School of Medicine

A look at the activity of 24 genes in 52 patients as those genes respond to the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorourancilOncologists aren’t sure exactly why patients with the same cancer often respond very differently to the same treatment, but a growing body of evidence suggests the answer lies somewhere in the genes. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have become the first to profile the activity of whole sets of genes involved in processing chemotherapeutic drugs.

For technicians in the Genome Sequencing Center (GSC) at the School of Medicine, work is going to go a whole lot faster — hundreds of times faster, in fact. Fast enough to sequence the entire genome of a bacterial organism in one day instead of several weeks.

Courtesy of Cell MetabolismMay ’05 coverWhere fat comes from determines whether the body can metabolize it effectively. Researchers at the School of Medicine have found that the “old” fat stored in the body’s peripheral tissues — that is, around the belly, thighs or bottom — can’t be burned efficiently unless “new” fat is eaten in the diet or made in the liver.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Autism study (week of May 4) • Low fat, not no fat (week of May 11) • West Nile virus cure (week of May 18) • Improving Crohn’s disease (week of May 25)

Applicants from the basic sciences, epidemiological and behavioral science departments are especially encouraged to apply.

When he was young, Bruce D. Lindsay, M.D., associate professor of medicine, liked to wrestle. Back then, his opponents were scrappy kids from Haddonfield, N. J., bent on proving their worth. Today, the stakes are higher for Lindsay, but the characteristics of a good wrestler — intelligence, action and especially perseverance — are clear in […]

Chemistry Professor Karen L. Wooley is principal investigator of a program that has received funding of $12.5 million for five years.

Photo by Claudia BurrisThe Lowry-Moore Society is one of three academic societies in the School of Medicine that promotes interaction between faculty and students.

John Heuser, “Roddy” Roediger & Norman Schofield have been honored; the AAAS recognizes leadership in scholarship, business, the arts & public affairs.

The technique introduced into the animals’ cells a gene that makes clotting factor VIII, a protein missing because of a genetic defect. More medical news