Tagged: Washington University

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Morning round-up

9:28 am

Tue August 23, 2011

Morning headlines: Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Credit UPI/Bill Greenblatt

A car remains on its top, three days after a tornado devistated the area of Bridgeton, Missouri on April 25, 2011.

By Julie Bierach and The Associated Press

Mo. state senators meet today to examine natural disasters

A special Senate committee that was created this summer is scheduled to meet today in the state Capitol building. So far in 2011, Missouri has been hit by a historic blizzard, powerful tornadoes in Joplin, St. Louis and Sedalia and heavy flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The Senate committee was created to recommend ways the Legislature can help with local recovery efforts.

Medical research

3:05 pm

Sat May 28, 2011

Wash U zebrafish facility opens doors to large-scale genetic research, collaboration

Next image Previous image

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

The zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a tropical freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

Developmental geneticist Liliana Solnica-Krezel speaks with visitors touring Washington University’s zebrafish facility on Friday. The large tanks on the left hold algae and small freshwater organisms called rotifers – food for the young zebrafish.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

The tall metal units at the rear of this photo are robotic feeders. The 20 robotic feeding units in the new facility roll along tracks between the shelves of fish tanks, scanning barcodes that tell them how much food to dispense into each tank.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

Liliana Solnica-Krezel, who spearheaded the building of the new Washington University facility, looks through a microscope at some two-hour-old zebrafish eggs, whose image is projected on the screen behind her.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

A close-up view of the magnified, two-hour-old zebrafish eggs.

Credit (Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio)

The Washington University zebrafish research facility can hold 7,000 tanks of fish, allowing researchers to conduct large, collaborative experiments and complete their research projects more quickly.

By Véronique LaCapra

Washington University is now home to one of the largest zebrafish research facilities in the world.

The one-inch long, striped tropical fish serve as models for studying human development and disease, from birth defects to heart disease to cancer.

Breast Cancer Study

5:27 pm

Mon May 9, 2011

Wash U. study: estrogen-reducing drugs may reduce need for mastectomy in breast cancer patients

Credit (Washington University School of Medicine/ Matthew J. Ellis)

Mammograms of estrogen-receptor positive breast tumors before and after 16 weeks of aromatase inhibitor therapy. The top images: a tumor that responded to the treatment and regressed. The lower images: a resistant tumor that stayed about the same size.

By Véronique LaCapra

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have shown that estrogen-lowering drugs can help reduce the need for mastectomy in some breast cancer patients.

Estrogen is known to increase tumor growth in the majority of breast cancer patients.

In a new study, post-menopausal women with large breast cancer tumors were given one of three estrogen-lowering drugs before surgery.

Study lead Dr. Matthew Ellis says all three drugs were equally effective in shrinking tumors and reducing the need for complete breast removal.

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