School of Medicine

The Danforth Foundation has granted the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at the School of Medicine a $10 million endowed gift for research.

Inaccurate statistics undermine physicians’ ability to give patients a true prognosis, which prevents patients from deciding how best to spend their future time.

Mark J. Manary, M.D., has been named the Helene B. Roberson Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine.

A vaccine designed to prevent the recurrence of lung cancer is now being tested in centers around the world including the Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The vaccine stimulates the immune system to destroy cells that carry a tumor-specific antigen called MAGE-A3. This antigen is not present in normal tissue but is found in several cancer types, including 35 percent to 50 percent of cases of the most common type of lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer.

Illustration by Michaela HuntFor years, scientists have struggled to decipher the genetic instruction book that details where and when the 20,000 genes in a human cell will be turned on or off. Different genes operate in each cell type at different times, and this careful orchestration is what ultimately distinguishes a brain cell from a liver or skin cell. Now, scientists at the School of Medicine report they have developed a model of gene expression in yeast that predicts with a high degree of accuracy whether a gene will be switched on or off.

The Danforth Foundation has granted the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at the School of Medicine a $10 million endowed gift for research into a range of conditions that cause injury and impairment to the brain and central nervous system. The funds will be used to support innovative and groundbreaking new ideas for research with clear potential to improve diagnosis and treatment of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, stroke, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and other disorders.

Pear-shaped people who carry weight in the thighs and backside have been told for years they are at lower risk for high blood pressure and heart disease than apple-shaped people who carry fat in the abdomen. But in two studies, School of Medicine researchers report that body shape isn’t the only marker of risk. Excess liver fat appears to be the key to insulin resistance, cholesterol abnormalities and other problems that contribute to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Barack Obama will need to act swiftly in his first 100 days as president to resolve the domestic crises facing the nation, but concerns about the economy mean that health care reform will not be the highest priority during that time, says leading public health experts at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., professor of social work and medicine at WUSTL, and Timothy McBride, Ph.D., associate dean for public health at WUSTL’s George Warren Brown School of Social Work, are available to discuss health care legislation under Obama. Haire-Joshu served in Obama’s congressional office and McBride is part of the nationally representative Rural Policy Research Institute’s Health Panel.

Medical students and their professors discuss the Distinguished Service Teaching Awards after the Nov. 18 ceremony at the Eric P. Newman Education Center. The awards are presented annually to faculty and house staff in appreciation of exemplary service in medical student education.

A class of drugs used in premature infants to treat chronic lung damage can cause damage in the brain, School of Medicine research suggests.