Newsroom Stories

Photo by Kevin LowderDavid Filo, co-founder of Yahoo! Inc., talks to students in “Technology Entrepreneurship,” Computer Science and Engineering 507A, Feb. 18 in Cupples II, Room 217.

Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies, provides insight on the controversy surrounding a new Discovery Channel documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, which airs March 4. Flinn, a consultant in forensic theology, is an expert on religion and the law, including issues related to the separation of church and state, government funding of faith-based social program and the display of religious symbols in schools, courtrooms and other public places.

If you’re particularly good with puzzles or chess, the reason may be in your genes. A team of scientists, led by psychiatric geneticists at the School of Medicine, has gathered the most extensive evidence to date that a gene that activates signaling pathways in the brain influences one kind of intelligence. They have confirmed a link between the gene, CHRM2, and performance IQ, which involves a person’s ability to organize things logically.

The new Northwest Tower on Children’s Place adds eight floors and 195,000 square feet of office space to bring together faculty in the departments of Pediatrics, Surgery, Anesthesiology and Internal Medicine. Bridges connect the tower to St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the Clinical Sciences Research Building, and also link the medical school’s north campus with its south campus.

John Morris, M.D., the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Professor of Neurology, has received a three-year, $8,250 grant from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation for Patient Care Support in the Memory Diagnostic Center. … Lawrence Lewis, M.D., associate professor of emergency medicine, has received a one-year, $5,500 grant from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation for the Allen P. Klippel Lecture Fund. … Lourdes R. Ylagan, M.D., assistant professor of pathology and immunology, has received a one-year, $5,000 grant from the American Society of Cytopathology for research titled “Microarray Gene Expression Profiles of Breast Adenocarcinoma Before and After Treatment with Chemotherapy.” … Mark Manary, M.D., professor of pediatrics, has received a five-year, $1,055 grant from the Ohio State University Research Foundation for research titled “Improving Cassava for Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Development.”

Sandra Day O’Connor, former U.S. Supreme Court justice, speaks to about 180 first-year School of Law students Feb. 13 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall. Kent D. Syverud, J.D., dean of the law school and the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor, moderated a question-and-answer period. Syverud was a law clerk for O’Connor, who served on the Supreme Court from 1981-2006. The event was simulcast in the law school Student Commons, which was filled to capacity.

Photo by Robert BostonRobert Rothbaum fills the roles of researcher, teacher and physician at the School of Medicine

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HoltzmanDavid Holtzman, the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and head of Neurology, is co-recipient of the MetLife Foundation Award for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s Disease. Holtzman is also associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) and a member of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders at the School of Medicine.

Jo Labanyi, professor of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University, will speak on “Facts and Fictions: Knowledge, Delinquency and Madness in Late 19th-century Spain” at 4 p.m. Feb. 27 in Umrath Hall Lounge. Labanyi is the first speaker in the spring Faculty Fellows Lecture and Workshop Series sponsored by the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences.