School of Medicine

Injection of a West Nile virus antibody created by the University and Macrogenics Inc. blocked a complication of West Nile virus in laboratory animals.

A gene linked to pediatric brain tumors is an essential driver of early brain development, researchers at the School of Medicine have found. The study, published in October in Cell Stem Cell, reveals that the neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) gene helps push stem cells down separate paths that lead them to become two major types of brain cells: support cells known as astrocytes and brain neurons.

The anthropological works of Glenn Conroy, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and neurobiology and of anthropology, are on display through January 2008 in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are seeking volunteers with Parkinson’s disease for two studies. One is investigating the effects of antidepressant drugs on depression and motor function. The second study is assessing the safety and effectiveness of a drug for Parkinson’s patients who also have psychotic symptoms. In the NIH-funded depression study, investigators are evaluating paroxetine (Paxil) and venlafaxine XR (Effexor) for their success in alleviating depression and for their potential effect on motor function in Parkinson’s patients.

An innovative cancer imaging center at the School of Medicine has received a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The grant will fund a second cycle of research at the Washington University Molecular Imaging Center, where scientists from many different specialties collaborate on advanced imaging projects.

An estimated one million smokers will attempt to kick the habit this month as part of the annual Great American Smokeout. The Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital will offer its annual “Siteman Smokeout for Life,” Thursday, November 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Center for Advanced Medicine at the corner of Euclid and Forest Park.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are seeking volunteers who are slightly overweight or who have elevated blood pressure. They want to see whether it’s possible to reduce the progression of atherosclerosis in healthy people by giving low doses of the malaria drug chloroquine.

Arthur Kornberg, M.D., former chair of microbiology at the School of Medicine and a Nobel Prize winner, died Oct. 26. He was 89.

School of Medicine scientists have used a drug to block seizure-induced structural changes in brain cells in laboratory animals.

School of Medicine scientists have found an approach to diabetes that has promise for curing the disease in humans.