Where We Come From

Ever wonder where we really come from? Washington University graduate student Cole D. Pruitt explains the connection between the stuff we’re made of, burping stars and nuclear pasta.

Schaal named to agricultural research committee

Barbara A. Schaal, PhD, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, is one of eight distinguished scientists named to the newly formed Scientific Advisory Committee for the Supporters of Agricultural Research (SoAR) Foundation.
‘If this works, structural biology will never be the same’

‘If this works, structural biology will never be the same’

Washington University’s Alexander Barnes, a chemist, physicist, electrical engineer and molecular biologist rolled into one, just received a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer that can determine the structure of molecules very quickly and at room temperature. His first target is a drug called bryostatin that may flush out HIV hidden in the chromosomes of our own cells.

Bose named Packard Fellow

Arpita Bose, PhD, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named a Packard Fellow, a prestigious distinction awarded to only 18 top young researchers nationwide this year. Bose plans to use the grant to work with unusual microbes that can take electrons directly from an outside source to draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide or make sustainable biofuels.

Student Flachs awarded Eric Wolf Prize

Andrew Flachs, a sociocultural anthropology graduate student in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded the Political Ecology Society Eric Wolf Prize for the best article-length paper based in substantive field research that makes an innovative contribution to political ecology.
Washington People: Mike Dyer

Washington People: Mike Dyer

Mike Dyer, supervisor of the greenhouse on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, has the job many of us probably wish we had —  but only because we think he spends the day pottering around watering plants. Instead, his job requires everything from the mechanical and engineering skills needed to suppress the greenhouse’s voracious appetite for energy; extensive knowledge of insects; and the ability to grow any plant he is handed under the conditions specified. It’s not exactly relaxing, but he enjoys it that way.
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