Newsroom Stories

Investigators at Washington University and The Scripps Research Institute have announced the launch of a “Global Metabolomic Initiative” to facilitate meta-analyses on studies of the metabolism of bacteria, yeast, plants, animals and people. Although metabolomics has existed as a discipline for only a decade, it has already provided insights into many difficult-to-treat diseases, including chronic pain. Many more are expected to fall out of the meta-analyses.

A group of Washington University students, in collaboration with the Missouri History Museum and Gephardt Institute of Public Service, will present a two-part community forum on the evolution of the U.S. prison-industrial complex titled “The Criminal Brand: America’s Invisible Class,” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Missouri History Museum.

In the United States, packaging makes up one third of municipal solid waste. But rather than merely recycling such materials, a recent student-led project — involving the School of Medicine, the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and the Environmental Health & Saftey area — is working to transform them into art.

In 1827, a young giraffe named Zarafa was shipped from the Sudan to Paris, where her arrival caused an immediate sensation. That true history forms the basis of Zarafa, an animated French film that combines Zarafa’s story with that of Maki, a 10-year-old escaped slave. This weekend, the Center for the Humanities and the Program in Film & Media Studies will screen Zarafa as part of their Ninth Annual Children’s Film Showcase.

Sunscreen contains nanoparticles to protect our skin by reflecting hazardous ultraviolet radiation from the sun. But what happens to those nanoparticles when you wash the sunscreen away? Young-Shin Jun, PhD, has received a three-year, $382,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to determine the physical and chemical evolution of environmental and engineered nanoparticles in natural and engineered aquatic systems, such as wastewater treatment plants.

Some students enrolled in the Cognitive, Computational and Systems Neuroscience (CCSN) pathway, are sharing their love of science and improving communication skills through community outreach. CCSN is a specialization for graduate students in psychology, neuroscience and biomedical engineering. The students are coaching low-income area teens for an international competition called the Brain Bee, and participating in many events, including the Nov. 10 Amazing Brain Carnival held at the St. Louis Science Center. The free event introduces the public to brain science research in St. Louis. 

Maria Zuber, a professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will deliver the fifth annual Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, in Room 100 in Whitaker Hall on the Danforth Campus. During the free, public lectures, she will discuss new information about water on the moon.

The Office of the Provost at WUSTL has launched a new website, diversity.wustl.edu, as the focal point for all diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus. The site has a comprehensive list of resources and programs, and will use photographs and videos to tell stories of the university’s people and programs that support diversity on campus.

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis has selected seven juniors as the second cohort of its Civic Scholars Program, joining five seniors selected last year. The students were chosen from a competitive pool for their outstanding qualifications, exemplary dedication to community engagement and potential for civic leadership.

​The Program in Physical Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has received a five-year, $4.6 million grant to continue an interdisciplinary training program for occupational and physical therapists that began in 2007.