Newsroom Stories

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered through genetic analyses a metabolic pathway in bacteria comprised of just three genes, all known to be players in metabolism. This pathway was previously shown to be involved in synthesizing modified membrane lipids but data from Petra Levin’s lab indicate that it also has a major role in cell division. This is the first identification of a pathway responsible for regulating bacterial cell size.

Horse Series by Robert Boston is currently on display on the second floor of the Ferrell Learning and Teaching Center. The photos in the series focus on the world-famous Clydesdale horses at Grant’s Farm.

Twenty-one years after they first described a fatal genetic disorder in Missouri and Arkansas families, scientists at the School of Medicine have linked the condition to mutations in a gene known as TREX1. The study appears online in Nature Genetics. The identification will accelerate efforts to understand and treat retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukodystrophy (RVCL), a rare condition that usually goes unrecognized or is misdiagnosed.

Steven SmithBy claiming far-reaching and unprecedented executive privilege in its power struggles with the U.S. Congress, the Bush White House has roiled the political waters, forcing both Democrats and Republicans to weigh near-term political consequences of their response against a real and tangible threat to the long-term constitutional powers of Congress, suggests a congressional expert from Washington University in St. Louis.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have found further evidence linking a method used to deliver gene therapy in humans with the development of liver tumors in mice. The new research, published in the July 27 journal Science, suggests that ferrying a corrective gene into mice using a disabled virus – an adeno-associated virus (AAV) – inadvertently inserts mutations into the mouse DNA that initiate tumor growth.

An improved approach to gene therapy may one day treat some of the nearly 200 inherited forms of blindness, scientists at the School of Medicine suggest this week. In a paper published online by Public Library of Science ONE, researchers take initial steps toward filling a gap in the toolkit for treating blindness by identifying DNA elements that control when and where genes linked to blindness are turned on.

Itching for a better anti-itch remedy? Your wish may soon be granted now that scientists at the School of Medicine have identified the first gene for the itch sensation in the central nervous system. The discovery could rapidly lead to new treatments directly targeting itchiness and providing relief for chronic and severe itching.

WrightonMark S. Wrighton, Ph.D., is chancellor and professor of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. As chancellor, he is the chief executive officer of the university and reports to the board of trustees. Wrighton was elected the 14th chancellor in the spring of 1995 and assumed his duties on July 1, 1995.

*screens*Windows shape and frame, both literally and figuratively, the ways we see the world around us. Interfaces represent the points of contact between different systems, spaces and entities — for example, the screen, the mouse or the keyboard that connects the computer with the human user. In August, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present Window | Interface, an exhibition highlighting the use of windows and interfaces as both boundaries and sites of transaction between machine and mind, data and perception, the world of the body and the world of the imagination.

Matthew Malten has been appointed assistant vice chancellor for campus sustainability at Washington University in St. Louis. His appointment marks the first time that Washington University has given a person the responsibility for campus sustainability.