Newsroom Stories

School of Medicine researchers have described a missing link in understanding how damage to the body’s cellular power plants leads to Parkinson’s disease and some forms of heart failure. A mouse heart, in gray, shows signs of heart failure because it is missing a newly discovered key molecule in the process that culls unhealthy mitochondria from cells. Superimposed on the heart is a fruit fly heart tube, shown in color. It shows signs of failure because it is missing another key molecule in mitochondrial quality control.

​Rebecca Messbarger, PhD, professor of Italian, has a great start to her next book. Not only did she win two awards for an article summarizing her book idea, next fall she will have more time and resources to devote to writing thanks to her faculty fellowship in the Center for Humanities.

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service has selected eight sophomores for its third cohort of the Civic Scholars Program. With its mission “to cultivate the next generation of civic leaders,” this program seeks students with exemplary scholarship, leadership and commitment to community engagement.

Andrew Scharlach, PhD, the Eugene and Rose Kleiner Professor of Aging at the University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the 2013 Friedman lecture May 3 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Washington University School of Medicine campus. The title of his lecture is “Creating Aging-Friendly Communities.”

Washington University Libraries recently filled two associate university librarian (AUL) positions, a leadership level reporting directly to University Librarian Jeffrey Trzeciak. The new AULs are Trevor Dawes and Christopher Freeland, and along with Trzeciak and Associate University Librarians Virginia Toliver, Gail Oltmanns and Jeffrey Huestis, they form the Libraries’ senior management team.

The “Pina Colada Song” guy wrote a musical? Yes, he did, and a good one, too. In 1986, Rupert Holmes’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood won the Tony Award “triple crown” of best musical, best book and best score. This week, the WUSTL Opera Workshop will present experts from Drood and five other works as part of its semester’s-end performance.

Rising seniors can start earning credits toward a Master of Science in Finance degree this July with the launch of a new Master of Finance Accelerated program from Olin Business School’s Specialized Masters Programs.

Olin Business School feted five of its top alumni during the 2013 Olin Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner April 4 at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton.

An investigational treatment for an inherited form of Lou Gehrig’s disease has passed an early phase clinical trial for safety, researchers at the School of Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital report. A mutated protein that causes an inherited form of Lou Gehrig’s disease leads to clumps in the human cells, which are pictured.

As students begin to leave campus for the summer, many will head off to internships, hoping to add to their classroom experiences and enhance their future opportunities by immersing themselves in the real world of work. But to get the most out of the experience, it’s imperative that they have a clear plan.