Newsroom Stories

Laura Jean Bierut, MD, has been named the Alumni Endowed Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine. Her work focuses on the genetic and environmental influences that contribute to addiction and other psychiatric disorders.

Neurosurgeon Eric Leuthardt’s research often has been described as science fiction brought to life. But in his latest project, his experiences in the laboratory and the operating room have inspired him to write a futuristic thriller.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a patient’s gender as a clear and simple guidepost to help health care providers anticipate some of the otherwise unpredictable effects of neurofibromatosis type 1, a childhood genetic disorder.

St. Louis is becoming widely recognized as a successful hub for startup businesses, with a wide range of groups and services that provide a support network for budding entrepreneurs. WUSTL students are getting a firsthand look at one of those resources this semester as they help formulate pricing strategies, marketing plans and competitive analysis for businesses working at T-REX in downtown St. Louis.

WUSTL geologist Philip Skemer has built a custom-made rock-formation appartus that traps a rock sample between tungsten carbide anvils about a quarter inch in diameter within a 100-ton hydraulic press and then twists the sample slowly from below. His target pressure is six giga-pascals, the pressure 250 kilometers down, to the base of the tectonic plates. He will use the apparatus to determine through experiment the mechanisms that lead mantle rocks to flow, dragging the tectonic plates with them.

For Kimberly Jade Norwood, Washington University professor of law and African & African American studies, the topic of her newly released book, Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Postracial America (Routledge, 2013), strikes close to home.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Sheryl WuDunn will present an Assembly Series address on “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, in Graham Chapel on Washington University in St. Louis’ Danforth Campus. A booksigning will follow in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Both events are free and open to the public.

​In a world’s first, physicians at Siteman Cancer Center have begun treating patients using MRI-guided radiation therapy, a technology that allows tumors to be visualized during treatment. Shown is Wayne Kestler, 80, one of the first patients treated with the new technology.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antimicrobial resistance is one our most serious health threats, with infections from resistant bacteria becoming far too common. Part of the problem is over-prescription of antibiotics. Nanopore Diagnostics, winner of this year’s Olin Cup, hopes to change that.

Philip Skemer, PhD, assistant professor in the department of earth and planetary science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER award) from the National Science Foundation. He will use the award for a series of experiments in which rock samples will be deformed at the extreme temperatures and pressures they encounter along the boundaries where plates collide.