Newsroom Stories

A new St. Louis-based company will use a novel technology to rapidly screen thousands of drugs for their effectiveness against two of the biggest health threats in the United States — diabetes and cancer.

Jonathan S. Turner, Ph.D., was named the Barbara J. and Jerome R. Cox, Jr. Professor of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. The professorship was established by Jerome Cox, Sc.D., and his wife, Barbara, to advance the relationship between theory and practice in the design of digital systems. Jerome Cox is a senior faculty member and a former chair in the same department.

The Children’s Discovery Institute, which will begin research later this year, named an executive director and scientific director.

On Aug. 7, Metro made the announcement that nearly everyone has been waiting for: The Cross County Extension is complete and will be open for transit Aug. 26. Given the anticipation of the eight-mile extension, it would seem that a celebration would be in order, and both the University and Metro are planning to deliver. The University will host a Grand Opening Celebration from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Aug. 26 in the parking lot just outside Uncas A. Whitaker Hall. Planned activities include a miniature train ride, arts and crafts, music and refreshments.

Patrick WinterIn laboratory tests, one very low dose of a drug was enough to have an effect on notoriously tenacious artery-clogging plaques. What kind of drug is that potent? It’s not 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 developed by School of Medicine researchers.

Photo by David KilperGraduate student Jason He (left) and Lars Angenent, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemical engineering and a member of the University’s Environmental Engineering Science Program, work with a version of their microbial fuel cell.In the midst of the worldwide energy crisis, WUSTL researchers have continued their work on a microbial fuel cell that generates electricity from wastewater. Advances in the design of this fuel cell in the past year have increased the power output by a factor of 10 and future designs, already in the minds of the researchers, hope to multiply that power output by 10 times. If that goal can be achieved, the fuel cell could be scaled up for use in food and agricultural industries to generate electrical power — all with the wastewater that today goes right down the drain.

Peter CookPaul MuldoonPaul Muldoon, “the most significant English-language poet born since the second World War” according to The Times Literary Supplement, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 14.

The MRI scans on the left show normal gray matter. The two on the right are abnormal.A Washington University pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital has found that performing MRI scans on pre-term infants’ brains assists dramatically in predicting the babies’ future developmental outcomes. Researchers studied 167 preterm infants in New Zealand and Australia and at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The findings are a breakthrough because previous technology — cranial ultrasounds — did not show the abnormalities in the infants’ brains.

Asthmatx illustrationA bronchoscope delivers thermal energy to airways during a bronchial thermoplasty treatment.Researchers at the School of Medicine are seeking participants for the AIR2 (Asthma Interventional Research) international, multi-center clinical trial, which explores whether a new asthma treatment improves asthma care. The trial, the first test of the procedure in the U.S., focuses on a procedure called bronchial thermoplasty to treat asthma.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesMary MazelloTango, rhumba and Indian bharata natyam will share the stage with contemporary multi-media works and live improvisation in Dance Closeup, the biennial concert of original choreography by faculty in the Dance Program in Washington University’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences. Launched in 1995, Dance Closeup regularly serves as the unofficial kickoff to St. Louis’ professional dance season. This year’s installment will feature ten works choreographed and performed by faculty and guest dancers.