Newsroom Stories

The University Athletic Association announced that 20 WUSTL former student-athletes — 10 men and 10 women — have been named to its 25th-anniversary basketball teams.

Famed public intellectual Kwame Anthony Appiah, author of The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen, will present the keynote address Thursday, Nov. 29 for “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors,” Washington University’s 11th annual faculty book colloquium.

That’s not a new parking meter or air pump for your tires outside of Brauer Hall — it’s a charging station for electric vehicles. This first charging station on the Danforth Campus is another step in the university’s commitment to sustainability. A ceremony to celebrate the installation is set for 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, outside of Brauer Hall. A station also is planned for the Millbrook Parking Facility and more may follow, depending on demand. 

Gastric bypass surgery has been thought to offer advantages, independent of weight loss, for improving insulin sensitivity and blood glucose levels in obese patients. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that those improvements are related to weight loss alone and not to the surgical procedure itself.

Actor Patrick Dempsey plays Dr. Derek Shepherd, a surgeon on the ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy. Washington University surgeon Susan E. Mackinnon advised the show on scenarios involving a hand injury suffered by the character.

Edward Geltman, MD, professor of medicine, has been named the first recipient of the Philip A. Ludbrook Award. The award will be given annually to a member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for outstanding service and dedication to the protection of human subjects involved in research.

Ah, December. Days grow shorter, checkout lines longer, and final exams inexorably closer. But on Dec. 2, audiences are invited to pause for an afternoon of “Joy and Wonder.” Presented by the Washington University Concert Choir and the Washington University Chamber Choir, the concert will feature a range of music relating to the holiday season.

A study is the first to identify a single gene that is associated with a significant number of cases of respiratory distress syndrome in babies born at or near full term.​ WUSTL pediatrician Jennifer A. Wambach is the study’s lead author. Findings will be published in the December issue of Pediatrics.

Respiratory conditions that restrict breathing such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are common killers worldwide. But no effective treatments exist to address the major cause of death in these conditions — excess mucus production. Now, Washington University researchers have described the molecular pathway responsible for excess mucus in airway cells and have used that information to design a series of new drugs that inhibit that pathway.

The No. 21 men’s basketball team improved its overall record to 5-0 with three victories a week ago. The Bears posted an 85-62 victory over Fontbonne University Tuesday at home, and then posted a pair of wins over Austin College (94-63) and Simpson College (71-66) Friday and Saturday at the Snyder Classic in Lincoln, Neb.