Author: Talia Ogliore

Biologist Himadri Pakrasi in Arts & Sciences leads a team awarded $1.7 million from the National Science Foundation to streamline the genome of a cyanobacterium for sustainable production of food, feed and fuels.

Plant and animal cells rely on the versatile microtubule cytoskeleton. Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis received new funding from the National Institutes of Health to uncover the inner workings of these structures, including how they change configuration based on a cell’s needs.

People now have access to better real-time information about COVID-19 infection and transmission rates, but they still have to decide what is safe to do. A new model co-authored by mathematician John McCarthy in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis helps to contend with the uncertainty.

Michael Landis, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, applies newer statistical and computational methods for insights into how biodiversity is generated, maintained and lost.

Michael Krawczynski, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and graduate student Andrea Goltz investigate the deep, inner workings of Shiveluch, a volcano on a remote peninsula in northeastern Russia.

Geophysicist Michael Wysession, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, teaches a popular undergraduate course called “Energy and the Environment.” He breaks down President-elect Joe Biden’s 9-point Energy Plan, point-by-point.

Gaining control of the flow of electrical current through atomically thin materials is important to potential future applications in photovoltaics or computing. Physicists in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered one way to locally add electrical charge to a graphene device.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis reveals the core structure of the light-harvesting antenna of cyanobacteria — including features that both collect energy and block excess light absorption. Orange carotenoid protein plays a key protective role, according to Haijun Liu, research scientist in chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Walter H. Lewis, professor emeritus of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died peacefully at his home in St. Louis on Nov. 17, 2020. He was 90.

Ribosomes are the machines in the cell that use instructions from mRNA to synthesize functional proteins. When something goes awry, cells monitor for ribosome collisions to determine the severity of the problem, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis biologists in Arts & Sciences.