School of Medicine

The same trait that makes a rare immune cell invaluable in fighting some infections also can be exploited by other diseases to cause harm, two new studies show. By studying the basic functions of these cells, scientists are laying the groundwork to use them to fight infections. The cells also appear to be essential for some cancer vaccines, which enlist the power of the immune system to help fight tumors.

A newly established fund to support innovative cancer research at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center has awarded its first two $900,000 grants to high-tech efforts to undermine cancer cells’ ability to resist treatment. The awards will help scientists use genetic data to find new ways to attack treatment-resistant breast cancer and precisely target treatments for various kinds of cancer cells based on their responses to radiation therapy.

Kenneth M. Murphy, MD, PhD, has been named the Eugene L. Opie First Centennial Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Boise State University have been named partners in one of five U.S. centers that will use genetic data to search for proteins that are abnormally made by cancer cells. The partnerships form the new Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) supported by the National Cancer Institute.

Poor diet, lack of exercise and smoking are often cited as causes of preventable illness and death in the United States. A new master’s program in Applied Health Behavior Research launching this fall is designed to address the science of health behavior, says Mario Schootman, PhD, the program’s director.

Applications for the K12 Clinical Hematology Research Career Development Program scholars are being accepted through Oct. 17.

A memorial service for Gustav Schonfeld, MD, the Samuel E. Schechter Professor and former head of the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will be held at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 23 in the Moore Auditorium in the North Building.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has launched a new center devoted to turning innovations developed in the laboratory into improved treatments at the patient’s bedside. Led by David T. Curiel, MD, PhD, the Biologic Therapeutics Center will foster translational medicine and support a quicker transition of knowledge from the lab to the clinic.

Anesthesiology researchers have shown that a device to reduce the risk that patients will recall their surgery does not lower the risk of intraoperative awareness any more than a less expensive method. Unintended intraoperative awareness occurs when a patient becomes aware during surgery and later remembers being in pain or feeling distress during the operation. 

Siblings of children with autism are known to be at increased risk for autistic spectrum disorder, but now researchers at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine led by John N. Constantino, MD, report the risk is substantially higher than previously believed. Their results show that 19 percent of infant siblings develop the disorder by age 3.