School of Medicine

These before (left) and after images show the effects of fumagillin-laden nanoparticles in a rabbit aorta.In laboratory tests, one very low dose of a drug was enough to show an effect on notoriously tenacious artery-clogging plaques. But it wasn’t so much the drug itself as how it was delivered. Fumagillin — a drug that can inhibit the growth of new blood vessels that feed atherosclerotic plaques — was sent directly to the base of plaques by microscopically small spheres called nanoparticles.

Dark areas (marked with arrows) in the first image show a process of bone renewal and strengthening. The second image shows a reduction in this process after a cortisone injection.Scientists are closing in on the solution to a persistent medical puzzle: why do high doses of cortisone, widely prescribed for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, weaken bones? Researchers at the School of Medicine have identified osteoclasts, cells that dismantle old bone, as the essential link between osteoporosis and cortisone.

VirginHerbert W. “Skip” Virgin has been named head of the Department of Pathology and Immunology at the School of Medicine. Virgin came to the department in 1990 as an instructor and became a professor in 2002. As the new department head, he becomes Edward Mallinckrodt Professor of Pathology and Immunology.

Computer screens are replacing X-rays and paper files.Surgeons and staff no longer wonder where’s the chart in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. That’s because the division switched from using paper files to a fully electronic medical record system. Electronic records are thought to improve the quality of care, reduce errors and improve efficiency. The federal government has set a goal for widespread adoption of e-records in medical practices within the next 10 years.

A stitch in time Using a cow’s heart, Kory Lavine (left) learns to do sutures from fellow student Andrew Harger at clinic orientation for new third-year students June 19. Other students (from left) are Michelle Moniz, Alistair Kent and Jeffrey Lau. Photo credit: Ray Marklin

Photo by Robert BostonJean Audrain in the Department of Internal Medicine receives the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award from Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor and dean of the School of Medicine.

The opening is part of a long-term plan to make Euclid Avenue a more pedestrian-friendly zone.

Honored were: Marshall E. Bloom, Willard B. Walker, Clay F. Semenkovich, Gregory A. Storch, William H. McAlister, Alan L. Schwartz, and Samuel L. Stanley.

Photo by Robert BostonMissouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed Senate Bill 567, which requires health insurers to cover primary health-care costs for patients involved in approved phase II clinical trials for cancer.

Heavy metal Robert L. Barrack, M.D., (right) performs a hip implant with the Birmingham Hip on a patient at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Barrack was the first U.S. surgeon to implant the system, which resurfaces the head of the femur with a metal hip joint and leaves the patient’s thighbone intact.