Newsroom Stories

Aaron Ciechanover, MD, PhD, the Distinguished Research Professor at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, and co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his contributions to the discovery and description of a process cells use to discard unwanted proteins, will give a special seminar at Washington University in St. Louis Friday, April 27. His lecture, “The Ubiquitin Proteolytic System: From Basic Mechanisms Through Human Diseases and on to Drug Development,” will take place at 4 p.m. in the Laboratory Sciences Building, Room 300. The seminar is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Janji, a socially conscious running shorts business created by members of the Washington University in St. Louis cross country team, will release its original running apparel at a public launch party in St. Louis Thursday, May 3. The venture aims to make a global impact on the food and water crisis through its running apparel.

Ah, spring. The rains rain, the flowers bloom, and the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences presents its annual Chancellor’s Concert. The performance — which takes place Sunday, April 22, in the 560 Music Center — is among the largest-scaled of the year, featuring well over 100 musicians from the Washington University Symphony Orchestra and the Washington University Choirs.

The nation’s top 20 public firms could have added nearly $1 trillion to their market value if, in 2010, they had used a new tool, known as the research quotient (RQ), to determine their research and development (R&D) budgets, says its creator, Anne Marie Knott, PhD, associate professor of strategy at Washington University in St. Louis.

Actress, writer and comedienne Ellie Kemper, best known for her supporting role as Kelly “Erin” Hannon in NBC’s The Office, will deliver the annual Women’s Society Adele Starbird Lecture at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 26, at Washington University in St. Louis. During her talk, titled “Journey of an American Actress,” Kemper will discuss her rise in Hollywood. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Graham Chapel on the university’s Danforth Campus.

When a child has autism, siblings are also at risk for the disorder. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that the genetic reach of the disorder often extends to half siblings as well. The discovery is giving scientists new clues to how autism is inherited.

In an article published in the advance online edition of Genes, Brain and Behavior on April 6, 2012, a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and his colleagues demonstrate that the division of labor among honeybees is correlated with the presence in their brains of tiny snippets of noncoding RNA, called micro-RNAs, or miRNAs, that suppress the expression of genes.

The No. 17 men’s tennis team ran its winning streak to six matches with a 7-2 win at No. 30 University of Chicago April 15. The Bears improved their overall record to 12-5 and picked up their fifth win this season over a ranked team. Updates also included on baseball and softball, track & field, women’s golf and women’s tennis.

President Barack Obama lately has been arguing for increased taxes on the rich through his proposed “Buffett Rule,” which would ensure that millionaires and billionaires pay a minimum effective tax rate of 30 percent on their income. Most Americans, including supporters of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, support such a move, finds The American Panel Survey (TAPS), a new Washington University in St. Louis survey.

It is a moment of rising inequality. The widening gap between aristocratic haves and discontented have-nots threatens to replace the social contract with a powder keg. As You Like It is among Shakespeare’s most popular works, but it is more than just a pastoral romance. So says Annamaria Pileggi, senior lecturer in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, who will direct the show April 20-29 in Edison Theatre.