School of Medicine

The School of Medicine has joined the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC), an organization of 13 leading U.S. academic centers designed to speed the development of new myeloma therapies. Washington University School of Medicine serves as a major center for multiple myeloma treatment and research in the St. Louis area.

Mice developed in the laboratory of Zhou-Feng Chen don’t experience relief from pain when given opiate drugs such as morphine.For the first time, pain researchers at the School of Medicine 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). The investigators, led by Zhou-Feng Chen, Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology, psychiatry and molecular biology and pharmacology, report their results online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They found that opiates like morphine don’t relieve pain as well in mice genetically engineered to lack neurons that produce a neurotransmitter called serotonin in the central nervous system.

Researchers hoping to better understand the development of the infant brain have long been stymied by a formidable obstacle: babies just don’t want to sit still for brain scans. “There have been some studies that obtained brain scans of infants while they were napping or sedated, but what we’d really like to do is to scan their brains when they’re sitting on a parent’s lap, seeing new things, hearing new words and interacting with the environment,” says Joseph Culver, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology at the School of Medicine.

Below is a link to the Washington University news release about the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings for 2004-05: http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/3627.html To view a full listing of U.S. News magazine, book and Web-only rankings for 2004-05, please visit the U.S. News & World Report site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

Good housing in St. Louis (above) contrasted with poor housing nearby.Studying people in their homes and neighborhoods, investigators have found that poor housing conditions contribute to the risk for diabetes in urban, middle-aged African-Americans. A team of investigators from the School of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine and other institutions conducted the study. They published their findings in the Aug. 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

GrossHeart disease hits people with diabetes twice as often as people without diabetes. In those with diabetes, cardiovascular complications occur at an earlier age and often result in premature death, making heart disease the major killer of diabetic people. But why is heart disease so prevalent among diabetics?

Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure. But some don’t. Daniel Kelly and colleagues at the School of Medicine and other institutions are trying to figure out what could explain that difference. Their latest research reveals that impaired energy production in heart muscle may underlie heart failure in some hypertensive patients.

School of Medicine surgeons have developed the first mouse model of lung transplantation, which may explain why the procedure in humans has a high rate of rejection.

Photo by Robert BostonWashington University Orthopedics and Barnes-Jewish Hospital Outpatient Orthopedic Center in Chesterfield opened the last week in July for its first surgery and patient visits.

Junior faculty are invited to apply for Washington University Institutional Research Grant from the American Cancer Society.