School of Medicine

Courtesy photoSchool of Medicine physicians are testing an investigational device that allows them to insert replacement aortic valves without opening the chest.

The Shriners Hospital for Children will build a new hospital at the Washington University Medical Center. The new hospital’s location will further enhance research opportunities and clinical care between Shriners Hospital for Children-St. Louis and the School of Medicine.

Jamie Marie Walsh, of the Department of Internal Medicine, died Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007, of complications from cancer. She was 48.

A review of epidemiological data has found evidence that people who spend fewer years in school may experience a slight but statistically significant delay in the realization that they’re having cognitive problems that could be Alzheimer’s disease.

Leon Kass has been at the forefront of bioethics since before Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, was born in 1978. His talk for the Assembly Series, “Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Bioethics” will be presented at 4 p.m. Wednesday, February 6 in Graham Chapel on Washington University’s Danforth Campus. The program is free and open to the public

The School of Medicine will play a leading role in an international collaboration to sequence the genomes of 1,000 individuals. The ambitious 1000 Genomes Project will create the most detailed picture to date of human genetic variation and likely will identify many genetic factors underlying common diseases.

The School of Medicine is pleased by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision released today. The Court let stand a unanimous 2007 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that stated prostate tissue and serum samples donated to Washington University can continue to be used by the institution for cancer research. The appellate court had affirmed the lower federal district court ruling that donors who gave tissue or serum samples to the University for research can’t later compel the school to transfer ownership of the samples to another research institution.

Thomas De Fer, M.D., James Fehr III, M.D., and Mary Klingensmith, M.D., have received the 2008-09 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellowships at the School of Medicine.

School of Medicine metabolism researchers have found that activating a protein in muscle tissue increases average lifespan and prevents some age-related diseases.

Increasing levels of a protein that helps the brain use cholesterol may slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease, research with mice at the School of Medicine shows.