School of Medicine

Higher levels of cellular chatter boosts levels of amyloid beta in the brain regions that Alzheimer’s hits first, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report. Amyloid beta is the main ingredient of the plaque lesions that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. The finding may help explain why areas that are most active when the brain rests are often among the first to develop these plaques, according to the researchers.

At 37, Eric Leuthardt, MD, assistant professor of neurosurgery, is No. 5 on a list of the world’s 100 most prolific patent holders. He posts entries to his blog, Brains and Machines, on Tumblr about general brain science and his own work as a surgeon, teacher, researcher and inventor. He directs the Center for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology, and he has just sent drafts of his first novel to prospective publishers.

To kick off a new Styrofoam recycling program at the School of Medicine this month, members of about 15 labs in the Department of Molecular Microbiology loaded one-year’s worth of Styrofoam into a 52-foot 18-wheeler truck April 28. Employees spent one hour loading the Styrofoam into the truck, which was filled about halfway.

Both the Danforth and Medical campuses at WUSTL held many events to celebrate the week of Earth Day April 18-23. At the Medical Campus, Courtney Pike and Liz Wright talk to Changguo Tang, PhD, about gardening and water conservation in front of the BJC Institute of Health at Washington University School of Medicine April 20.

Paul R. Manske, MD, professor of orthopaedic surgery, died Wednesday, April 20, 2011, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital of an extended illness. He was 72. Manske, a hand surgeon at Washington University since the late 1960s, was chairman of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery from 1983-1995. In addition, he was formerly orthopedic surgeon in chief at Barnes Hospital and director of hand surgery at Shriner’s Hospital for Children.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins may help clot-busting drugs treat strokes, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “We’ve known that patients on statins have better stroke outcomes, but the data in this study suggest a new reason why: Statins may help improve blood flow to brain regions at risk of dying during ischemic stroke,” says senior author Jin-Moo Lee, MD, PhD, director of the cerebrovascular disease section in the Department of Neurology. The results appear online in the journal Stroke.

Students from the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club Adams Park Unit paint a colorful mural promoting the Tour de Grove professional bike race in the Grove neighborhood bordering the Washington University Medical Center. The Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp. received a grant from the St. Cronin Housing Corp. to fund four murals throughout the neighborhood.

Indira Mysorekar and a team of researchers at the School of Medicine are studying asymptomatic infections in the placenta and uterine lining to see if they may play a role in preterm birth.  

Lisa Jones (right) talks with Guillermina Lozano, PhD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center after the Minority Research Scholars Symposium April 20 at the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center. The symposium was sponsored by the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences Diversity Programs Office.

Two new studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Washington University researchers including Timothy Ley, MD, and Richard Wilson, PhD, highlight the power of sequencing cancer patients’ genomes as a diagnostic tool, helping doctors decide the best course of treatment and researchers identify new cancer susceptibility mutations that can be passed from parent to child.