School of Medicine

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoOlsen is studying the genetics of two types of clover to determine why one type is cyanogenic (toxic) and the other is not.That clover necklace you make for your child could well be a ring of poison. That’s because some clovers have evolved genes that help the plant produce cyanide — to protect itself against little herbivores, such as snails, slugs and voles, that eat clover. Other clover plants that do not make cyanide are found in climates with colder temperatures. So, in picking your poison, er, clover, ecology and geography play important roles. A plant evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis is trying to get to the bottom of this botanical cloak and dagger tale.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo(L-R) Larry Taber, postdoctoral researcher Gang Xu and Philip Bayly examine brain and heart cells to learn something of the mechanics involved in brain folding.Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are finding common ground between the shaping of the brain and the heart during embryonic development. Larry A.Taber, Ph.D., the Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Phillip Bayly, Ph.D., Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, are examining mechanical and developmental processes that occur in the folding of the brain’s surface, or cortex, which gives the higher mammalian brain more surface area (and hence more intellectual capacity) than a brain of comparable volume with a smooth surface.

Photo by Robert BostonMary Klingensmith, is part mentor, part den mother, part disciplinarian

Active guidance is key when helping kids make diet and exercise changes, according to a new study.A little health information is not enough to help obese children get into better shape, according to a recent analysis. Moreover, children who do not receive an offer for intervention or who receive information only tend to experience weight gains. Children given guidance that is more direct get into better shape, according to the review. “Providers make the assumption that providing information leads to changes,” said Denise Wilfley, Ph.D., lead author and professor in the department of psychiatry at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Providing information is a necessary component, but it’s not sufficient.”

Women who get most of their daily calcium from food have healthier bones than women whose calcium comes mainly from supplemental tablets.

Although crib bumper pads are theoretically designed to prevent injury to a baby, the risk of accidental death or injury to an infant outweighs their possible benefits.

A resistance gene that allows bacteria to beat an important class of antibiotics has started to appear in microorganisms taken from Midwestern patients.

Photo by Robert BostonA group of pre-health students from the Japanese university spent a week at the School of Medicine taking part in classes in the Programs in Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy.

Mary Klingensmith, M.D., associate professor of surgery, has been a driving force behind changing the way surgical residents are trained.

School of Medicine pain researchers have shown that it’s possible to separate the good effects of opiate drugs such as morphine (pain relief) from the unwanted side effects of those drugs (tolerance, abuse and addiction).