Bonni to lead anatomy and neurobiology department

Azad Bonni, MD, PhD, currently professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, will be the next head of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Bonni becomes the Edison Professor and head of Anatomy and Neurobiology in October 2012. Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, made the announcement.

“The Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology has a very distinguished history of leadership and innovation in its field,” Shapiro says. “We are confident that Dr. Bonni, who has produced many remarkable insights into brain development, will support and expand those traditions.”

Bonni studies how the brain is built at the level of individual connections between nerve cells. Key areas of his research include studies of the mechanisms that regulate the development of nerve cells and their ability to connect with each other in the brain. His lab is currently focused on the role of transcriptional and ubiquitin signaling in these processes. He also investigates how those mechanisms can contribute to neurological diseases when they go awry.

“The opportunity to lead the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Washington University School of Medicine is a great honor,” Bonni says. “Research at Washington University has had a lasting impact in the establishment of neuroscience as a discipline, and the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology has played a central role.”

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Alzheimer's trials

Grant to fund first clinical trials aimed at Alzheimer's prevention

 

The School of Medicine has received nearly $4.2 million from the Alzheimer’s Association to accelerate the launch of the first clinical trials to prevent the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The award is the largest research grant in the history of the 32-year-old association.

Randall J. Bateman, MD, principal investigator of the grant and director of the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network (DIAN) Therapeutic Trials Unit at Washington University, will lead the trials, which will determine if the disease can be halted or delayed before problems in memory and other brain functions become apparent.

The research will be conducted through the DIAN, an international research partnership focused on understanding inherited forms of Alzheimer’s. DIAN is headed by John C. Morris, MD, the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Professor of Neurology. Bateman and Morris treat patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

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Supporting life sciences

Doctoral students named first Monsanto graduate fellows

Washington University has received a $930,000 grant from the Monsanto Co. to support graduate student research in life sciences. The grant, to be distributed over the next seven years, will establish a Monsanto graduate fellowship program.

Each year, two graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees in the university’s Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) will be selected as fellows. Life sciences include plant sciences, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, genetics and other specialties.

Jordan K. Teisher, a doctoral student in evolution, ecology and population biology, and Jeremy D. King, a doctoral student in plant biology, have been named the first Monsanto graduate fellows.

“Through this fellowship program, Monsanto is giving Washington University graduate students a unique opportunity to be exposed to the breadth of research in life sciences,” says Stephen M. Beverley, PhD, the Marvin A. Brennecke Professor of Molecular Microbiology and chair of the executive council of the DBBS.

As fellows, the students will be taught how to run laboratory research programs. They also will have the opportunity to interact with Monsanto scientists to gain experience in a corporate research environment.