School of Medicine

A workhorse of modern biology is sick, and scientists couldn’t be happier. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other institutions have found that the nematode C. elegans, a millimeter-long worm used extensively for decades to study many aspects of biology, gets naturally occurring viral infections.

The Advisory Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Grants has awarded eight grants to Washington University faculty and staff for initiatives that improve the university environment for women and members of underrepresented minority groups.

Undergraduate tuition at Washington University in St. Louis will be $40,950 for the 2011-12 academic year — a $1,550 (3.9 percent) increase over the 2010-11 current academic tuition of $39,400. The required student activity fee will total $410, and the student health fee will be no more than $632. Barbara A. Feiner, vice chancellor for finance, made the announcement. 

Mackenzie Asel (left) and Arun Ganti, both second-year medical students, study a painting on display at the 2011 Student, Faculty and Staff Art Show in the atrium of the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center at the School of Medicine. The show, which runs through Feb. 11, features photography, painting, mixed media, ceramics and various other forms of art.

F. Sessions Cole, MD, Mark D. Levine, MD and Megan E. Wren, MD, have been awarded the 2010 Samuel R. Goldstein Leadership Awards in Medical Education.

The Arthritis Foundation has awarded its Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Research to Wayne M. Yokoyama, MD, the Sam J. and Audrey Loew Levin Chair for Research in Arthritis and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

A form of play therapy between parents and their toddlers can relieve depression in preschoolers, according to child psychiatry researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. For the study, the researchers adapted a play-based technique known as parent-child interaction therapy, adding a focus on emotional development. 

Three faculty recently received grants from the Children’s Discovery Institute to advance their research into childhood diseases.

Dorothy T. Rinderer, an administrative assistant for 40 years in the Dean’s Office at the School of Medicine, died Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011, at Mary Queen and Mother Center in Shrewsbury, Mo. She was 88.

Scientists, including Gerald W. Dorn, MD, have identified the first DNA sequence variant common in the population that is not only associated with an increased risk of heart failure, but appears to play a role in causing it.