Newsroom Stories

The slow rebound of the bedrock as ice melts can be used to weigh the Antarctic ice sheet. Calibrating rebound will make it possible to measure how much mass the has lost since the ice sheets reached their maximum extent more than 20,000 years ago and how much it is currently losing. Two National Science Foundation grants will fund the installation of seismographs to calibrate crucial parts of the Antarctic ice-weighing machine.

Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, manufacturing fuel so a cell can perform its many tasks, and also are well known for their role in cell death. School of Medicine researchers and colleagues have shown that mitochondria also orchestrate events that determine a cell’s future, at least in the embryonic mouse heart. The study identifies new potential genetic culprits in the origins of some congenital heart defects. Shown is an image of a normal heart.

The National Cancer Institute has awarded two major grants totaling $26 million to leukemia researchers and physicians at the School of Medicine. The funding has the potential to lead to novel therapies for leukemia that improve survival and reduce treatment-related side effects. Pictured are cancer cells from a patient with acute myeloid leukemia.

The 43rd executive MBA class was at the Knight Center in mid-September to kick off their academic year with Go! Week. This was the first time the cohort of students from the new Denver EMBA program was in St. Louis. Go! Week included a special celebration of the 30th anniversary of Olin’s Executive MBA program.

Project ARK and The SPOT have been tapped as a model and mentor to what is hoped will be a similar center in East St. Louis. The new clinic, funded through a federal grant, will emulate The SPOT, a School of Medicine program that celebrated its fifth anniversary in September. The SPOT addresses health risks facing youth ages 13-24 by providing health, social support and prevention services free of charge. Pictured are the center’s medical director, Katie Plax (left), and Kim Donica, the executive director.

The neglected tropical disease known as river blindness is caused by the parasitic worm O. volvulus, pictured, and is spread by the bites of black flies that breed in fast-flowing rivers. Washington University scientists have received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop an improved diagnostic test for the disease, which is most common in sub-Saharan Africa.

American produce is shipped an average of 1,500 miles before reaching its point of sale. In St. Louis, the 14-acre Magic Chef complex sits empty and unused. Graduate student Haley O’Brien wants to address both problems by growing hydroponic tomatoes on The Hill, an historic Italian-American enclave that boasts some of the finest pasta sauces in the Midwest.

Mongolia is a hard land, a place of extremes, of mountains and deserts, of lost empires and tough survivors. On Oct. 20, the “blood brothers” of AnDa Union will bring the stirring, demanding and infectious Music of Inner Mongolia to St. Louis as part of the Edison Ovations Series.

Many deplore the vast scope of the National Security Agency sweep of private phone and electronic communications and question the balance and fairness of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court decisions about such activities. Others contend protection against terrorism requires such activities and that they must remain secret. Reacting to the public debate, President Obama seeks balance by establishing a spokesperson with the court to advocate for constitutional protection. A recent Huffington Post piece by Merton Bernstein, JD, professor of law emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis, says this move is desirable but not sufficient.

Global Health Week featured a visit with the former president and health minister of Ecuador, an international fair, and education about outreach efforts of Global Health Scholars and others. Pictured is Alfredo Palacio, MD, Ecuador’s former president and health minister, while visiting with Washington University students.