Newsroom Stories

Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, PhD, has been elected to the Biomedical Engineering Society Class of 2013 Fellows. Sakiyama-Elbert, professor and associate chair of biomedical engineering, was one of seven elected to the class. Fellows are selected for demonstrating exceptional achievements and experience in the biomedical engineering field and for their membership and participation in the society.

Lihong Wang, PhD, will receive the 2014 IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award, the highest honor conferred by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in this field. Wang, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, was selected for his pioneering contributions to the field of photoacoustic tomography, a novel imaging technology he developed that uses light and sound to measure change.

School of Medicine researchers have described another link in the chain of events that connects acute viral infections to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Their discovery points to a new therapeutic target for COPD, an extremely common disease of the lower airways. The image depicts airway epithelial cells from lung tissue of a COPD patient.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis sheds light on the brain mechanisms that underlie a type of memory, known as prospective memory, revealing two distinct processes that support our ability to remember to remember.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton welcomed more than 60 scholars from around the world — including Washington University in St. Louis and representatives from the McDonnell International Scholars Academy partner institutions — to Seoul, South Korea, in June for the Global Aging Initiative. The meeting, sponsored by the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at WUSTL’s Institute for Public Health, was the first opportunity for scholars to connect and identify opportunities for collaboration on cross-national aging-related research.

Incoming medical students took part last week in the Washington University Medical Plunge, or WUMP, a weeklong crash course in public health, diversity and health-care disparities. Pictured are students Ally Schelble (left) and Harleen Grewal helping prepare teaching materials for the upcoming school year at Epworth Children & Family Services. WUMP introduces students to myriad opportunities to volunteer.

Three highly regarded faculty members in the Department of Medicine  have been named Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professors in their respective fields. They are (from left) Daniel C. Brennan, MD, Chyi-Song Hsieh, MD, PhD, and Daniel S. Ory, MD.

Washington University students still can enroll in one of the 11 online courses being offered this fall through Semester Online, a consortium of top peer universities. Students have until Aug. 26 to register. Courses include a live weekly class plus pre-produced online content that engages students, such as guest interviews and panel discussions.

Bacteria adjust to wide fluctuations in food supply by controlling how big they get and how often they divide. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have just worked out the control system E. coli use to delay division so they can bulk up when food suddently becomes abundant. What can be delayed can also be stopped, so the control system may provide an opportunity to design a new class of antibiotics.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis offers compelling evidence that a well-connected core brain network based in the lateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior parietal cortex — parts of the brain most changed evolutionarily since our common ancestor with chimpanzees — contains “flexible hubs” that coordinate the brain’s responses to novel cognitive challenges.