School of Medicine

Researchers trying to improve cancer immune therapy have made an unexpected find: They’ve produced the most accurate mouse model to date of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a cluster of conditions that afflict approximately 1.4 million Americans with abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea.

Depressed heart attack patients have a higher risk for sudden death in the months following a heart attack. Now a team led by researchers from the School of Medicine has found that the risk continues for many years. “There’s a two- to four-fold increase in a person’s risk of dying following a heart attack if they also happen to be depressed,” says Robert. M. Carney, lead author of the new study.

Frustrated by the slow pace of new drug development for a condition that causes pediatric brain tumors, a neurologist at the School of Medicine decided to try to fine-tune the animal models used to test new drugs. Instead of studying one mouse model of the disease causing the brain tumors, the laboratory of David Gutmann, M.D., Ph.D., the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology, evaluated three and found that one of most closely mimicked what is seen in children who develop brain tumors.

School of Medicine scientists have linked a genetic mutation to an inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often called Lou Gehrig’s disease.

School of Medicine therapists and eating disorders specialists are joining investigators at a few sites around North America to evaluate anorexia nervosa treatments. Only 25 percent of anorexia patients recover completely, and the goal of this study is to improve those odds.

Carlton Cuyler Hunt, M.D., who headed the Department of Physiology from 1967-1983, died Friday, Feb. 8, 2008. He was 89.

When constructing the 9,000-square-foot Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology’s Center for Clinical Imaging Research inside of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, crews had to lift a massive piece of imaging equipment up to the 10th floor from the outside using a crane.

A team of scientists led by Washington University has begun to unlock the genetic secrets of corn, a crop vital to U.S. agriculture.

Photo by Robert BostonState legislators get a tour of the Center for Clinical Imaging Research at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

A better drug for osteoporosis could be on the horizon because of research at the School of Medicine that has uncovered new information.