School of Medicine

Overweight people who lose a moderate amount of weight get an immediate benefit in the form of better heart health, according to a study conducted at the School of Medicine. And the heart improvements happen whether that weight is shed by eating less or exercising more.

*T. gondii* imaged just after reproduction inside a host cell. (Photo by Wandy Beatty.)One of the most common human parasites, Toxoplasma gondii, uses a hormone lifted from the plant world to decide when to increase its numbers and when to remain dormant, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. The scientists report this week in Nature that they successfully blocked production of the molecule, known as abscisic acid (ABA), with a plant herbicide. Low doses of the herbicide prevented fatal T. gondii infection in mice.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have used yeast cells to better understand a collection of proteins associated with the formation of actin networks, which are essential to cell movement. The cell’s ability to move is important to a broad range of biomedical concerns, including understanding how immune system cells pursue disease-causing invaders and how metastasizing cancer cells migrate from a tumor.

The University Bear Cub Fund is soliciting grant applications from University researchers who want to move inventions from their laboratories toward commercialization.

Eighteen School of Medicine faculty will be recognized Jan. 23 with the first Distinguished Faculty Awards.

Gwendolyn Randall, research patient coordinator at Siteman Cancer Center, died Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital of complications from cancer. She was 52.

Robert BostonAveri Leahy, a junior in the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Research Associates’ Program (PEMRAP), talks with Jan D. Luhmann, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and a PEMRAP co-director, in the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Emergency Department. Students in the PEMRAP program check the admissions computer for patients who may qualify for clinical studies.

St. Louis businesswoman and philanthropist Edith L. Wolff has made a commitment of $20 million to support biomedical research at the School of Medicine. The funds will establish the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Institute, which will support biomedical research projects that lead to the prevention, treatment and cure of disease.

Scanning electron microscopy image of a filamentous bacterium from a patient with a UTIScientists at the School of Medicine have found definitive proof that some of the bacteria that plague women with urinary tract infections (UTIs) are entrenched inside human bladder cells. The finding confirms a controversial revision of scientists’ model of how bacteria cause UTIs. Previously, most researchers assumed that the bacteria responsible for infections get into the bladder but do not invade the individual cells that line the interior of the bladder.

It’s possible to keep your diet intact during the holidays.The holiday season, with all its sweet temptations, is in full swing. However, all those holiday parties and office gatherings laden with scrumptious food and drink don’t have to mean the end of your weight loss plan. It’s still possible to enjoy the bounty and not feel deprived of your favorite holiday dishes, says Connie Diekman, director of University Nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. Video available.