School of Medicine

Researchers have found that two common organisms collude and collaborate to increase the amount of calories harvested from a class of carbohydrates found in food sweeteners. In the study, conducted in previously germ-free mice, colonization with two prominent human gut microbes led to fatter mice. Scientists at the School of Medicine called the results an illustration of how understanding the menagerie of microorganisms that live in our guts can provide new insights into health.

School of Medicine researchers are developing a quick test for caffeine, a dipstick, that can be used to check for caffeine in a variety of drinks. More medical news

School of Medicine researchers will study the effects of an antibiotic on asthma symptoms in those whose symptoms are not completely controlled by their medication.

School of Medicine researchers are taking a hard scientific look at how well the results delivered by artificial bone compare to fusions using bone from deceased donors.

Third-year medical student James Hudspeth will spend a year in South Africa researching HIV/AIDS and shadowing physicians caring for patients.

Several studies under way by the School of Medicine will look at various ways to treat high cholesterol in adults and children and high triglycerides.

Photo by Joe AngelesNobel Prize-winner Barry Marshall speaks at the “21st Century Science” symposium.

Eliminating a molecular signal can help protect a neuron (show here) from destructive immune system cells.It may sound like a case of blame the victim, but researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that cells in the central nervous system can sometimes send out signals that invite hostile immune system attacks. In mice the researchers studied, this invitation resulted in damage to the protective covering of nerves, causing a disease resembling multiple sclerosis. The researchers found that they could prevent destructive immune cells from entering nervous system tissue by eliminating a molecular switch that sends “come here” messages to immune cells.

Charles Huddleston performs a pediatric lung transplant.A team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that using lobes of lungs from living donors improves the chances of short-term survival for children who require a second lung transplant. Researchers compared the outcomes of lung retransplants in 39 children, including 13 patients who had lung retransplants using lobes from living donors and 26 who received lung retransplants using whole lungs from deceased donors. Living-donor lung retransplantation involves removing a lower lobe, or about one-third of a lung, from each of two healthy adult donors and then transplanting the lobes as replacement lungs into a child.

Histamine in the small intestine (shown in green) responding to the bacterium *Yersinia enterocolitica*Mice infected with a bacterium related to the plague sharply increase production of an enzyme that makes the inflammatory hormone histamine, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found. The increased production, which occurs in the intestine, appears to be an important part of the mouse’s successful efforts to control the infection.