Newsroom Stories

The Venus Flytrap, with its two leaf jaws that sense when an insect approaches and quickly snap shut, is one of nature’s clearest examples of biology and mechanics working together to sustain life. Four doctoral students at Washington University in St. Louis will have the opportunity to take a closer look at this intersection under a five-year, $921,040 grant.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are leading a nationwide clinical trial to determine whether one of the most commonly used probiotics can safely and effectively treat infants and toddlers suffering from acute gastroenteritis, otherwise known as stomach virus or “stomach flu.” David Schnadower, MD, is the trial’s principal investigator.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have produced the first detailed images of a protein important to viral infection. The images, from Phyllis Hanson, MD, PhD, and her colleagues, are of molecular scissors that let viruses such as HIV bud from infected cells.

David C. Linehan, MD, has been named the inaugural Neidorff Family and Robert C. Packman Professor at the School of Medicine. Linehan is a professor of surgery and chief of the Section of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Gastrointestinal Surgery.

Arnold Bullock, MD, is highly regarded for his expertise in urology and his community outreach efforts, which are helping to reduce cancer disparities. He has been named the inaugural Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Urology at the School of Medicine.

Jeffrey A. Lowell, MD, of the School of Medicine is also a commander in the U.S. Navy. He currently is deployed to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa. He’s checked in to tell us about his experience there — and about the gratitude of service members who recently received care packages from some generous Washington University employees.

Washington University experts weigh in on common soccer injuries.

Joseph Jez, PhD, co-director of the plant and microbial biosciences graduate program at Washington University in St. Louis, is one of 15 professors nationwide to receive a $1 million HHMI grant to bring the creativity he has shown in the lab to the undergraduate classroom. He plans to use the grant to establish a two-year program called the Biotech Explorers Pathway that will introduce entering students to both the science and business of biotechnology.

WUSTL and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have announced a joint Executive MBA program aimed at the international executive. The new program is the first of its kind to confer an MBA degree from both an Indian and an American university and will be modeled after WUSTL’s highly ranked Executive MBA in China and the United States.

The inaugural class of WUSTL’s innovative College Prep Program recently wrapped up its first two-week residential experience. The students will return during the summers of their junior and senior years to take college-credit classes. The new program prepares students for college and its challenges.