School of Medicine

Scientists have shown how developing brain tumors can turn an encounter with a signaling molecule from a fatal experience for the tumor cells into a cue for their own growth and multiplication. Researchers at the School of Medicine found the transformation relies on at least two other molecules that can be modified with existing drugs, opening the possibility that they may be able to use the established drugs to treat brain tumors.

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.

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.

Photo by Dilip VishwanatFerkol: a teacher, researcher and ‘clinician at heart’

Photo by David KilperThat clover necklace you make for your child could be a ring of poison. That’s because some clovers have evolved genes that help the plant produce cyanide — to protect itself against herbivores such as snails, slugs and voles. Kenneth Olsen, Ph.D., 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.

ShawAndrey Shaw, the Emil R. Unanue Professor of Immunobiology in the Department of Pathology and Immunology at the School of Medicine, has been named an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Shaw was one of 15 researchers selected nationwide.

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.

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.