Newsroom Stories

Scientists testing sleep’s effects on learning have devised a model that presents fruit flies with a simple choice: fly into a lighted vial or a darkened one.Staying awake slows down our brains, scientists have long recognized. Mental performance is at its peak after sleep but inevitably trends downward throughout the day, and sleep deprivation only worsens these effects. For the first time, researchers at the School of Medicine have found a way to stop this downward slide. When scientists genetically tweaked a part of the brain involved in learning and memory in fruit flies, the flies were unimpaired even after being deprived of sleep.

Ting-Ting ChangTheater, like film and architecture, is a collaborative art, drawing on the work of actors, writers, directors, designers, dancers, choreographers, musicians and others. That sense of interdisciplinary cooperation is at the heart of the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences’ 2008-09 season, which will explore connections between theater and contemporary cultural and political issues as well as between the PAD and other campus areas.

More than 300 physicians at the School of Medicine have been named to The Best Doctors In America for 2008. The number is twice that of any other physicians’ group in St. Louis and more than any other physicians’ group in the Midwest.

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoOn the “what to bring” list at most colleges: extra-long sheets.As you load up the family vehicle or rental truck to take your child to college later this summer, leave the satellite dish off your packing list. A little common sense goes a long way when determining what to pack for a student’s first, or any, year at school, says a residential housing director at Washington University in St. Louis.

Ultra-miniature bialy-shaped particles — called nanobialys because they resemble tiny versions of the flat, onion-topped rolls popular in New York City — could soon be carrying medicinal compounds through patients’ bloodstreams to tumors or atherosclerotic plaques. The nanobialys are an important addition to the stock of diagnostic and disease-fighting nanoparticles developed by researchers at the School of Medicine.

Patrick S. Moreton, Ph.D., has been promoted to associate dean at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, announced Mahendra R. Gupta, Ph.D., dean and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management.

Photo by Tim ParkerSreenivasa Jonnalagadda, M.D., and J. Christopher Eagon, M.D., performing the first TOGA procedure in the United States.Doctors at the School of Medicine have performed the first non-surgical procedure in the United States that restricts the size of the stomach to treat obesity. The investigational procedure was performed under direct endoscopic visualization with specialized instruments passed into the stomach through the mouth. The first U.S. patient received the treatment on July 23 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but endurance exercise seems to make it younger. According to a study conducted at the School of Medicine, older people who did endurance exercise training for about a year ended up with metabolically much younger hearts. The researchers also showed that by one metabolic measure, women benefited more than men from the training.

The Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) at the School of Medicine will lead a six-year, $16 million international research collaboration dedicated to understanding inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) will fund the project.

Barry Sleckman, associate professor of pathology and immunology, has been named director of the Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine at the School of Medicine. The appointment was announced by Skip Virgin, Edward Mallinckrodt Professor and head of Pathology and Immunology.