common cold

A Washington University drug discovery program, led by Michael Holtzman, MD, has received three grants totaling more than $5 million to develop new medical therapeutics for respiratory diseases. The target illnesses range from the common cold to life-threatening lung disease.

A new study led by Michael J. Holtzman, MD, at the School of Medicine suggests that a fundamental antiviral defense mechanism is intact in asthma. This indicates that another aspect of the immune system must explain the difficulty people with asthma have when they encounter respiratory viruses.

His new book suggests that Benjamin Franklin deserves considerable recognition for his important but overlooked contributions to medicine.

Benjamin Franklin’s myriad contributions as scientist, inventor, publisher and statesman will be back in the spotlight in coming months as America celebrates his 300th birthday on Jan. 17. Much of the hoopla, including major exhibits in London, Paris, Philadelphia and other American cities, will focus on Franklin’s role as an influential American diplomat. However, a new book by medical historian Stanley Finger contends that Franklin also deserves considerable recognition for important contributions to the healing arts. “With strong interests in bedside and preventative medicine, hospital care, and even medical education, he helped to change medical care in both America and Europe,” Finger says.