GoateInvestigators at the School of Medicine have identified a genetic variation associated with an earlier age of onset in Alzheimer’s disease. Unlike genetic mutations previously linked to rare, inherited forms of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease — which can strike people as young as their 30s or 40s — these variants influence an earlier presentation of symptoms in people affected by the more common, late-onset form of the disease.
Presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry speak to town hall participants during the Oct. 8, 2004 debate.Washington University in St. Louis will host the 2008 vice presidential debate, scheduled for 8 p.m. CDT on Oct. 2, 2008, according to an announcement made today by Paul G. Kirk Jr. and Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., co-chairmen of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Full story >>
Image courtesy of NASAThe Phoenix Mars Lander on the northern Mars plains, searching for evidence of ice and water.Among the many Phoenix Mars Mission workers are Raymond E. Arvidson, Ph.D., the WUSTL chair of earth and planetary sciences, a computer specialist and four WUSTL students. Their goal is to infer from images and other data the geological history of the landing site and to imply some theories about current and past climate on Mars. Will they find ice?
Students celebrate at Commencement.The graduation pictures have been e-mailed to friends, posted on Facebook and framed alongside family photos perched on bookcases and fireplace mantels. But behind the toothy grin of many college grads lies a worrisome question that flies in the face of this celebrated educational milestone: Where’s my job? Finding one requires the right actions, says a careers expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
More than 1,000 Oklahoma babies have received a $1,000 jump-start on saving for college, thanks to SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK), a seven-year study designed to determine the economic and educational impact of “seeding” a college savings account for children at birth. SEED OK is a collaboration between the Oklahoma State Treasurer and the Center for Social Development at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.
Jeffrey Bradley, associate professor of radiation oncology, has been named the first director of the Kling Center for Proton Therapy, a facility for treating cancer patients with a new, highly precise form of radiation therapy. The center is scheduled to open in summer 2009 at the Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Elsie Parker and The Poor People of Paris will launch Washington University’s summer Jazz at Holmes series with a free performance at 8 p.m. Thursday, June 12. The series features relaxed, coffeehouse-style concerts with professional jazz musicians from around St. Louis and abroad most Thursday evenings throughout the summer.
Women born after 1944 began drinking alcohol at younger ages than their elders, and that appears to have put them at greater risk for alcoholism, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. On average, women born before 1944 began drinking at age 20. Those born after that started drinking alcohol at age 17, and they had a 50 to 80 percent greater risk for alcohol dependence, the researchers found.
Image courtesy of Doug WiensDouglas Wiens (left), and a colleague ready equipment to emplace seismographs in Antarctica during a 2001 expedition.A seismologist at Washington University in St. Louis along with colleagues at Pennsylvania State University and Newcastle University in the United Kingdom have found seismic signals from a giant river of ice in Antarctica that make California’s earthquake problem seem trivial. Douglas A. Wiens, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, and colleagues combined seismological and global positioning system (GPS) analyses to reveal two bursts of seismic waves from an ice stream in Antarctica every day, each one equivalent to a magnitude seven earthquake.
StantonRichard Stanton has been named associate vice chancellor and associate dean for administration and finance at the School of Medicine. Stanton’s appointment, effective July 1, 2008, was announced by Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.