Newsroom Stories

When you are out in the woods and hear a cracking sound, your brain needs to process quickly whether the sound is coming from, say, a bear or a chipmunk. In new research published in PLoS Biology, a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis has a new interpretation for an old observation, debunking an established theory in the process.

“Never Again: Forging a Convention for Crimes Against Humanity,” a film produced by the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, will be shown at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, during the 26th annual St. Louis International Film Festival.

John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a $6 million outstanding investigator award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support research aimed at improving therapies for leukemia.

CSforAll, a national summit dedicated to expanding computer science courses for all students, took place at Washington University Oct 16-17. The event brought in about 300 teachers and administrators from school districts across Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Water is the key to life. But for city planners, water poses a profound question. How do we ensure residents a constant supply of fresh, clean water while also protecting vulnerable areas from flooding? This week, design professionals from around the country will gather in St. Louis for the ninth annual XTreme LA (Landscape Architecture) Challenge, hosted by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

Washington University has formally launched its search for a successor for Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, who announced last month his intention to conclude his term no later than June 30, 2019. Chancellor Wrighton has served in the role for 22 years.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran and double amputee, and Robert A. McDonald, former secretary of veterans affairs, will take part in the university’s Veterans Day celebration at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, in Edison Theatre. It’s more good news for Washington University veteran groups, which also successfully lobbied the university to hire its first veteran student services advisor.

Xuan “Silvia” Zhang and Christopher Gill, both faculty in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, received a four-year, $936,504 grant from the National Science Foundation to study how to orchestrate modular power in a modular manner at the mesoscale, an area that has not yet been studied.

In the body, cells move around to form organs during development; to heal wounds; and when they metastasize from cancerous tumors. A mechanical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis found that cells remember the properties they had in their first environment for several days after they move to another in a process called mechanical memory.

The School of Medicine has received a $10 million commitment from longtime benefactors George and Debra Couch to support research that advances personalized medicine. In recognition of their generosity, the research building at 4515 McKinley Ave. has been named the Debra and George W. Couch III Biomedical Research Building.