Newsroom Stories

In just six months of collaboration, a Department of Energy grand challenge led by Washington University in St. Louis has resulted in the sequencing and annotation of a cyanobacterium that could yield clues to how environmental conditions influence key carbon fixation processes at the gene-mRNA-protein levels in an organism.

The recent revolution in the life sciences- the sequencing of the human genome, and development of “high throughput” technologies- has created new opportunities for investigation, and created new challenges for educators. Sarah C.R. Elgin, Ph.D., professor of biology; biochemistry and molecular biophysics; and education in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been a proponent and creator of partnerships locally and nationwide to improve the life science education both in K-12 schools and at the undergraduate level.

Nationally there has been considerable recent debate and discussion about how to ascertain the effectiveness of any given school curriculum. Under the auspices of the National Research Council, a committee, chaired by Jere Confrey, Ph.D., professor of education in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has written the report “On Evaluating Curriculum Effectiveness.” “This discussion of how to establish curricular effectiveness in mathematics is particularly relevant in light of President Bush’s State of the Union address and budget, which includes significant expenditures on improving mathematics and science education in this country,” Confrey said. “If the funds are to make a difference, thorough, valid and fair evaluations of materials will be critical.”

Paul J. Goodfellow, Ph.D., is in a professional war with cancer. The professor of genetics, surgery, and of obstetrics and gynecology brings an arsenal of knowledge and passion to his research battle with the formidable adversary. “Disease is competition. In the case of cancer, it’s like Darwinian evolution: The best genetic material wins,” Goodfellow says. […]

The Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present a symposium and concert dedicated to the work of Viennese composer Arnold Schönberg. The symposium will focus on Schönberg’s relationship with Kandinsky and the Expressionist movement, while the concert will feature a rare performance of his famously demanding Herzgewächse (Foliage of the Heart) by music students and faculty.

SYMPOSIUM: “Schönberg and the Blaue Reiter Almanac” Participants: • Gerald N. Izenberg, Ph.D., professor of history in Arts & Sciences, “Painting Like Music: How Schönberg’s Atonalism Midwifed Kandinsky’s Abstraction” • Bonny Hough Miller, Ph.D., pianist and historian, “Sounding the Soul: Schönberg, Herzgewächse and the Blaue Reiter Almanac” Time: 2:30 to 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24 […]

Chromosomal damage results in fusion (bottom).Inactivating a protein called mammalian Rad9 could make cancer cells easier to kill with ionizing radiation, according to research at the School of Medicine. The researchers found that Rad9, previously considered a “watchman” that checks for DNA damage, is actually a “repairman” that fixes dangerous breaks in the DNA double helix.

TiVo or tape the Academy Awards and step out to hear a unique performance of brilliant music that marked the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King. St. Louis’ own Kingsbury Ensemble will perform Music Fit for a King: Theatre Music and Cantatas from the French Baroque in Washington University’s Holmes Lounge at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, March 5.

Courtesy photoSand N. DaltonSand N. Dalton, described by CBC Radio as “one of the leading Baroque oboists in North America,” will speak on the Baroque oboe and its relationship to the mean-tone tuning systems of the 17th and 18th centuries at 4 p.m. Friday, March 3, for the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences.

The first lecture, addressing child welfare reform and child welfare services, will be presented by Richard Barth of the University of North Carolina on Feb. 23.