Newsroom Stories

(From L-R) Richard Gelberman, Chairman for the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, looks over floor plans for the new orthopedic surgery center with Larry Shapiro, Dean for the School of Medicine, and Chancellor Mark Wrighton.The recently completed outpatient orthopedic center in west St. Louis County demonstrates Washington University Orthopedics’ commitment to a new model of medical practice. Taking lessons from various industries and leading efficiency experts, faculty members deconstructed old processes to incorporate the latest solutions for reducing waste, improving quality and adding value and convenience to the patient experience.

Scientists have shown how developing brain tumors can turn an encounter with a signaling molecule from a fatal experience for the tumor cells into a cue for their own growth and multiplication. Researchers at the School of Medicine found the transformation relies on at least two other molecules that can be modified with existing drugs, opening the possibility that they may be able to use the established drugs to treat brain tumors.

Shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, a cooking accident damaged five large windows in the South 40’s Wohl Center, on the northwest corner of the second floor. The incident was caused by a portable tabletop stove that malfunctioned when a butane fuel canister sprang a leak.

Major League Baseball implemented revenue sharing to create incentives for ball clubs to build their teams and build their fan base. It’s ended up having the opposite effect, according to a business professor at Washington University in St. Louis. The amount a small-market team receives from the league may be more profitable than the revenue it gets from winning a game. Michael Lewis proposes an alternative way of distributing MLB revenues that creates incentives for ballclubs to create good teams and fill stadiums. (video available)

The School of Medicine is collaborating with other area institutions in what will be the largest study of child and human health ever conducted in the United States.

An extra degree of precision will be added to radiation treatments for prostate cancer at the School of Medicine following the installation of two new technologies.

One of the most famous problems in mathematics will be discussed at this year’s William H. Roever Lectures in Geometry, a two-day event hosted by the Department of Mathematics in Arts & Sciences in memory of its longtime chair. The lectures, a series of four talks, will be held Oct. 19-20 in Lopata Hall and are free and open to the public.

The new Tamm Avenue bridge over I-64 is expected to open Oct. 20.

The Class of 2011 traveled across town and across oceans to attend Washington University. Approximately 1,340 first-year students from all over the world — 20 countries, 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico — joined the campus community in August.

Photo by Dilip VishwanatFerkol: a teacher, researcher and ‘clinician at heart’