School of Medicine

Blood from umbilical cords can treat a wide range of life-threatening illnesses in children, from leukemia to sickle cell disease. Cynthia L. Price, a WUSM pediatric research coordinator at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, describes the benefits of donating cord blood in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

A protein linked to increased lifespan in yeast and worms can also delay the degeneration of ailing nerve cell branches, according to WUSTL researchers. Scientists report in the Aug. 13 issue of Science that their findings might open the door to new treatments for a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Administrative records indicate that she is the first woman to hold this position at Washington University.

The findings may help clinicians better understand how otherwise harmless viruses can cause severe disease among some patients.

Photo by Bob BostonThe radio station known as “The River” held a benefit event for the nonprofit Children’s Miracle Network; more than $650,000 was raised.

“This isn’t the answer to everything in terms of finding these links, but it’s an important breakthrough,” says senior investigator Howard McLeod.

ManaryMark Manary, a WUSM pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, is saving the lives of children in Malawi with peanut butter. His revolutionary new method for treating starving children in malnourished regions could become a worldwide standard of care. Tina Hesman tells the story of Manary’s work in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

Neurons communicate at a synapseAs the nervous system develops early in life, it must create millions of synapses—small spaces between nerve cells across which the cells can communicate. Scientists have long speculated that these synapses are deliberately organized to place the structures that send messages on one cell directly across from the structures on another nearby nerve cell that receive those messages. School of Medicine researchers have provided the first experimental proof of this theory at the level of the nervous systems’ most fundamental unit: individual clusters of structures that send and receive signals.

An electron micrograph of strep bacteria infecting muscle tissueMicrobiologists at the School of Medicine discovered that Strep A, the bacteria responsible for strep throat and other more serious disorders, has a wasplike “stinger” it uses to infect cells. Scientists had expected to find a random profusion of pumps for spraying infection-related compounds. The newly discovered, dedicated stinger could prove to be an easier target for new infection-preventing drugs.

Ellis utilizes genetic analysis to guide cancer therapy.A new breast cancer drug that has shown promise fighting a particularly tough type of tumor may become a viable option for cancer patients. Matthew Ellis, a WUSTL physician at the Siteman Cancer Center, has studied the medication, Lapatinib, since it first showed promise against breast cancer tumors. He is now conducting the final phase of trials for the drug. KSDK reporter Kay Quinn provides more details in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.