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Biology

Rethinking seizures associated with cardiac disease

brain and heart
Research from Washington University in St. Louis finds that mutations of a gene implicated in long QT syndrome in humans may trigger seizures because of their direct effects on certain classes of neurons in the brain — independent from what the genetic mutations do to heart function. The new work from Arts & Sciences was conducted with fruit flies and is published August 8 in PLOS Genetics.
Arts & Culture

When Bill Gass introduced Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison, who died Aug. 5 at the age of 88, was among the most powerful, popular and influential writers of her generation. Introducing her to a packed Graham Chapel in 1991, William Gass, professor, declared that “Beloved,” which had won the Pulitzer Prize three years earlier, “has the old roar of the great work, back in the days when great works roared.”

Nowak receives grant to study radial density of stars

Michael Nowak, research professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, received a $44,887 grant from the Smithsonian Institution to support a project titled “Radial density profile and onset of clumping in the stellar wind of a O61a star.”

Chakrabarty receives NSF grant to study smoke from wildfires

Rajan Chakrabarty, assistant professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, received a $410,856 grant from the National Science Foundation for, as he describes it, “three weeks of intense wildfire-smoke science.” Chakrabarty and his research group are participating in Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ), a large-scale investigation into […]

Cross honored for multiple sclerosis research

Anne H. Cross, MD, the Manny and Rosalyn Rosenthal and Dr. John L. Trotter MS Center Chair in Neuroimmunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the American Academy of Neurology. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to research in the understanding, treatment or prevention of multiple sclerosis.