School of Medicine

Cancer cells’ appetite for sugar may have serious consequences for immune cell function. Scientists have shown that in low-sugar environments immune T cells start using energy-making structures known as mitochondria (highlighted in this image in yellow and orange). This switch can prevent T cells from making an inflammatory compound important for fighting cancers and some infections.

Timothy J. Wolf, OTD, an assistant professor in the Program in Occupational Therapy and in neurology at Washington University School of Medicine, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA).

In an effort to learn why some viruses such as influenza, Ebola and West Nile are so lethal, a team of U.S. researchers plans an $18.3 million comprehensive effort to model how humans respond to these viral pathogens. Participants include Washington University’s Michael Diamond, a West Nile expert.

​Washington University will be the anchor tenant in a $73 million laboratory and research facility projected to open at the end of the year in the CORTEX bioscience district. Pictured is Hank Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration,​ who described the University’s role in the new building at a recent event there.

Jeffrey I. Gordon, whose groundbreaking research has linked the trillions of microbes living in the gut to obesity and severe childhood malnutrition, will receive the 2013 Robert Koch Award, the leading international prize in microbiology.

Jeanne M. Nerbonne, PhD, the Alumni Endowed Professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, has been named director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research.

Thomas B. Ferguson, MD, professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Sunday, May 26, 2013, of complications following a heart valve procedure. He was 90.

Doctors at the School of Medicine have shown that testing cervical tumors before treatment for vulnerability to chemotherapy predicts whether patients will do well or poorly with standard treatment. The study supports the future possibility of personalized medicine for cervical cancer, a tumor normally addressed with a one-size-fits-all approach. Pictured is a cervical tumor visible on a PET/CT scan.

The World Affairs Council of St. Louis has named Patricia Wolff, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, as the recipient of its 2013 International Humanitarian of the Year Award.

A major study in hospital ICUs shows that bathing patients daily with an antimicrobial soap and applying antibiotic ointment in the nose reduced by 44 percent the bloodstream infections caused by dangerous pathogens, including the drug-resistant bacteria MRSA (pictured).