the Barnes-Jewish Center for Outpatient Health, is scheduled to open for dinner starting May 1 and for all three meals May 6.

An investigational treatment for an inherited form of Lou Gehrig’s disease has passed an early phase clinical trial for safety, researchers at the School of Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital report. A mutated protein that causes an inherited form of Lou Gehrig’s disease leads to clumps in the human cells, which are pictured.

New research at the School of Medicine points to a common species of bacteria as an important contributor to bacterial vaginosis, a condition linked to preterm birth and increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Pictured is a single cell of the bacteria that may be causing the problem, Gardnerella vaginalis.