Newsroom Stories

Ramesh Agarwal has won a series of awards this past year both for his work in green aviation (using computational fluid dynamics and flow control to increase the energy efficiency of airplanes, trucks and wind turbines) and for his tireless devotion to teaching and mentoring engineering students.

In a step toward curing diabetes in humans, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have alleviated the disease in rats using transplants from both embryonic and adult pigs. The rats adopted the pig transplants as their own and produced enough insulin to control their blood sugar – all without the need for anti-rejection drugs.

The U.S. Senate lost one of its staunchest defenders and most influential leaders with the death Monday, June 28, of long-serving Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. “The death of Robert Byrd is important,” says Steven S. Smith, a congressional expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “He was first and foremost a senator. He loved the Senate and was the strongest defender of its traditions.”

The School of Medicine’s Farmer’s Market is held every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April through September in the fountain plaza outside of the Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Resveratrol — found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and other plants — stops out-of-control blood vessel growth in the eye, according to vision researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The discovery has implications for preserving vision in blinding eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration.

Steven A. Edmundowicz, MD, professor of medicine, received the Distinguished Educator Award from the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy May 2 at the society’s Crystal Awards dinner in New Orleans. The award goes to a physician educator and recognizes contributions to the education of fellows through endoscopy seminars, participation in national postgraduate courses and published […]

Scientists have shown that a specific virus can interact with a mutation in the host’s genes to trigger disease. The observation may help explain why many people with disease risk genes do not actually develop disease.

Friends and colleagues of Owen Sexton, PhD (right), professor emeritus of biology in Arts & Sciences and former director of Tyson Research Center, joined him June 17 at the facility to thank him for his mentorship and for advocating the purchase of the research center, WUSTL’s 2,000-acre field station in the Ozark foothills 20 miles outside of St. Louis.

Ralph G. Dacey Jr., MD, assisted by scrub technician Tinika Noldin, uses an endoscope to examine a pituitary tumor. On the monitor: a pituitary gland. Richard A. Chole, MD, PhD, was in his home workshop, and the sparks were flying. Chole is an ear, nose and throat specialist and surgeon. But on this day he […]

The BJC Institute of Health at Washington University School of Medicine was dedicated in June, amid a celebration featuring U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, and artist Maya Lin.