Month: January 2017

Washington University and its partner universities in Greater China came together in Shanghai on Jan. 21 for a major conference, the “Forum for Greater China: An Aging Population.” The goal of the conference was to stimulate collaborative research and conversation that will advance solutions to the challenges posed by China’s aging population.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have shown that levels of tau protein can be reduced – and some of the neurological damage caused by tau even reversed ­– by a synthetic molecule that targets genetic instructions. The findings are important for Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

Six faculty members in Arts & Sciences have received semester-long fellowships for fall 2017 or spring 2018 from the Center for the Humanities. They are: Jeffrey McCune, Sowande’ Mustakeem and Christopher Stark (fall); Caroline Kita, Long Le-Khac and Anika Walke (spring).

Washington University Libraries has completed its digitization and reassembly of the civil rights documentary “Eyes on the Prize,” made possible by a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant.

School of Medicine scientists have exploited a common weak point in cancer cell metabolism, forcing tumor cells to reveal the backup fuel supply routes they rely on when this weak point is compromised. Mapping these secondary routes, the researchers also identified drugs that block them.

Michael Wysession, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis,  is the lead author on several high-school and middle-school textbooks and videos in physical science and earth science, co-authored a kindergarten through eighth grade national-science program, and also is a co-author on a leading geophysics undergraduate and graduate college textbook. He […]

Doug Wiens, the Robert S. Brookings Distinguished Professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been elected chair of the board of directors of IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology). The consortium of more than 100 U.S. universities collects and shares seismic and other geophysical data with the goal of better understanding the planet.

The directorship of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis has been named in honor of Larry J. Shapiro, MD, former executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. William G. Powderly, MD, the current director of the institute, will serve as the inaugural Larry J. Shapiro Director.

Brian T. Collins, MD, an associate professor of pathology and immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Dec. 23, 2016, in his sleep at his home in Creve Coeur, Mo. He was 52.

The Siteman Investment Program funds internal cancer-related research projects biannually. The aim is to help investigators produce preliminary data to pursue nationally competitive funding. The 2017 Cycle 1 is open, and researchers should express interest by March 1.