Newsroom Stories

Jazz bassist and composer Eric Warren will launch the spring Jazz at Holmes series with a free concert Thursday, Jan. 22. In all, the weekly series will feature 12 performances, including evenings with acclaimed guitarist John Abercrombie and saxophonist Eric Person, a St. Louis native now living in New York.

Using Washington University’s state-of-the-art zebrafish facility, scientists have identified a gene that helps regulate how well nerves of the central nervous system are insulated. The finding may have implications for human diseases such as multiple sclerosis, in which this insulation is lost.

Grants will provide funding for innovative research projects and programs at Washington University in St. Louis that aim not only to explore the underlying causes of the difficult issues the St. Louis region is facing, but also to seek and implement long-term, sustainable solutions.

Rajan Chakrabarty, PhD, assistant professor of environmental engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has received a three-year grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to study the climatic effects of carbon-containing aerosols emitted from peat fires.

School of Medicine employees are invited to visit the annual Health Happening Fair from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, in the Eric P. Newman Education Center for free health screenings and information on a wide variety of health topics.

The School of Medicine’s 11th Annual Art Show is underway in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center atrium, 520 S. Euclid Ave. Visitors may view the art through Feb. 11.

A search committee has been named to identify candidates for the position of executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will chair the search committee. Larry J. Shapiro, MD, announced last week he will step down from the position but will remain at the helm until his replacement is named.

Samuel Achilefu, PhD, of the School of Medicine has won the St. Louis Award for 2014 for his work in creating cancer-visualizing glasses, which were used in surgeries for first time last year. He is the 87th person honored with the annual award since it was established in 1931.

The Karb Family Quartet — which consists of senior Jonathan Karb, his parents Margaret and Benjamin and younger brother Aaron — will launch the spring Danforth University Center Chamber Music Series Jan. 20 in Goldberg Formal Lounge.

Scientists, led in part by Washington University’s Vitaly Klyachko, PhD, have gained new insight into fragile X syndrome — the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability — by studying the case of a person without the disorder, but with two of its classic symptoms.