School of Medicine

Mice missing a specific protein from their brains react to stress differently. The genetically engineered mice develop an imbalance in a hormone involved in stress responses, and during stressful situations, they behave as if they are depressed. Genetic variations in the same protein may be a significant cause of human depression, according to researchers at the School of Medicine.

MathewsFaith, formal education and life experiences have shaped the character of Katherine Jahnige Mathews, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the School of Medicine. A faculty member at the Siteman Cancer Center and a physician at ConnectCare, Mathews’ efforts have earned her the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Herbert W. Nickens, M.D., Faculty Fellowship for 2004.

Chimpanzees don’t need haircuts.Mammals have fur over most of their bodies, but at some point during evolution, we humans lost that fur covering. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis argue that hair on the head is somehow different from fur because fur stops growing when it reaches a certain length, but our head hair continues to grow.

Matthew DobbsAlmost 60 years after it was conceived, Washington University orthopaedic surgeon Matthew Dobbs, MD, has revived a nonsurgical technique to correct clubfoot, a congenital foot deformity. By combining the venerable procedure with the latest genetic science and translational research, Dobbs aims to drastically improve treatment and perhaps eventually reduce the incidence of the malady.

Researchers knew that prions, the misfolded proteins that cause mad cow disease and other brain disorders, were killing off a class of important brain cells in a transgenic mouse model. But when they found a way to rescue those cells, they were astonished to discover the mice still became sick.

Rendering of the new CORTEX buildingEfforts to develop a significant biotechnology industry in St. Louis got a major boost with the groundbreaking for a new laboratory and office building that will provide space for growing companies. The new building at 4300 Forest Park Avenue in midtown St. Louis is being developed by CORTEX, the Center of Research, Technology & Entrepreneurial Exchange.

Jeffrey Petersen uses laser heat to treat varicose veins.Some 41 percent of American women may have varicose vein disease by the time they reach their 40s and 50s. Now Washington University in St. Louis dermatologic surgeons are among a growing group of physicians offering a procedure that uses heat to treat the problem.

Bobtail squidA molecule that triggers damaging changes in the lungs of children with whooping cough lets a bobtail squid living off the coast of Hawaii acquire the ability to glow, scientists have discovered.

Neuroscientists at the School of Medicine have received a five-year, $11.6 million grant to fund a Silvio O. Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders. Since 2001, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has funded a feasibility center at Washington University, but the new grant upgrades the center’s status, funding and number of research projects.

Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research and co-director of the Cardiovascular Division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named the Alumni Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases.