The Record

Healthy brains suppress inappropriate immune responses

WashU Medicine researchers have found a process in which the brain guards against attack by the immune system, opening opportunities to pursue new therapies for autoimmune disorders.

Brown School ushers in new era for social policy

The Brown School has ushered in a new era of social policy marked by key initiatives in social policy education, research and community engagement.

Lessons from a worm’s world

Biologist Duygu Özpolat, in Arts & Sciences, studies how segmented worms develop and regenerate. The worms can produce new reproductive organs and cells as part of whole-body regeneration.

Notables

Anjan Thakor, the John E. Simon Professor of Finance at Olin Business School, received an honorary doctorate Oct. 25 from the University of Gothenburg’s School of Business, Economics and Law in Sweden.

Research Wire

Guoyan Zhao, PhD (left), and Erik Musiek, MD, PhD, both at WashU Medicine, have received a $433,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study brain cells called astrocytes and their roles in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Announcements

Recycle election yard signs on campus

WashU has joined a regional effort to collect a hard-to-recycle material: election yard signs, now through Nov. 14. The program also will accept departments’ corrugated plastic signs and metal stakes.