Newsroom Stories

WUSM scientists have identified a protein that helps keep internal “clocks” in sync.Scientists have identified a receptor protein that helps the fruit fly know when to start and shut down its day. Neuroscientists from the School of Medicine identified a receptor for pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) protein, which scientists previously recognized as a molecule that helps keep different internal “clocks” synchronized. Because these timekeeping processes have been highly conserved through evolution, what the scientists learn from flies and other organisms may help them better understand the same systems in humans.

Sustiva is the brand name for efavirenz.The largest detailed, prospective clinical study of the mental side effects of a potent anti-AIDS drug, efavirenz, has revealed that the anxiety, dizziness, “funny feelings” and vivid dreams triggered by the drug fade away within a month, possibly clearing the way for more widespread use. Efavirenz is the first drug from its class that lasts long enough to be taken once a day, and that makes it a potentially valuable drug for AIDS treatment.

Bright areas in this image highlight the junctions between heart muscle cells.Failing hearts develop interference in their communication channels, according to research conducted at the School of Medicine. The problem involves a subtle change in the pores that connect heart muscle cells. When the scientists duplicated this change in mice, the mice became susceptible to ventricular tachycardia, a dangerous heart rhythm disorder that can lead to sudden cardiac death.

Courtesy photoLeslie MorrisLeslie Morris, Ph.D., associate professor of German and director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Minnesota, will launch the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences’ 2006 Faculty Fellows’ Lecture and Workshop Series with a pair of events Feb. 16 and 17.

Irish poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, hailed by the Irish Literary Supplement as the “most acclaimed Gaelic poet of the century,” will read from her work at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, for Washington University’s Writing Program Reading Series.

The high-fat “diet” that diabetic heart muscle consumes helps make cardiovascular disease the most common killer of diabetic patients, according to a study done at the School of Medicine. The study will appear in the February 7 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and is now available online.

Photo by Robert BostonHelping kick off St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s “Building for Care, Searching for Cures” campaign were Joe Buck, Jonathan D. Gitlin, Lee Fetter and Larry Shapiro.The collaboration will focus on accelerating cures in four areas: congenital heart disease, cancer, lung and respiratory disorders and musculoskeletal diseases. More medical news

Since the Office of Supplier Diversity was started in 1999, WUSTL has spent $85 million with minority-owned firms and $77 million with women-owned firms.

Such programs at the very least “need to consider the traditional foods and recipes of the participants,” said lead author James Herbert Williams.

No one is born highly creative; creativity takes hard work.Do you desire to be a more creative person but don’t think you have the “creative” gene? You may have some hard work ahead, but it’s possible to become the next Walt Disney or Martha Stewart, says an expert on creativity at Washington University in St. Louis. “No one is born highly creative,” says R. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., associate professor of education and of psychology, both in Arts & Sciences. “Psychologists studying creativity have discovered that it is based on cognitive processes we all share. Creativity is not the result of some magic brain region that some people have and others don’t.” Oxford Press has just released Sawyer’s latest book, “Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation,” a seminal overview of the history of creativity and of research into traits that highly creative people all share.