School of Medicine

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded a five-year, $4 million grant to researchers at the School of Medicine to use genetically-engineered mice to study the origins and potential treatments of pediatric brain tumors. David H. Gutmann, the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology, is principal investigator of the grant, which is part of the NCI’s Mouse Models of Human Cancers Consortium. He is also on staff at Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals.

A computer simulation of a nanoparticle showing its core of perfluorocarbon (green) and its lipid coating (red, orange and blue).When bees sting, they pump poison into their victims. Now the toxin in bee venom has been harnessed to kill tumor cells by researchers at the School of Medicine. The researchers attached the major component of bee venom to nano-sized spheres that they call nanobees.

ChenSchool of Medicine researchers have discovered that itch-specific neurons exist in mice, and their studies suggest that itch and pain signals are transmitted along different pathways in the spinal cord.

Decoding the complete DNA of cancer patients is giving scientists at the School of Medicine a clearer picture of the complexity of the disease and allowing them to see intriguing and unexpected genetic relationships among patients.

Adults with severe hearing loss benefit from pairing a cochlear implant in one ear with a hearing aid in the other ear, even though the sound signals from each device are very different, according to a study at the School of Medicine published in the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

Parkinson’s disease is well-known for impairing movement and causing tremors, but many patients also develop other serious problems, including sleep disturbances and significant losses in cognitive function known as dementia. Now researchers at the School of Medicine have modeled Parkinson’s-associated dementia for the first time.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have identified a substance in the liver that helps process fat and glucose. That substance is a component of the common food additive lecithin, and researchers speculate it may one day be possible to use lecithin products to control blood lipids and reduce risk for diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease using treatments delivered in food rather than medication.

WUSM physician Mark Manary poses with a child in Malawi.A St. Louis-based team of plant and physician-scientists with a vision of eradicating malnutrition throughout the developing world today announced the formation of the Global Harvest Alliance (GHA), a humanitarian effort involving St. Louis Children’s Hospital, The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the School of Medicine. Through a shared commonality of purpose, each institution brings unique strengths and leadership within their respective fields to bear on this global challenge.

Women doctors are the focus of a traveling exhibition opening Aug. 10 at the Bernard Becker Medical Library at the School of Medicine. The exhibit, which features prominent physicians from WUSM and elsewhere, highlights women’s struggles to gain access to medical education and to work in the specialty of their choice.

More than 350 physicians at the School of Medicine have been named to The Best Doctors In America for 2009. The number is twice that of any other physicians’ group in St. Louis and more than any other physicians’ group in the Midwest.