School of Medicine

The coconut has been popular in lore and on palates for centuries, yet little is known about the history of this palm’s domestication and dispersal around the world. Now, Kenneth M. Olsen, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is embarking on the task of understanding the plant’s history by exploring the genetics of the coconut.

The coconut has been popular in lore and on palates for centuries, yet little is known about the history of this palm’s domestication and dispersal around the world. Now, Kenneth M. Olsen, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is embarking on the task of understanding the plant’s history by exploring the genetics of the coconut.

EberleinTimothy Eberlein, M.D., the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and director of the Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI). Eberlein also serves as the Bixby Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery.

Women who are obese, have type 2 diabetes or a family history of type 2 diabetes could one day have more successful pregnancies because of a study at the School of Medicine. This study suggests that Metformin, the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetes drug, could potentially improve pregnancy outcomes in women with insulin resistance.

Seventy-two academically talented high school juniors and seniors participated in the 2007 Pfizer-Solutia Partnership of Universities’ Students and Teachers as Research Scientists (STARS) program for gifted high-school students. WUSTL faculty were among the more than 50 professor-mentors.

For the first time, researchers have discovered a gene that underlies scoliosis, which affects about 3 percent of all children.

Ray E. Clouse M.D., professor of medicine and of psychiatry, died at his home on Friday, Aug. 31, 2007, of complications from lung cancer. He was 56.

Ten thousand St. Louis-area women are expected to participate in a study comparing patient satisfaction, discontinuation rates and the effectiveness of birth control.

School of Medicine researchers have improved a recently developed brain imaging technique to allow brain scans of infants.

A psychiatric geneticist at the School of Medicine is one of several principal investigators around the country who will participate in the Genes, Environment and Health Initiative (GEI), a unique collaboration between geneticists and environmental scientists. The $48 million initiative is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Laura Jean Bierut, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, will head the national study of addiction, looking both at genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the problem.