Marie Griffith, PhD, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, was installed as the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Humanities during a Sept. 4 ceremony held in Holmes Lounge. Griffith came to WUSTL from Harvard University in 2011 to lead the scholarly and educational center that focuses on the role of religion in politics in the United States.
Researchers at the School of Medicine and Imperial College London are the first to identify the site where the widely used anesthetic drug propofol binds to receptors in the brain to sedate patients during surgery. Shown is a photoanalogue of propofol to identify where it binds to receptors. The small green circles show the site.
Daniel Coyne, MD, specializes in the treatment of patients on dialysis. He’s a strong believer in seeing that patients’ interests are put first. That philosophy spurred him to fight against the overuse of the anti-anemia drug Epogen in dialysis patients. The drug increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes and at one time was one of the top-selling prescription medicines in the United States.
Holden Thorp, PhD, provost and executive vice
chancellor for academic affairs at Washington University in St. Louis,
has appointed an eight-member committee to identify candidates for the
position of dean of the School of Law. Daniel Keating, JD, the Tyrrell Williams Professor of
Law, will serve as interim dean. At the law school, Keating has served
twice as interim dean, as well as vice dean and associate dean.
The Family Learning Center at Washington University in St. Louis recently held a birthday party for children and parents to celebrate the center’s third anniversary. Here, 2-year-old Lucas Gerst enjoys bubbles. He attended with mother Kellie Gerst, a nurse anesthetist at the School of Medicine.
The Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences (PACS) at the School of Medicine has received a five-year, $1.18 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to prepare graduate-level teachers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Washington University in St. Louis is launching a new pre-college program designed to help talented but underserved St. Louis high school students prepare for and complete a college education at a selective four-year college or university. Pictured is Leah Merrifield, who will head the program.
Breast cancer that spreads to other organs is extremely difficult to treat. Doctors can buy patients time, but a cure remains elusive. Now, researchers at the School of Medicine have shown that human breast tumors transplanted into mice are excellent models of metastatic cancer and could be valuable tools in the search for better treatments. Shown are human breast cancer cells (red) growing amid mouse cells (green).
Washington University’s Alumni & Development will host its annual fall festival Saturday, Sept. 28, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Danforth University Center. A barbecue lunch and children’s activities will take place until 1 p.m., when the Bears football game begins.
The Saint Louis Art Museum and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis have announced that the Los Angeles-based artist Won Ju Lim and the Brooklyn-based artist Mariam Ghani will serve as Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellows for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academics year, respectively.
