Personalized cancer vaccines show promise

School of Medicine researchers have shown — in mice and in a patient with late-stage pancreatic cancer — that personalized cancer vaccines made using DNA can program the immune system to attack malignant tumors.

University joins consortium studying slavery

Washington University has joined Universities Studying Slavery, a consortium examining how universities’ institutional histories are entangled with slavery. The WashU initiative will support new research, classes and programs that leverage university collections and archives.

Shifting mindset increases managers’ willingness to invest

When faced with a cutting-edge technological idea, business leaders who approach the idea in more concrete “how” — rather than “why” — terms are more likely to recognize its utility, increasing their propensity to invest in it, according to new Olin Business School research.

WashU Expert on what led to Chauvin guilty verdicts

Former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin was convicted last week in the death of George Floyd. Collectively, people across the country felt relief because too often, the story has been police killing people of color with impunity, said Daniel Harawa, an expert on race and the law.

Research Wire

The Bellwether Foundation Inc. has awarded Olin Business School and the Brookings Institution a $750,000 grant to improve the quality of life for people in St. Louis and across the country. In its first year, a seven-member commission will demonstrate how new technologies can curb opioid trafficking.

Research Wire

Some plants like ginkgo trees have either male or female flowers, not both. Susanne Renner, honorary professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, reviewed the genetic basis of sex determination in plants for Nature Plants and will guest-edit a special issue of a Royal Society journal on the topic.

Notables

Kurt Dirks, vice chancellor for international affairs and director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, was part of a panel of policymakers and education administrators who offered perspectives on the current state of U.S.-China educational exchanges and the future direction of such programs.