University News

WUSTL to lead new international Alzheimer's disease research network:
The Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University School of Medicine will lead a six-year, $16 million international research collaboration dedicated to understanding inherited forms of Alzheimer's disease. The National Institute on Aging will fund the project.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to highlight mid-century modernism in 2008-2009:
Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in mid-century modernism, an influential design aesthetic that flourished between the mid-1930s and the mid-1960s. During the 2008-09 academic year the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will host two major loan exhibitions – Birth of the Cool and Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future – exploring both the breadth and the cultural impact of mid-century modernism through such mediums as painting, sculpture, architecture, interior design, film, music, and the graphic arts.

DBBS: 35 years -1,000 grads:
The Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences united two campuses and revolutionized biomedical training and research. Now it charts a bold new direction for the 21st century. The Washington University model, founded in 1973, was so successful that it became the international standard for teaching the biological and biomedical sciences.

Weekends slow weight loss:
Subjects on strict diet and exercise programs tend to lose weight more slowly than expected because of increased eating during the weekends, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine. Past research had confirmed that people tend to gain weight during the holidays, but this is the first study to demonstrate that increased caloric intake isn't just a problem during the holidays.

Keeping hands where you can see them alters perception:
A group of psychologists led by Richard A. Abrams, Ph.D., professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences, have shown that humans more thoroughly inspect objects when their hands are near the object, giving new insight into the wiring of the brain. These findings could lead to rethinking current rehabilitative therapy techniques and prosthetic design, and may lend scientific support for recently enacted California legislation barring the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.

An alternative to chemotherapy for pediatric brain tumors:
An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is a step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors similar to the tumor affecting Senator Ted Kennedy. Such tumors are often difficult to completely remove surgically; and chemotherapy, while effective at treating tumors, often harms healthy cells, leading to severe side effects, especially in young children. In an effort to solve this problem, the Wooley lab has developed polymeric nanoparticles that can entrap doxorubicin, a drug commonly used in chemotherapy, and slowly release the drug over an extended time period.