Ley receives $6.4 million NCI award for leukemia research​​

​​Timothy J. Ley, MD, a leukemia researcher and hematologist at the School of Medicine, has received a seven-year, $6.4 million Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The funding will allow him to continue research aimed at understanding the mutations that initiate acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and how they might be targeted with new approaches.

Good as gold​​​​​

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Srikanth Singamaneni, PhD, associate professor of materials science in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, are using color-shifting nanoparticles of ​gold, combined with specifically engineered artificial antibodies, to detect biochemical signs of kidney damage.​

WashU Expert: Witches and demonology

Old illustration of two witches by a fire.
Gerhild Scholz Williams explores the vast legal, scientific and theological literature known as demonology, which helped established “the image of the witch as a night-flying, sexually voracious creature.”

Methadone’s side effects, efficacy may be linked to genetic makeup​

Methadone — long used to treat pain and addiction — can be lethal if it lingers too long in the body. New research led by the School of Medicine’s Evan D. Kharasch, MD, PhD, has identified genetic subtypes in people that govern methadone clearance, findings that could help prevent some of the 5,000 methadone-related deaths that occur each year in the United States.

Art, guns and rebooting the conversation

In this video, curator Jonathan Ferrara and Sam Fox School dean Carmon Colangelo discuss “Guns in the Hands of Artists.” The exhibition seeks to build a new framework for examining the role of guns in American culture.

​Providing every student a ‘true Washington University experience’​

​A new report from a universitywide socioeconomic advisory group provides Washington University in St. Louis a roadmap to better serve its growing number of low-income and first-generation students. Recommendations include helping students better transition to college life, providing the resources students need to engage  in academic and campus life and creating a university culture that welcomes and values every student.

Buchman named new head of otolaryngology​

Craig A. Buchman, MD, a nationally recognized leader in otolaryngology and head and neck surgery, has been named head of the Department of Otolaryngology at the School of Medicine. He replaces Richard A. Chole, MD, PhD, who, after leading the department for 17 years, is stepping down to focus on research and patient care.

WashU Expert: Brace yourself, it’s fall-back time again

Falling back is easier on us than springing forward, says Erik Herzog, a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis who has devoted his career to studying body clocks and circadian rhythms. But it is never a good idea to force our body clocks to follow abrupt changes in mechanical clocks. We should get rid of daylight savings time, Herzog says.