Science & Technology

Each year, about 431 million adults worldwide are victims of cybercrime, costing $388 billion based on time and monetary loss. The problem is so severe that President Barack Obama recently said, “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation.” To address this growing need, the Washington University in St. Louis School of Engineering & Applied Science, partnering with WUSTL’s Olin Business School, is launching a master’s degree in cyber security management in Fall 2013 to provide area professionals and full-time students with the skills needed to prepare for and stop cyber attacks in their workplace.

Mary-Dell Chilton, PhD, who did pioneering work on plant genetics while on the biology faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has been named a co-recipient of the 2013 World Food Prize, an honor often described as the “Nobel Prize of Biotechnology.”

​Washington University will be the anchor tenant in a $73 million laboratory and research facility projected to open at the end of the year in the CORTEX bioscience district. Pictured is Hank Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration,​ who described the University’s role in the new building at a recent event there.

David A. Peters, PhD, McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has been selected to receive the 2013 Spirit of St. Louis Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for his service in the advancement of aeronautics and astronautics.

Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will speak in Denver June 13 about the critical role research universities play in creating positive economic growth. “Innovation and Entrepreneurship: How Research Universities FosterEconomic Development” is free and open to the public. The talk will take place at 8 a.m. Thursday, June 13, at the […]

In the June 5 issue of Neuron, WUSTL biologist Erik Herzog and his colleagues report the discovery of a crucial part of the biological clock: the wiring that sets its accuracy to within a few minutes out of the 1440 minutes per day. This wiring uses the neurotransmitter, GABA, to connect the individual cells of the biological clock in a fast network that changes strength with time of day.

Jeffrey I. Gordon, whose groundbreaking research has linked the trillions of microbes living in the gut to obesity and severe childhood malnutrition, will receive the 2013 Robert Koch Award, the leading international prize in microbiology.

For many older adults, the aging process seems to go hand-in-hand with an annoying increase in clumsiness. New research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests some of these reaching-and-grabbing difficulties may be caused by changes in the mental frame of reference that older adults use to visualize nearby objects.

Biomedical sensors using metal nanoparticles hold great promise for the early detection of disease. But the current class of sensors has little or no shelf life, and creating and using them is expensive. Srikanth Singamaneni, PhD, assistant professor of materials science in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, plans to develop a low-cost biosensor that is more stable, sensitive and specific with funds from a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award he has received from the National Science Foundation.

A major study in hospital ICUs shows that bathing patients daily with an antimicrobial soap and applying antibiotic ointment in the nose reduced by 44 percent the bloodstream infections caused by dangerous pathogens, including the drug-resistant bacteria MRSA (pictured).