Newsroom Stories

New research may finally settle a decades-old debate about how the kidney keeps valuable blood proteins from harmfully slipping into the urine, a serious health symptom that often precedes kidney failure. WUSM scientists discovered that a structure, known as the glomerular basement membrane, plays a key role in the process.

A woman trying to conceive a child may receive as many as 1,000 fertility-enhancing injections per year, but a recent discovery at the School of Medicine may help reduce the required number of fertility shots to about one per week.

These before (left) and after images show the effects of fumagillin-laden nanoparticles in a rabbit aorta.In laboratory tests, one very low dose of a drug was enough to show an effect on notoriously tenacious artery-clogging plaques. But it wasn’t so much the drug itself as how it was delivered. Fumagillin — a drug that can inhibit the growth of new blood vessels that feed atherosclerotic plaques — was sent directly to the base of plaques by microscopically small spheres called nanoparticles.

Dark areas (marked with arrows) in the first image show a process of bone renewal and strengthening. The second image shows a reduction in this process after a cortisone injection.Scientists are closing in on the solution to a persistent medical puzzle: why do high doses of cortisone, widely prescribed for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, weaken bones? Researchers at the School of Medicine have identified osteoclasts, cells that dismantle old bone, as the essential link between osteoporosis and cortisone.

Summer practices can put young athletes at risk for heat exhaustion.Just before the new school season starts, football practice kicks off on fields around the country. Late summer workouts for football and other fall sports carry serious risks for heat-related illness. WUSM pediatrician Robert Kregenow explains how to spot heat exhaustion and how to prevent it.

Washington University in St. Louis Director of Athletics John Schael unveiled a new symbol and design for all Bears Athletics, as announced today. The new symbol features an updated, more realistic Bear mascot and a sharp new typeface that highlights Washington University’s red and green colors.

WrightonDr. Mark S. Wrighton 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.

The School of Law’s American Indian Law and Economic Development Program and the St. Louis law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal have garnered an important legal victory concerning the sovereignty of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Working with local attorneys in South Dakota, they helped the tribe defend a federal lawsuit challenging the authority of the tribe’s courts to hear a discrimination case brought by tribal members against a non-Indian bank doing business on the reservation. In a fifteen-page opinion released this morning, Judge Charles B. Kornmann of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota ruled that the tribe’s courts had jurisdiction over the case and affirmed a 2003 verdict by a tribal jury awarding $875,982.46 in damages, interest, and costs to the aggrieved tribal members.

For many college freshmen, the first few weeks on campus are an exciting yet scary time. There are new friends to meet, classes to attend and extracurricular activities to join. And for many, it’s also their first time away from home — their first time making decisions completely on their own. When those decisions involve […]

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoAdvice for sending your child off to college for the first time.Sending your child off to college for the first time isn’t easy. But it can be especially tough on “helicopter parents,” those who tend to hover over their children and can have a hard time letting go. But not to worry, says an expert on the freshman transition at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of the acclaimed book “Letting Go: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding the College Years.” Even helicopter parents can make a successful break.