Year: 2019

David Gutmann, MD, PhD, the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology at the School of Medicine, has received a second Einstein Visiting Fellowship from the Berlin Institute of Health to study how immune cells in the brain known as microglia are linked to cancer, vision loss and behavioral problems in the disease neurofibromatosis type 1.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis confirms that the brain tunes itself to a point where it is as excitable as it can be without tipping into disorder, similar to a phase transition. The new research from Keith Hengen, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is published Oct. 7 in the journal Neuron.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis realizes one of the first parity time-symmetric quantum systems, allowing scientists to observe how that symmetry — and the breaking of it — leads to previously unexplored phenomena. These and future PT symmetry experiments have potential applications to quantum computing. The work from the laboratory of Kater Murch, associate professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, is published Oct. 7 in the journal Nature Physics.

New research from Olin Business School finds that when a video game-making firms change a game’s rewards schedule and how it limits how long gamers can play in a sitting, the firm can actually make more money — and users devote a smaller share of their time on gaming.

A multi-institutional effort that includes the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis will bring man and machine together in an effort to accelerate the process of discovery of new materials.

An immune cell that helps set the daily rhythms of the digestive system has been identified by researchers at the School of Medicine. The findings open the door to new treatments for digestive ailments targeting such cells.

Joseph Jez, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and chair of biology in Arts & Sciences, along with two former researchers in his laboratory, P.A. Rea and R.E. Cahoon, was awarded a U.S. patent for engineered plants that could help detoxify, or remediate, soils contaminated with heavy metals.

The university’s Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences, along with other academic partners, received funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for an Africa fellowship program, aimed at enhancing research capacity for early-career humanities scholars. The application deadline is Nov. 11.

Images of Chancellor Andrew D. Martin’s inauguration through the WashU lens.

In his inaugural address, Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Andrew D. Martin called on the university community to build upon its momentum as a leader in teaching, research and patient care to better serve the St. Louis community.