Newsroom Stories

Two School of Medicine scientists have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. They are Kenneth M. Murphy, MD, PhD, and Herbert W. “Skip” Virgin IV, MD, PhD, both of the Department of Pathology and Immunology. Election to the academy is among the highest honors that can be awarded to a U.S. scientist or engineer.

On May 6, President Barack Obama introduced executive reforms designed to eliminate loopholes that allow foreigners to conceal tax fraud and evasion in the United States. Olin Business School’s Lamar Pierce said the move is an effort to show U.S. global partners that it is ready to practice what it preaches when it comes to curbing shadowy financial transactions.

Researchers in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a novel route to encode chaos on light in an optomechanical microresonator system.

“Between the World and Me” by acclaimed writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, is the 2016 First Year Reading Program selection. Written as a letter to Coates’ teenage son, the book is both a tender memoir and a biting polemic that explores America’s long and persistent history of racial injustice. All first-year students will participate in a discussion about the book this fall.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that some neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex assign value to options in everyday decision-making. The area’s neurons then can re-map to make different decisions when circumstances change.

At its spring meeting May 6, the Board of Trustees elected six new members and re-elected eight members and its current officers, among other action, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

Members of the Eliot Society, who provide the largest source of unrestricted support to Washington University, gathered at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel April 21. Former first lady Laura Bush was keynote speaker, and the society’s Search Award was presented this year to retired medical school dean Larry Shapiro. Eliot Society president Gil Bickel welcomed the group of 700 and introduced the keynote speaker, former First Lady Laura Bush, who is a life-long advocate for literacy and education.

Extended use of drugs to treat heartburn, ulcers and acid reflux may lead to serious kidney damage, including kidney failure, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

Consuming a high-fructose diet during pregnancy may cause defects in the placenta and restrict fetal growth, potentially increasing a baby’s risk for metabolic health problems later in life, according to research in mice and people by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

A study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis describes a newborn screening test that identifies infants with Niemann-Pick type C, an often fatal condition in which cholesterol builds up and eventually destroys brain cells. Early detection may save lives and improve prospects for managing the disease.