School of Medicine

Although the causes of Alzheimer’s disease are not completely understood, amyloid-beta (A-beta) is widely considered a likely culprit — the “sticky” protein clumps into plaques thought to harm brain cells. But now researchers at the School of Medicine 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 Program in Physical Therapy has been awarded a five-year, $4.6 million grant to establish a training program for physical and occupational therapists.

The list of reasons to not smoke has gotten longer: School of Medicine researchers report that smoking interferes with ligament healing.

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 Philip Bayly, Ph.D., the 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.

Twenty-one years after they first described a fatal genetic disorder in Missouri and Arkansas families, School of Medicine scientists found mutations in a gene that will help to understand and treat retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukodystrophy.

Photo by Robert BostonThe Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has received the Apollo Award, which goes to the clinical department that achieved the highest patient satisfaction scores.

An improved approach to gene therapy may one day treat some of the nearly 200 inherited forms of blindness.

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. “Providing information is a necessary component, but it’s not sufficient,” said Denise Wilfley, Ph.D., lead author of the study and professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine.

Thursday, May 20 The School of Medicine is hosting a reception for graduates and their families and guests from 5-7 p.m. May 20 in the Atrium/Hearth of the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center (FLTC). The FLTC is located on the School of Medicine campus at 520 S. Euclid. Surface parking is available on McKinley Avenue […]

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.