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Developmental Biology
Research in the department emphasizes application on the tools of genetics, molecular and cell biology, and bioorganic chemistry to define mechanisms that regulate cell fate, differintiation, and motabablism, and to devise ways of modulating these processes in vivo. A principal focus is on developmental biology using a series of genetically manipulative organisms.
| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
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Nutrients help reduce risk of birth defects
Some neural tube defects in mice linked to enzyme deficiency
May 25,
2009 -- Women of childbearing age can reduce the risk of having a child born with a neural tube defect such as spina bifida by eating enough folate or folic acid. However, folate prevents only about 70 percent of these defects. New research using mice at the School of Medicine confirms the importance of another nutrient, inositol, to protect against the development of neural tube defects.
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The atopic march
Researchers discover why eczema often leads to asthma
May 18,
2009 --
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| Top: normal lungs. Bottom: asthmatic lungs. |
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Many young children who get a severe skin rash develop asthma months or years later. Doctors call the progression from eczema, or atopic dermatitis, to breathing problems the atopic march. Now scientists at the School of Medicine have uncovered what might be the key to atopic march. They've shown that a substance secreted by damaged skin circulates through the body and triggers asthmatic symptoms in allergen-exposed laboratory mice.
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Circadian clock's role in aging, metabolism
Ticking of body's 24-hour clock turns gears of metabolism and aging
March 19,
2009 -- All animals, including humans, have an internal 24-hour clock or circadian rhythm that creates a daily oscillation of body temperature, brain activity, hormone production and metabolism. Studying mice, researchers at the School of Medicine and Northwestern University found how the biological circadian clock mechanism communicates with processes that govern aging and metabolism.
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| Faculty Experts: |
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Michael Welch
Professor of radiology
Welch, an expert in synthetic chemistry, has been a leader for more than 30 years in the development of synthetic imaging agents that have allowed doctors to use positron emission tomography (PET) to diagnose an increasingly wide variety of disorders. He is also head of the Radiochemistry Institute ...
Expertise: PET, nuclear medicine, synthetic chemistry, oncology, imaging agents, radioisotopes, radionuclides
Media assistance: (314) 286-0122 / purdym@wustl.edu
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David Clifford
Melba and Forest Seay Professor of Clinical Neuropharmacology in Neurology
Clifford, who is director of the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, is a leading expert on the neurological complications of AIDS and their treatment and management. He has also participated in studies of epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. Clifford is involved ...
Expertise: Neuropharmacology, HIV, AIDS, AIDS-related dementia, peripheral neuropathy, leukoencephalopathy, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, …
Media assistance: (314) 286-0126 / pattoner@wustl.edu
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Frank Yin
Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering; The Stephen and Camilla Brauer Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Frank C. P. Yin, M.D., Ph.D., the Stephen and Camilla Brauer Professor of Biomedical Engineering and chair of the biomedical engineering department, is a world-renowned biomedical engineer. Yin heads a dynamic, young department, not yet five years old and already ranked among the top 20 in the nation. ...
Expertise: soft tissue mechanics, cell mechanics, hemodynamics
Direct contact: (314) 935-6164
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yin@wustl.edu
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Jeffrey I. Gordon
The Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor and Head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology and Professor of Medicine
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| Gordon |
Gordon is internationally known for his research on gastrointestinal development and how gut bacteria affect normal intestinal function and predisposition to health and to certain diseases.
Expertise: molecular biology, pharmacology, gut biology, microbes, bacteria, intestines, gastrointestinal development, …
Media assistance: (314) 286-0109 / reckessg@wustl.edu
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David M. Holtzman
Head of the Department of Neurology
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| Holtzman |
Holtzman is known as one of the leading experts in researching the underlying mechanisms that lead to Alzheimer's disease in an effort to improve diagnosis and treatment. In addition to seeing patients at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the Memory Diagnostic Center, Holtzman leads a research ...
Expertise: Alzheimer's disease, dementia, neurology, molecular biology, monoclonal antibodies, amyloid plaques, perinatal stroke
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Life Without Smell May Not Be Worth It
NPR All Things Considered
Oct. 31,
2008 -- Poet Andrei Codrescu reflects on the implications for humans of a WUSTL medical study on roundworms, which suggests that removing the sense of smell could lead to a longer life.
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Olfactory Hack Tricks Worms Into Living Longer
Wired.com
and 11 others
Oct. 28,
2008 -- WUSTL developmental biologist Kerry Kornfeld comments on new research that suggests the possibility that roundworms who were deprived of their sense of smell lived extra-long.
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Researchers Pinpoint Link Between Caloric Restriction and Longevity
CBC News (Canada)
and 7 others
Sept. 21,
2007 -- Harvard researchers report in the Sept. 21 issue of Cell that they have uncovered a molecular clue that seems to explain why cutting calories might lengthen your life.
It turns out that mitochondria guard against cell death, and two specific genes within the mitochondria actually carry out that task. Mitochondria are compartments within a cell that are dedicated to energy production, and their loss is thought to be a major cause of aging.
WUSTL molecular biology and pharmacology professor Shin-ichiro Imai comments on the Harvard study.
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Blame fat on the bacteria -- again
The Los Angeles Times
and 5 others
Jan. 8,
2007 -- Bacteria in the intestines can modify the body's chemistry to alter the amount of food that becomes stored as fat, according to a finding in mice reported this week that could help in controlling obesity. WUSTL scientist Jeffrey Gordon and his colleagues reported the findings in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
It is unlikely that any manipulation of bacterial levels or composition could produce weight loss, experts said, but drugs that block this activity might.
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Greedy guts?
The Economist (UK)
Jan. 5,
2007 -- Another article on the research led by WUSTL molecular biology and pharmacology professor Jeffrey Gordon that shows the link between a certain kind of gut bacteria and obesity.
Gordon's research is outlined in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and two others published last month in Nature.
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