Solnica-Krezel to lead developmental biology department

Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Ph.D., has been chosen to head the Department of Developmental Biology at the School of Medicine.
Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, announced the appointment, effective Jan.1, 2010.
Solnica-Krezel
"Lila is a visionary scientist and outstanding leader who will reach across departments and schools to build the strongest possible developmental biology department," Shapiro said. "I am confident that with her guidance, this department will continue to be at the forefront of research that is redefining how we think about human disease and how best to treat it."
Solnica-Krezel is the University Professor and the Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of Developmental Genetics at Vanderbilt University. She also is a professor of biological sciences, of pediatrics and of cell and developmental biology.
"I am honored by the invitation to head the new Department of Developmental Biology at Washington University, which has superb traditions in the area of developmental neurobiology and embryology," Solnica-Krezel said. "It is a particularly opportune time for developmental biology research as recent technological breakthroughs in the animal model systems afford insights into human embryonic development. We are discovering that many of the adult human diseases have their origins during embryogenesis, while studies of stem cells and regeneration are bringing us closer to curing human diseases and pushing boundaries of aging. I am thrilled about joining the excellent group of developmental biologists at Washington University and working with them to shape the future of the department."
The molecular biology and pharmacology department became the developmental biology department in 2007. The change reflected a shift in the department's research focus from embryonic development, aging, regenerative biology and physiology to an organism's development through life.
As head of the Department of Developmental Biology, Solnica-Krezel succeeds interim head David M. Ornitz, M.D., Ph.D., who has held the position since October 2004. Ornitz will return to his full-time research and teaching responsibilities.
"As an internationally regarded scientist and key member of the department for more than 17 years, David was the ideal person to guide the department through its renaming and its recent shift in focus," Shapiro said. "He has done a tremendous job and has ensured the department's success."
Solnica-Krezel earned a master's degree in molecular biology from Warsaw University in Poland in 1985 and a doctorate in oncology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research in 1991.
She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental genetics in 1995 at Harvard Medical School, where she helped to initiate and carry out the first large-scale genetic screen for mutations affecting zebrafish embryonic development.
Solnica-Krezel studies the molecular and genetic mechanisms that control the early development of vertebrate animals. She has studied this process in zebrafish, using a combination of genetic analysis with embryological and molecular methods.

By Diane Duke Williams

Cells in fruit fly gut can prompt tumor growth

Tumor growth can start from stem cells in the gut, say School of Medicine researchers studying fruit flies.

They found that tumors can grow from adult stem cells that have lost a specific tumor-suppressor gene. The gene, Apc, has previously been implicated in human gastrointestinal cancers, including colon cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world.

"A long-standing question in cancer biology is 'Do tumors arise from specific cell types?'" said lead author Craig A. Micchelli, Ph.D., assistant professor of developmental biology. "We asked what happens when the Apc gene is specifically disabled in fruit fly intestinal stem cells, and we observed that the mutant cells proliferate rapidly to create tumors. Our studies demonstrate that adult stem cells in the intestinal tract of fruit flies can function as a cell of origin for tumorigenesis."

The study was published in the journal Development.
READ MORE

Obama taps Beachy to lead new federal agency

President Barack Obama has asked Roger Beachy, Ph.D., president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, to lead a new federal agency that will transform the way that plant science research is funded in the United States.

Beachy is the founding president of the Danforth Plant Science Center, a private, nonprofit research institute in St. Louis County founded in 1999 by a partnership that includes Washington University.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA, a newly named agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will manage the external grants of the Department of Agriculture, including the competitive grant program now called the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

In the past decade or so, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has distributed between $120 million and $180 million in competitive grants. "The goal we're aiming for in the next four or five years is an annual budget of $700 million," Beachy said.

"Plants are key to the future, to our survival," Beachy said. "But they just haven't been getting the attention they need from the research community or the U.S. public.

"We're beginning to see aberrations in climate, and the Earth's growing population will need not just more food but better food and will need to use less of the world's water supply so that the growing population will have what they require to live," Beachy said

READ MORE

Sleckman named Conan Professor

Barry P. Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the Conan Professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, announced the appointment.

Sleckman is the second faculty member to hold the Conan Professorship, which was endowed by Jack Ladenson, Ph.D., the Oree M. Carroll and Lillian B. Ladenson Professor of Clinical Chemistry in Pathology and Immunology. Ladenson established the chair in part from funds earned through the development of blood tests to detect myocardial infarction, or heart attack.
"As an outstanding leader in teaching, research and administration, Barry Sleckman is a fine match for the Conan Professorship," Shapiro said. "He is an outstanding basic scientist interested in DNA damage and repair. He's a regular recipient of teaching awards at the School of Medicine, and his guidance helps to ensure that faculty in his division not only keep pace with the latest rapid advancements but also lead the way in developing new technologies and applying them to patient care."

In July 2008, Sleckman became chief of the Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine in the Department of Pathology and Immunology.

"As Conan professorship donor Jack Ladenson so ably demonstrated with his work on heart attack tests, Laboratory and Genomic Medicine is one of the real foci of our efforts to translate bench results from the laboratory into new bedside diagnostics and treatments for patients," Wrighton said. "I'm confident that Barry Sleckman will help such efforts move forward quickly and effectively as our new Conan Professor."

Sleckman's personal research focuses on DNA repair and the development of the early immune system. To develop properly, immune system cells have to rearrange some of their DNA. If these carefully regulated processes go awry, immune deficiency or cancer can result.

"Barry's research is helping us to understand basic processes that establish the diversity and effectiveness of the immune system. His studies have implications that extend well beyond the immune system into understanding fundamental aspects of gene regulation and mechanisms of cancer induction," said Herbert W. Virgin, M.D., Ph.D., the Edward Mallinckrodt Professor and chair of Pathology and Immunology. "Quite simply, he is a fantastic leader with vision and enthusiasm that will improve the department, the School of Medicine and the University. His commitment to the training of students and residents also stands out as a true strength."

Two more genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's found

An international team of scientists, including those from the School of Medicine, has identified two more genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

The group, led by investigators from the School of Medicine at Cardiff University in the U.K., completed the largest genome-wide association study ever involving patients with Alzheimer's disease. The study pooled DNA samples from more than 19,000 older European and U.S. residents. Seven thousand had Alzheimer's disease, and the others had no clinical symptoms of the disorder.

Read More

DB Student Haluk Lacin's Research Featured on Development Cover!

Check it out here!

Which DBBS Program is Right for You?

Take Our Program Interest Quiz and Find out!