Author: Ken Duenke

Chad Nackers and John Harris will take us “Inside the Onion,” — America’s Finest News Source, at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 9 in Graham Chapel. Their talk is the Neureuther Library Lecture and is co-sponsored by “WUnderground,” the University’s premiere (only) satirical newspaper. The event is part of the Assembly Series.

The Kay Yow/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Cancer Fund and The V Foundation announced that Michael Welch, Ph.D. and John-Stephen Tyler, Ph.D. received the first research grant awarded with money raised by the Kay Yow/WBCA Fund. Awarded during the NCAA Women’s Final Four weekend in St. Louis, Mo., the grant will fund a breast cancer research project at the Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The School of Medicine is now on Twitter. Stay connected and to keep up with the latest news, research discoveries and events from your web browser or from your mobile device via text message.

Theresa Wilson, founder and executive director of the Blessing Basket Project, will give the Women’s Society of Washington University Adele Starbird address at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 15 in Graham Chapel. Her talk, “Making a Purchase that Makes a Difference: The Blessing Basket Project,” will be the final program in the Assembly Series’ spring schedule. It is free and open to the public.

Researchers have used socialization and mating among fruit flies to explore the connections between memory and sleep.A new theory about sleep’s benefits for the brain gets a boost from fruit flies in this week’s Science. Researchers at the School of Medicine found evidence that sleep, already recognized as a promoter of long-term memories, also helps clear room in the brain for new learning.

A multicenter study has found two new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. The study was conducted by the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) initiative and reported through advance online publication this week in Nature Genetics.

Patients with severe heart failure can be bridged to eventual transplant by a new, smaller and lighter implantable heart pump, according to a just-completed study of the device. Results of this third-generation heart assist device were reported at the 58th annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology on March 30.

Photo by Kevin LowderBob Hansman (center), associate professor of architecture and artist-in-residence in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, walks with a group of cancer survivors and Relay For Life steering committee members during the opening lap of the annual Relay For Life fund-raising event March 21 and 22.

Photo by Mary ButkusThe naming of Barbara Schaal, Ph.D., as the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences honors two of WUSTL’s pioneering women biologists, said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

Stanford classics professor Richard Martin discusses Homeric poetry as performance art in Ancient Greece, in the annual Assembly Series Biggs Lecture 4 p.m. April 9 in Steinberg Hall.