CBS News
Alzheimer’s brain tangles offer clue to worsening
If scientists could figure out how to lower tau levels, it might slow dementia, says senior researcher Alison Goate of Washington University in St. Louis. The only available medications temporarily ease symptoms but don’t slow the disease. Goate’s work is a first step at identifying genetic markers to help predict how long someone may function independently and when they might require a nursing home.
See also USA TODAY, Yahoo News, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post
USATODAY.com
The Princeton Review & Entrepreneur magazine name the top 50 schools for entrepreneurship; WUSTL is in top ten
09/20/2010
The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine today release their eighth rankings of 25 top graduate and undergrad university programs for budding entrepreneurs, whose bright ideas can turn into successful businesses.WUSTL’s undergrad program ranked No. 9 and the graduate program ranked No. 10. Link to Article See also Forbes, Yahoo!Finance, numerous city business journals.
Popular Science
The Human Connectome Project Is a first-of-its-kind map of the brain’s circuitry
09/16/2010
Working with $30 million and just half a decade, the Human Connectome Project aims to create a first-of-its-kind map of the brain’s complex circuitry, detailing every connection linking thousands of different regions of the brain. The team consists of 33 researchers at nine different institutions, including Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Minnesota, the lead universities in the effort and the sites where much of the brain-scanning will take place. Link to Article
esciencenews.com
War on cancer produces collateral damage to the heart
09/21/2010
There is a growing awareness of the potentially negative effects of cancer treatment on the heart and the management of cardiac disease during and after cancer therapy. In the September/ October issue of Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases an international group of experts takes an in-depth look at the ways in which cancer treatment profoundly impacts patients’ cardiovascular function and can become a major detriment to overall survival. Guest Editors of this issue, Douglas L. Mann, MD, and Ronald J. Krone, MD, both of the Division of Cardiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, put the situation into perspective. Link to article
stlouismag.com
High tech treatment
09/21/2010
When Dr. Michael Welch, professor of radiology, was recruited to Washington University School of Medicine over 40 years ago, he worked with the first cyclotron installed for medical use in a medical school in United States, using radioisotopes for positron emission tomography (used to detect breast cancer and other tumors today). Now Welch is working on research, funded largely by the National Institute of Health, that will again change how we see cancer – but this time, the research focuses on treatment rather than detection. Link to Article
News in higher education
R&D
Biden, university leaders discuss ARRA impact on research
The presidents of six leading research universities and two higher-education associations joined Vice President Joe Biden and White House science advisor Dr. John Holdren this morning to discuss the scientific research and related activities that have been made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The Guardian
University world rankings are pointless, UCL president says
Malcolm Grant, president and provost of University College London writes an op-ed calling world rankings of universities ‘worthless’ because they cannot possible capture their diversity.
The New York Times
Elite for-profit schools chase a growing market
With the population of wealthy families with children in New York City likely to grow, companies that operate schools hope they can cash in.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Inside Higher Ed
University Business
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