Science & Technology

Louis Woodhams and Phil Bayly’s team at the McKelvey School of Engineering built a model to better understand how certain cilia — tiny, hairlike structures throughout our body — beat.

Biologists in the laboratory of Hani Zaher in Arts & Sciences examined the modified nucleotides used in COVID-19 vaccines. The modifications faithfully produce the protein products as designed, a welcome sign for future RNA therapeutics.

A new technological pairing from the lab of Quing Zhu at the McKelvey School of Engineering may lead to an improved diagnostic tool for colorectal cancer.

Biologist Susanne Renner in Arts & Sciences investigated the oldest known seeds from watermelon relatives. Her research team shared two new genomes of the ancient seeds and described how Neolithic humans in Libya likely used the seeds, not the bitter flesh, from the melons.

A grant from the National Science Foundation will allow Amit Pathak to take a closer look at how certain cells use priming and memory to respond to new tissues.

Animals will often put their lives on the line for reproduction, even if it comes at the cost of being the wrong temperature. New research from biologist Michael Moore in Arts & Sciences could help reveal the pathways that organisms might take as they adapt to a warming world.

Insect-eating plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants evolved the ability to capture and consume live prey has largely remained a mystery. Biologist Ivan Radin in Arts & Sciences and collaborators investigated the molecular basis of plant carnivory in sundews and found evidence that it evolved from mechanisms plants use to defend themselves.

A research group led by Rohit Pappu in the McKelvey School of Engineering and Anthony Hyman at the Max Planck Institute have discovered a new, relevant level of structure in cells.

Camelina, an oilseed plant grown in modern-day Ukraine, may have been a more important and widespread crop than previously thought, according to collaborators from anthropology and biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Their findings could inform breeding programs to improve this crop for biofuels applications.

A team that received early support from the Living Earth Collaborative was awarded a $633,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to evaluate pollination in orchards across the city of St. Louis. They will examine how factors such as human population density, socioeconomic status, soil type and surrounding vegetation impact insect numbers and fruit yield.