washington university school of medicine

Here’s a sobering fact for millions of young women:  The more alcohol they drink before motherhood, the greater their risk of future breast cancer. School of Medicine research links increased breast cancer to drinking between early adolescence and first full-term pregnancy.

School of Medicine scientists have found a way that corrupted, disease-causing proteins spread in the brain, potentially contributing to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other brain-damaging disorders. Pictured are clumps of corrupted tau protein outside a nerve cell, as seen through an electron micrograph.

Part of the risk for alcohol dependence is genetic. The same is true for eating disorders. Now, School of Medicine researchers have found that some of the same genes likely are involved in both. They report that people with alcohol dependence may be more genetically susceptible to certain types of eating disorders and vice versa.

The School of Medicine has received a $7.8 million grant to determine whether the length of time red blood cells (RBCs) are stored affects organ failure in critically ill children who receive RBC transfusions. Pictured is Philip Spinella, MD, one of study’s principal investigators, with Ronald Jackups, MD, PhD, in the blood bank at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

In patients with early Alzheimer’s disease, disruptions in brain networks emerge about the same time as chemical markers of the disease appear in the spinal fluid, School of Medicine researchers have shown. Pictured is senior author of the study, Beau Ances, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology and of biomedical engineering.

Frozen sperm taken by biopsy from testicles in men with no sperm in their semen is as effective as fresh sperm taken by biopsy in helping couples conceive through in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to a School of Medicine study. Pictured is a section of human testicular tissue and sperm cells viewed through a microscope.

A research career development program in obstetrics and gynecology is moving to the School of Medicine from University of California-San Francisco. The Reproductive Scientist Development Program will support the salaries and training of 15 MD or MD/PhD fellows who want to become physician scientists in obstetrics and gynecology. Pictured is Kelle Moley, MD, recipient of the grant that funds the program.

Washington University Medical Center faculty, staff and students will perform a summer concert Aug. 24 in the lobby of the Center for Advanced Medicine.

Obese women who use donor eggs to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization are just as likely to become pregnant as normal weight women, according to a new report. Pictured is the study’s first author, Emily Jungheim, MD, left, observing as Mary Bade uses assisted reproductive technology to inject a single sperm into an egg.

Researchers have shown they can distinguish between viral and bacterial infections in children with fever by profiling the activity of genes in a blood sample.