School of Medicine

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified four proteins that supervise bone demolition, directing the destructive work of cells known as osteoclasts. The finding will help efforts to prevent bone loss and weakening caused by osteoporosis, cancer and other conditions.

Scientists exploring a potential cure for diabetes have shown that transplanting insulin-producing cells from embryonic pigs into diabetic monkeys can dramatically lower blood sugar levels, though not quite to normal levels.

Rochelle Smith has a knack for recruiting underrepresented graduate students in the sciences to Washington University. As director of diversity, summer programs and community outreach for the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, she is known for her magnetic personality that puts students, faculty and staff at ease.

J. Neal Middelkamp, MD, professor emeritus of pediatrics, died Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011, at his home in St. Louis following a brief illness. He was 86. “Dr. Middelkamp has been a pillar of the academic pediatric community at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital since his graduation from our School of Medicine in 1948,” says Alan L. Schwartz, PhD, MD, the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and head of the Department of Pediatrics.

A new study indicates that many patients undergoing spine surgery have low levels of vitamin D, which may delay their recovery. Vitamin D helps with calcium absorption, and patients with a deficiency can have difficulty producing new bone, which can, in turn, interfere with healing following spine surgery.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that a protein may help prevent the kind of brain damage that occurs in babies with cerebral palsy.

Washington University in St. Louis has licensed to Castle Biosciences Inc. the exclusive use of a gene to detect the spread of cancer in melanoma patients. A link between the BAP1 gene and cancer metastasis was discovered by Washington University scientists J. William Harbour, MD, an ophthalmologic oncologist, and Anne Bowcock, PhD, a geneticist.

Workers unwrap the world’s first superconducting synchrocyclotron proton accelerator at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The device is part of a proton therapy system being installed at Washington University Medical Center at the Kling Center for Proton Therapy,

Keith Hruska, MD, began his term as president of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), Sept. 20, 2011, at the society’s 2011 Annual Meeting in San Diego. ASBMR is the world’s leading scientific organization for bone health research.

John B. Shapleigh, II, MD, instructor of clinical medicine since 1949, died Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011, at Mari de Villa in Ballwin, Mo., of apparent complications from a respiratory infection. He was 89.