Author: Diana Lutz

WooleyAn interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is a step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors, similar to the tumor that Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering from. Such tumors are often difficult to completely remove surgically; frequently, cancerous cells remain following surgery and the tumor returns. Chemotherapy, while effective at treating tumors, often harms healthy cells as well, leading to severe side effects especially in young children that are still developing their brain functions. In an effort to solve this problem, the Wooley lab has developed polymeric nanoparticles that can entrap doxorubicin, a drug commonly used in chemotherapy, and slowly release the drug over an extended time period.

Baseball diamonds are a left-hander’s best friend. That’s because the game was designed to make a lefty the “Natural,” according to David A. Peters, Ph.D., the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and über baseball fan. Peters is a mechanical engineer who specializes in aircraft and helicopter engineering and has a different approach to viewing America’s Favorite Pastime.

Image courtesy of Marian BricknerA biologist at Washington University in St. Louis is the mastermind behind a project that has led to an informative book, aimed at children but appealing to all ages, on an endangered species of ape. Ursula Goodenough, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is the driving force behind I’m Lucy, A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo, written by Mathea Levine, Goodenough’s daughter, and featuring the photographs of St. Louisan Marian Brickner. The book includes a convincing, impassioned Afterward by the famed primatologist Jane Goodall.

Residents of the central and southern Midwest are crossing their fingers, saying their prayers, planning evacuations, and in some cases filling sandbags in preparation for the excessive water Image courtesy of NOAAWUSTL geologist Robert Criss warns of “serious water” that could give some areas their second worst flood on record. ravishing communities in Iowa and Wisconsin. “The flood wave is propagating down the Mississippi River towards St. Louis at about the pace of a brisk walk,” said Robert E. Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. “Some areas north of St. Louis in Missouri and southern Iowa are bracing for the second worst flood in their history. This is serious water.”

Bernard Harris, first African American to walk in space, will visit a science camp for middle school students held at Washington University in St. Louis on June 20. Harris will visit the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp to share his story and join in a science challenge with 48 middle school campers.

Since a stunningly successful landing of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission Lander May 25, mission researchers centered at the University of Arizona have rolled up their sleeves and commanded the lander to find soil and ice samples and are taking and analyzing pictures from the Red Planet’s frigid northern hemisphere. Members of WUSTL’s earth and planetary sciences department in Arts & Sciences are playing a key role in the mission.

Photo by Whitney CurtsRichard Rochberg, Ph.D. (right), professor of mathematics in Arts & Sciences, speaks with Nets Katz, Ph.D., professor of mathematics at Indiana University, during “Function Spaces and Their Operators: A Conference in Honor of Richard Rochberg on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday,” May 30 in Cupples I.

Ruth Chen, Ph.D., research associate in the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, and Jay R. Turner, Ph.D., associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering, are leading an international exchange program for the department this summer to Beijing.

Since a stunningly successful landing of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission Lander May 25, mission researchers centered at the University of Arizona have rolled up their sleeves and commanded the lander to find soil and ice samples and are taking and analyzing pictures from the Red Planet’s frigid northern hemisphere.

If a young Albert Einstein could have picked a summer activity he may have opted to participate in the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp at Washington University in St. Louis, June 16-27. An exciting two-week adventure filled with field trips and science experiments, the summer camp proves that math and science can entice a crew of middle school students and lead them to rewarding opportunities.