Scientists working to find treatments for a severe form of diabetes called Wolfram syndrome have identified a gatekeeper in cells that prevents harmful molecules from spilling into places where they don’t belong and triggering cell death. The researchers, at Washington University School of Medicine, also found that the gatekeeper may be a good treatment target for other disorders caused by cellular stress.
In 1999, Danish scientist Per Bak made the startling proposal that the brain remained stable for much the same reason a sand pile does; many small avalanches hold it at a balance point, where — in the brain’s case — information processing is optimized. Now scientists have shown for the first time that a brain receiving and processing sensory input follows these dynamics.
Annual Washington University in St. Louis parking permits expire June 30. Permits can be renewed online or at the Parking and Transportation Services office on the North Campus. Prices for red, yellow, blue, brown, green, North Campus, Bearly Drivers, official business and evening permits have increased for the 2015-16 school year. The price for all other permits remains unchanged.
Chenyang Lu, PhD, has been named the inaugural Fullgraf Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He was installed at a ceremony held on campus March 16.
Obesity and excess weight, and their negative impact on health, have become a significant focus for health-care experts in recent years. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine shows that an escalation in the number of those considered obese or overweight in the U.S. continues, signaling an ongoing upward swing in chronic health conditions as well.
Four students in Arts & Sciences, one of whom also earned a degree from Olin Business School, have received the U.S. State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship for summer 2015.
Two computer scientists from Washington University in St. Louis, Robert Pless and Roman Garnett, are part of a research team that will use big data to accelerate breeding and the commercial release of sorghum crops that can be used as a renewable energy source.
The St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH) staff garage entrance and exit along Duncan Avenue is scheduled to reopen June 22, and the garage entrance and exit along Newstead Avenue is scheduled to close. The Newstead entrance will be reconfigured as part of a new road to provide additional access to the parking garages on Duncan and is expected to remain closed for six weeks. Newstead Avenue, however, will remain open.
Marie Cendrine Taris, assistant to the chair of the
Department of Mathematics in Arts & Sciences at Washington
University in St. Louis, died after a sudden illness Tuesday, June 2, at
St. Mary’s Health Center. She was 46.