Newsroom Stories

Some of the country’s leading scholars of jazz and American culture will teach at Washington University’s National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for High School Teachers July 4-29. “‘Teaching Jazz as American Culture’ will offer participants an exciting opportunity to learn about one of the most extraordinary art forms the United States has ever produced,” says Gerald L. Early, Ph.D., Washington University’s Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and director of the Summer Institute. “The instructors in the institute are among the most noted jazz scholars, writers and composers in the country,” says Early, “and the high school teachers’ exposure to this collection of expertise should be both enriching and inspiring.”

AllenPaul M. Allen, Ph.D., the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Pathology and Immunology at the School of Medicine, today became president of the 6,500-member American Association of Immunologists (AAI). Allen is a cellular immunologist who specializes in the study of how T lymphocytes recognize antigen and initiate an immune response.

Nerves talk to each other using chemicals called neurotransmitters. One of those “communication chemicals,” aptly named GABA (gamma amino butyric acid), shows up in unusually high amounts in some aggressive tumors, according to a new study from the School of Medicine in St. Louis.

RichardsWhether it happens this summer or some time in the future, there will eventually be changes in the personnel of the U.S. Supreme Court. Neil Richards, former law clerk for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, is available to comment on the possible retirement of current Justices and the future of the Supreme Court. “Recent speculation has centered largely on the potential effect of a retirement by one of the Justices,” he says.”The course of the Court’s jurisprudence may well be at stake depending on the justice or justices who step down from the bench.”

While the effects of autism are well documented, the underlying causes remain a mystery to scientists. A group of researchers at the School of Medicine are conducting a study to gain a better understanding of the genetic influences on the the disorder. Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

If you are a healthy male who is 65 years of age or older, you may be eligible for a study at the School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study is examining the benefits of restoring testosterone and growth hormone to youthful levels to determine if the therapy can improve muscle mass and strength, body fat, physical function and quality of life.

PomegranateExpectant mothers at risk of premature birth may want to consider drinking pomegranate juice to help their babies resist brain injuries from low oxygen and reduced blood flow, a new mouse study from the School of Medicine suggests.

People’s bodies respond to exercise in different ways, and their genetic makeup is partly responsible.

Scientists have found a new role for a previously identified enzyme that may make it a target for anti-inflammatory treatments.

In patients with vaginal cancer, PET scans detected twice as many primary tumors and cancerous lymph nodes as did CT scans, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. At this time, however, Medicaid, Medicare and many private insurers specify CT (computed tomography) for diagnosing and monitoring this cancer.