washington university school of medicine

Michael M. Awad, MD, PhD, has been named associate dean for medical student education at the School of Medicine, effective June 1. Awad is an assistant professor of surgery, program director of the university’s general surgery residency and director of the university’s Institute for Surgical Education.

Using a miniature electronic device implanted in the brain, scientists have tapped into the internal reward system of mice, prodding neurons to release dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure. This LED light can activate brain cells and may lead to the mapping of circuits involved in sleep, depression and addiction.

A groundbreaking for a new, $50 million Shriners Hospitals for Children-St. Louis recently was held on the Washington University Medical Center campus. The planned hospital, at the corner of Clayton Road and Newstead Avenue, will replace the Shriners Hospital in Frontenac. Shown is a rendering of what the building will look like from Interstate 64/Highway 40.

Teens who were depressed as children are far more likely than their peers to be obese, smoke cigarettes and lead sedentary lives, even if they no longer suffer from depression. The research, by scientists at the School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh, suggests that depression, even in children, can increase the risk of heart problems later in life.

Viruses often spread through the brain in patchwork patterns, infecting some cells but missing others. New research at the School of Medicine helps explain why: Natural immune defenses that resist viral infection are turned on in some brain cells but switched off in others. The white arrows in the picture highlight infected cells in a mouse brain.

Ralph. G. Dacey Jr., the Henry G. and Edith R. Schwartz Professor and chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Washington University, has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He traveled to Dublin earlier this month to receive the honor.

Douglas Berg, PhD, soon-to-be professor emeritus of molecular microbiology, establishes collaborations across disciplines.

A survey of tanning salon operators in Missouri shows that 65 percent would allow children as young as 10 to 12 years old to use tanning beds. That’s despite evidence that any tanning bed use increases the risk of all skin cancers, including melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, later in life.

Washington University in St. Louis administrators are urging Congress and the White House to reach a compromise to avoid wide-ranging, across-the-board federal spending cuts that would take effect March 1.

Robert Mecham, PhD, has been named interim head of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.