Newsroom Stories

Interested in keeping the pounds off this holiday season? A nutrition expert at Washington University in St. Louis has some very simple tips for remembering accurate portion sizes, which may be even more important than the food choices you make. Video available.

Calling it “one of the great traditions of Washington University,” Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced during a news conference Nov. 19 that the University will host the 2008 vice presidential debate, scheduled for 8 p.m. CDT on Oct. 2. Video available.

LowryThe President’s call to end a decades-old ban on offshore oil and gas drilling highlighted key differences in the big-oil platforms of presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees Obama and McCain, suggests William Lowry, a WUSTL expert on the politics of environmental and energy issues.

Facts about the University’s people, academics, research, athletics and reputation.

WooleyAn interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is a step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors, similar to the tumor that Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering from. Such tumors are often difficult to completely remove surgically; frequently, cancerous cells remain following surgery and the tumor returns. Chemotherapy, while effective at treating tumors, often harms healthy cells as well, leading to severe side effects especially in young children that are still developing their brain functions. In an effort to solve this problem, the Wooley lab has developed polymeric nanoparticles that can entrap doxorubicin, a drug commonly used in chemotherapy, and slowly release the drug over an extended time period.

Children with sickle cell disease often face severe pain, organ damage, recurrent strokes and repeated, prolonged hospital stays. Although there are medical interventions that can lessen the symptoms, there is no cure. Researchers at the School of Medicine are leading a nationwide, multicenter clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of transplanting blood stem cells from unrelated donors into children with severe sickle cell disease.

If a new local company succeeds, cancer and drug researchers soon may have a novel, inexpensive and extremely precise method for monitoring cell activity. This could speed development of treatments and methods for diagnosing cancer as well as open up new areas of basic medical research. PixelEXX Systems, founded by scientists at Washington University, is developing a prototype imaging device in hopes of reaching the market in 2011.

Rendering of Shriners Hospital for ChildrenThe Shriners Hospital for Children broke ground July 3 on a new hospital at the Washington University Medical Center. This relocation will allow St. Louis Shriners Hospital to return to the medical school campus. The Shriners’ first area hospital opened in 1924 on Euclid Avenue on the medical school campus.

In a new study published in the journal Pediatrics, Paul T. Shattuck, Ph.D., professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis, found that families with similar demographics and nature of their children’s special needs have different out-of-pocket health expenditures depending on the state in which they live. “This is one of the few studies that focuses on families’ costs when caring for children with special needs, rather than the overall cost for society as a whole,” he says. Shattuck notes that wealthier states tend to have a lower average extra cost for caring for a child with special needs. “At the low end, families in Mass. paid an average of $560 for out-of-pocket medical expenses,” he says. “At the high end, families in Georgia shouldered an average of $970 in additional care expenses.” Editor’s note: A complete rankings table is available.

The sound of a noisy Chicago restaurant during the breakfast rush — the clang of plates and silverware and the clamor of many voices — was the crucial test of new hearing aid technology in a study conducted by researchers at the School of Medicine. The study showed that the hearing aids worked well in a noisy environment — the most challenging test for a hearing aid.