Friday, Oct. 18, 2019

Top Stories

Targeting immune cells may be Alzheimer’s therapy

A School of Medicine study has found that brain immune cells called microglia form the crucial link between protein clumping and brain damage. Suppressing such cells might prevent or delay the onset of dementia.

Climate scientist Konecky named Packard Fellow

Bronwen Konecky, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, is among 22 early-career scientists and engineers across the United States honored this week as a 2019 Packard Fellow.

Earnings call language foreshadows credit risk

Words that company officials use in earnings calls with investors and analysts can be telling. An Olin Business School researcher and co-authors conducted a detailed, machine-learning study of such calls.

NIH gives major boost to microbiome research

The School of Medicine will expand research into the microbiome and its influence on health with a new mouse facility. The facility will be funded with an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $2.8 million from the medical school.

Events

4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18

‘A Sino-Jewish Encounter, A Humanitarian Fantasy’

7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18

Faculty guitar recital: W. Mark Akin

11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19

Kemper Art Museum Community Day

View more events →

Campus Announcements

Flags lowered in memory of Rep. Elijah Cummings

The U.S. and university flags over Brookings Hall are lowered to half-staff today in memory of U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who died Oct. 17 at age 68.

WashU in the News

Suicide attempts among black children and teens increasing at alarming rates, study finds

CBS News

Michelangelo found a new career after 70 — why can’t you?

MarketWatch

New blood test detects Alzheimer’s disease accurately

International Business Times

A sports business expert weighs in on the surge in football ratings

CNBC

See more WashU in the News →

Campus Voices

Akande on ‘when things go wrong’

Benjamin Akande, director of the university’s Africa initiative, writes an article in the Ladue News about how people could better learn from failures to avoid future mistakes, rather than simply seeking someone or something to blame.

Notables

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine contains overarching goals and recommendations that health-care systems, government agencies and others should implement to better integrate patients’ social needs into health-care delivery. The Brown School’s Sean Joe helped develop the report.

Research Wire

Keith Hengen, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, received a McKnight Scholar Award from the McKnight Foundation. The award supports neuroscientists in the early stages of their careers who are focusing on disorders of learning and memory.

Who Knew WashU?

ginkgo trees Question: Ginkgo Allée is a corridor of trees on the east side of Olin Library whose leaves turn bright yellow in the fall. How old are the largest trees in Ginkgo Allée?
Answer: C) The largest trees in this historic allée are 96 years old, almost as old as some university buildings. Ginkgo Allée was part of the original campus plan designed by Cope & Stewardson in the early 1900s.
Congrats to this week’s winner, Diane Wittling, a staff member at the Brown School, who will receive an “I Knew WashU” luggage tag!

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