Newsroom Stories

School of Medicine researchers are seeking volunteers with Parkinson’s disease for two studies. One is investigating the effects of antidepressant drugs on depression and motor function. The second study is assessing the safety and effectiveness of a drug for Parkinson’s patients who also have psychotic symptoms. In the National Institutes of Health-funded depression study, investigators […]

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesThe combination of beer, wastewater, microbes, fuel cells, high-school students and teachers sounds like a witches’ brew for an old-fashioned, illicit 1960s beach party. Instead, these are the components of a new high-school science curriculum being developed by researchers at Washington University and two St. Louis area high-school teachers.

Researchers concentrated on large-scale connections between frontal and posterior brain regions that are associated with high-level cognitive functions such as learning and remembering.Comparisons of the brains of young and old people have revealed that normal aging may cause cognitive decline due to deterioration of the connections among large-scale brain systems, including a decrease in the integrity of the brain’s “white matter,” the tissue containing nerve cells that carry information, according to a new study co-authored by several researchers from Washington University in St. Louis.

Listed below are this month’s featured news stories. • Protein increases average lifespan (week of Dec. 5) • Alcohol’s link to sex partners (week of Dec. 12) • Tantrum season (week of Dec. 19) • Antidepressants for Parkinson’s (week of Dec. 26)

Courtesy Edward LifesciencesIn a nationwide clinical trial, physicians are testing an investigational device that allows them to insert replacement aortic valves without opening the chest or using a heart-lung machine, making the procedure available to high-risk and formerly inoperable patients. The School of Medicine has been selected as a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigative site in the trial evaluating this technique, which uses a far less invasive procedure than the standard open-heart surgery.

Thaddeus Strode, *Absolutes and Nothings*Since the late 1980s Los Angeles-based painter Thaddeus Strode has created wild, vibrantly colored mash-ups in which California surf and skateboard culture collide with Zen philosophy, rock music, literature, film, comic books and other popular motifs, all mixing freely with the artist’s own inventions. In February, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present the first major museum exhibition dedicated to Strode’s work as part of its Contemporary Projects series.

Thaddeus Strode, *Absolutes and Nothings*Download high-resolution press images for *Thaddeus Strode: Absolutes and Nothings,* the first solo museum show for the acclaimed Los Angeles painter, on view at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum Feb. 8 to April 21.

As the holidays approach, toy store shelves are stocked with toys that make noise. While toys with sound may be appealing to children, William Clark, Ph.D., director of audiology and communication sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, cautions parents to be careful in choosing such toys.

The executive faculty of the School of Medicine unanimously approved changing the name of the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology to the Department of Developmental Biology. The change reflects a shift that has already occurred in the department’s research focus and coincides with the search for a department head.

The Teaching Center, in collaboration with faculty in the Departments of Education and History, both in Arts & Sciences, and Geospatial Information Systems (GIS), has received an educational grant from Hewlett-Packard (HP) that will provide 40 tablet PCs to assist WUSTL instructors in teaching. The grant supports the expansion into the humanities and social sciences […]