Newsroom Stories

The Department of Music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis has appointed new directors for its two largest ensembles. Ward Stare, resident conductor of the St. Louis Symphony, will assume thel role of conductor for the 75-member Washington University Symphony Orchestra. Nicole Aldrich, who recently earned a doctorate in musical arts from the University of Maryland, will become the department’s director of choral activities, conducting the 65-member Washington University Concert Choir. 

Lt. Gen. George J. Flynn, deputy commandant for combat development and integration for the U.S. Marine Corps, will share experiences from a distinguished 30-year military career at a Leadership Symposium Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 21, at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. The event is part of Marine Week festivities taking place in St. Louis June 20-26.

Hundreds of employees were recognized for their years of service to the School of Medicine June 9, 2011.

Robert S. Brookings played a pivotal role in the development of what is now WUSTL’s Danforth Campus. He also founded the Brookings Institution, which now enjoys an academic partnership with WUSTL. He will be honored June 22 and 23 with a lecture and a star on St. Louis’ Walk of Fame.

Nature NewsTime up for relativity table-top test?6/9/2011Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, have clashed with a team lead by Luc Blanchet, a theorist at the Astrophysical Institute of Paris, over whether the time-warping ways of Einstein’s theory of general relativity be measured by the quantum ‘ticking’ of an atom? Clifford Will, who studies general relativity […]

Lifestyles and emotions play important roles in many medical illnesses, and when scientists study potential treatments to help people stop smoking, get more exercise, overcome depression or improve their diet, they often compare patients who get a certain treatment to others who don’t. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, led by Ken Freedland, MD, say to accurately measure a new therapy’s the effectiveness, it is critical to carefully define comparison — or control — groups in those studies.  

Kevin Moeller, PhD, professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is working to find ways to use clean energy in clean chemistry. “We can make the oxidation reactions used in the synthesis of organic molecules cleaner by hitching photovoltaics to electrochemistry,” Moeller says. It’s not a new idea, but one Moeller and his colleagues hope catches on.

Luis Zayas’ commitment to U.S. Latinas and their struggle with suicide started in the 1970s when he encountered the pain and suffering that the teenage girls and their parents were experiencing during his work in emergency rooms and mental health-care clinics. “Latinas have the highest rate of suicide attempt among teens in comparison to white girls or African-American girls,” says Zayas, PhD, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor of Social Work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Zayas brings compelling personal stories and nearly 40 years of research to his new book, Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families and Daughters Collide, published by Oxford University Press.

The body’s ability to perform simple tasks like flex muscles or feel heat, cold and pain depends, in large part, on myelin, an insulating layer of fats and proteins that speeds the propagation of nerve cell signals. Now, scientists have identified a gene in mice that controls whether certain cells in the peripheral nervous system can make myelin. Called Gpr126, the gene encodes a cellular receptor that could play a role in diseases affecting peripheral nerves.

This year’s Eliot Society Search Award was given to Sima and Philip Needleman for their extraordinary dedication to Washington University. The award was given May 11 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Clayton, Mo. “This year’s Search awardees, Philip and Sima Needleman, have an enduring association with Washington University, and have served the institution in many important ways,” Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton says. “It was a pleasure to acknowledge their significant and lasting contributions.”