School of Medicine

An extra degree of precision will be added to radiation treatments for prostate cancer at the School of Medicine following the installation of two new technologies.

Thomas Ferkol, M.D., director of the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine, is one of a handful of pediatric pulmonologists in the country who study primary ciliary dyskinesia.

Although the causes of Alzheimer’s disease are not completely understood, amyloid-beta (A-beta) is widely considered a likely culprit. But now School of Medicine researchers have uncovered evidence strengthening the case for another potential cause of Alzheimer’s. The finding also represents the first time scientists have found a connection between early- and late-onset Alzheimer’s.

The School of Medicine is collaborating with other area institutions in what will be the largest study of child and human health ever conducted in the United States.

Is that clover necklace you make for your child poison? It could be. Kenneth Olsen, Ph.D., Washington University assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is looking at the genetics of a wide variety of white clover plants to determine why some plants do and some plants don’t make cyanide. Ecology and geography play important roles.

Photo by Robert BostonThe grand opening of the Washington University Orthopedics and Barnes-Jewish Hospital Outpatient Orthopedic Center was held Oct. 3.

Scientists working to identify the microorganisms that make us sick have discovered a new virus potentially linked to unexplained respiratory infections.

MackinnonSusan Mackinnon has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors medical scientists in the United States can receive. Mackinnon was honored for her professional achievement in the health sciences.

Studying efforts to combat obesity in children, a research team led by investigators at the School of Medicine has found that children who lose weight are able to keep it off more effectively if they participate in a maintenance-targeted treatment program, although the effectiveness of the maintenance program lessens over time. The researchers report their findings in the Oct. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

William F. Stenson, M.D., has been named the Dr. Nicholas V. Costrini Professor of Gastroenterology & Inflammatory Bowel Disease at the School of Medicine. Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton made the announcement with Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.