Newsroom Stories

Scientists have identified a naturally occurring enzyme that can break down a key component of the brain plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. The finding may provide researchers with new opportunities to understand what goes wrong in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and could one day help them seek new therapies.

The School of Medicine, a research leader in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and schizophrenia, will be among the first recipients of a major new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to facilitate study of nervous system disorders. The NIH Blueprint for the Neurosciences Grant will provide $8 million to the University over five years.

Washington University’s International & Area Studies Program and the Sigma Iota Rho International Studies honorary society are hosting a town hall meeting titled “The Immigrant Experience: Case Study St. Louis” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 in Umrath Lounge.

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Beginning Nov. 2, free flu vaccinations will be provided to School of Medicine employees with a valid identification badge. Employees must present their badge to obtain the vaccination.

The Department of English in Arts & Sciences will host a memorial reading in honor of Charles Newman, an acclaimed writer and longtime faculty member, who passed away last March at the age of 67. Speakers will include William H. Gass, Richard “Red” Watson, Margarita Boyers and Robert Boyers.

FerkolThomas Ferkol, M.D., has been named director of the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Ferkol, associate professor of pediatrics and of cell biology and physiology, will continue as director of the Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Program and as director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center.

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First art museum west of Mississippi River to open new facilities Oct. 25 by Fumihiko Maki, architect of Tower 4 at World Trade Center site

The football team regained the Founder’s Cup with a 26-7 victory at the University of Chicago Oct. 14.