Scientists believe they have found an explanation for a puzzling and serious complication of West Nile virus infection. Researchers showed that the virus can enter a nerve cell, replicate and move on to infect other nearby nerve cells. Viruses traveling this infectious pathway can break into the central nervous system, triggering a condition known as acute flaccid paralysis that leaves one or more limbs limp and unresponsive.
Poet and author Susan Wheeler, the visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will read from her work Thursday, Oct. 25, and speak on the craft of poetry Tuesday, Oct. 30. Wheeler is the author of four poetry collections – Bag ‘o’ Diamonds (1993), Smokes (1998), Source Codes (2001) and Ledger (2005) – as well as a novel, Record Palace (2005).
Due to a change in production scheduling, the Assembly Series program featuring actor Kal Penn Oct. 25 has been cancelled. There are no immediate plans to reschedule. For further updates visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call 935-5285.
This summer, Frank C.P. Yin, M.D., Ph.D., the Stephen F. and Camilla T. Brauer Professor of Biomedical Engineering and chair of the biomedical engineering department, led nine biomedical engineering students through a two-week international experience in China.
Photo by David KilperFor Hebrew literature scholar Nancy Berg, providing the keynote speech last month at an international conference on “Sami Michael and Jewish Iraqi Literature” was validation of a scholarly path she chose nearly two decades ago when she began her academic career at Washington University.
There still is time to help the United Way of Greater St. Louis assist those that need it most. WUSTL continues to accept donations to the annual United Way of Greater St. Louis campaign, which began Sept. 4. The University’s goal for this year’s drive is $555,000, and those who have not yet donated are encouraged to do so as soon as possible.
All University faculty members are invited to submit proposals for academic research projects addressing aspects of entrepreneurship in their areas of discipline or cutting across disciplines. Each research project may receive up to $40,000 for each year of work for up to two years. The funding is provided by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Robert and Julie Skandalaris.
Studying efforts to combat obesity in children, a research team led by School of Medicine investigators has found that children who lose weight are able to keep it off more effectively if they participate in a maintenance-targeted treatment program, although the effectiveness of the maintenance program lessens over time.
Peter Humphrey, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the Ladenson Professor of Pathology in the Department of Pathology and Immunology. As the Ladenson professor, Humphrey becomes chief of the newly renamed Division of Anatomic and Molecular Pathology within the department.