Newsroom Stories

A review of epidemiological data has found evidence that people who spend fewer years in school may experience a slight but statistically significant delay in the realization that they’re having cognitive problems that could be Alzheimer’s disease.

Leon Kass has been at the forefront of bioethics since before Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, was born in 1978. His talk for the Assembly Series, “Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Bioethics” will be presented at 4 p.m. Wednesday, February 6 in Graham Chapel on Washington University’s Danforth Campus. The program is free and open to the public

The School of Medicine will play a leading role in an international collaboration to sequence the genomes of 1,000 individuals. The ambitious 1000 Genomes Project will create the most detailed picture to date of human genetic variation and likely will identify many genetic factors underlying common diseases.

The School of Medicine is pleased by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision released today. The Court let stand a unanimous 2007 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that stated prostate tissue and serum samples donated to Washington University can continue to be used by the institution for cancer research. The appellate court had affirmed the lower federal district court ruling that donors who gave tissue or serum samples to the University for research can’t later compel the school to transfer ownership of the samples to another research institution.

Thomas De Fer, M.D., James Fehr III, M.D., and Mary Klingensmith, M.D., have received the 2008-09 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellowships at the School of Medicine.

Photo by Whitney CurtisSnowboarder Mike Barthel of Minneapolis, along with five other extreme winter sports professionals, traveled to the University’s North Campus to entertain revelers during the third annual Loop Ice Carnival Jan. 19.

Author, environmentalist and multimedia artist Janet Kauffman, Ph.D., will read from her work at 8 p.m. Feb. 7, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

The Residential Life Office is making several changes to the housing selection process for the 2008-09 academic year — changes aimed at streamlining the process and encouraging underclassmen to remain residing in a residential college on the South 40 and upperclassmen to transition into apartment living.

Two modern American masterpieces will be offered by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 4, at May Auditorium in Simon Hall on the Washington University Danforth campus. The concert is free and open to the public. Both are considered ground-breaking works in contemporary music by composers who are at the forefront of experimental American music.

Carla A. Hills, J.D., former U.S. Trade Representative, will deliver the School of Law’s Tyrrell Williams Lecture on “Trade and the 2008 Elections” at 4 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom at Anheuser-Busch Hall.