School of Medicine

Many cancerous tumors possess a genetic mutation that disables a tumor suppressor called PTEN. Now researchers at the School of Medicine have shown why inactivation of PTEN allows tumors to resist radiation therapy. The PTEN gene produces a protein found in almost all tissues in the body. This protein acts as a tumor suppressor by preventing cells from growing and dividing too rapidly.

HeuckerothRobert Heuckeroth has won a Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Heuckeroth, a Washington University pediatric gastroenterologist who treats children with Hirschsprung disease and other gastrointestinal disorders at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, was one of only four physician-scientists nationwide to receive the prestigious award.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have created a line of fruit flies that may someday help shed light on the mechanisms that cause insomnia in humans. The flies, which only get a small fraction of the sleep of normal flies, resemble insomniac humans in several ways.

A drug with potential to prevent epilepsy caused by a genetic condition may also help prevent more common forms of epilepsy caused by brain injury, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. Scientists found that the FDA-approved drug rapamycin blocks brain changes believed to cause seizures in rats.

Genetically speaking, what distinguishes a man from a mouse? U.S. and European scientists provide the answer in this week’s PLoS Biology. They have described the finished genome sequence of the mouse, which, after the human, is only the second mammal to have its complete genome decoded.

EdmundowiczA procedure that uses heat generated by radio waves to treat Barrett’s esophagus, a condition caused by acid reflux (severe heartburn), can eliminate signs of the potentially cancer-causing disorder and reduce the risk that the disease will progress.

Similar to a pacemaker, the iPod-sized device is implanted under the skin near the collarbone.Some 15 million Americans have high blood pressure that can’t be controlled with medication, leaving them at high risk for early death, stroke, heart disease or kidney failure. Researchers at the School of Medicine are evaluating whether an investigational device can help these patients keep their blood pressure in check.

Targeted therapies for endometrial cancer, the fourth most common cancer of U.S. women, have lagged behind that of many other cancers, say researchers at the School of Medicine. But the researchers have taken an important step toward changing that by identifying a genetic marker for high-risk endometrial cancer, opening the door for more directed and risk-appropriate treatments.

Women of childbearing age can reduce the risk of having a child born with a neural tube defect such as spina bifida by eating enough folate or folic acid. However, folate prevents only about 70 percent of these defects. New research using mice at the School of Medicine confirms the importance of another nutrient, inositol, to protect against the development of neural tube defects.

When people look for something to pop into view at a particular spot—a baseball batter looking to a pitcher, for example—evidence has suggested that the visual centers of the brain can prepare themselves to respond more quickly and efficiently when the anticipated stimulus appears. Now researchers have provided experimental confirmation of how this happens: a shift in the brainwave patterns in the visual cortex.