School of Medicine

Four researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have been awarded “high-risk, high-reward” grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant program aims to inspire scientific discovery by providing support for highly innovative research. The grant recipients are (from left) Linda J. Richards; Brian J. Laidlaw, Anthony W. Orvedahl and Leonid Shmuylovich.

Alex Holehouse, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the School of Medicine, along with researchers at the University of California, Merced, and the University of Wyoming, received a four-year $992,485 grant from the National Science Foundation through the new “Integrative Research in Biology” program.

Robert Schmidt, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine, has received the Meritorious Contributions to Neuropathology Award from the American Association of Neuropathologists.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine estimates that 78% to 92% of lung cancers in patients who have never smoked can be treated with precision drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration to target specific mutations in a patient’s tumor.

Washington University School of Medicine researchers have found a protein in the blood that could be measured to identify patients with limb-threatening ischemia — a condition in which heavy plaque formation causes a severe narrowing of the arteries — earlier in the disease process.

Mark V. Williams, MD, a respected leader in hospital medicine, performance improvement and health-care delivery, has been named director of the Division of Hospital Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. His appointment takes effect Oct. 1.

Christopher Farnsworth, assistant professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine, has received the 2021 George Grannis Award for Excellence in Research and Scientific Publication from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.

Benjamin Garcia, head of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the School of Medicine, along with Matthew D. Weitzman, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, received a five-year $2.9 million renewal grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for their research on epitranscriptomic mechanisms.

Radiation therapy for ventricular tachycardia — a life-threatening irregular heart rhythm — appears to work by reverting heart muscle cells to a younger state, reducing the irregular rhythms, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine.

Kelly L. Bolton, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, is one of six early-career physician-scientists to receive the 2021 Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.