ABC News / Health
Elizabeth Edwards: Doctors say cancer progressed rapidly and decision to end treatment difficult
12/7/2010
Elizabeth Edwards’ breast cancer has spread to her liver, and has now reached the point where medical treatment can no longer do much for her. “The majority of breast cancer patients die from ER-positive cancer that’s become more resistant to anti-hormone drugs than any type of cancer,” said Dr. Matthew Ellis, professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. “The cancer relapses despite the use of these drugs.” Link to Article
The Wall Street Journal
Decoding a new disease culprit
12/07/2010
Researchers are studying oxysterols, substances created when the body breaks down cholesterol. They hope to develop an “oxysterol profile” that would help identify people at higher risk for certain diseases. Last month, scientists took an important step toward this goal when researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found a unique oxysterol profile for a rare inheritable disease called Niemann-Pick Type C, a fatal cholesterol metabolism disorder. Link to Article
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
NanoString to use BioClassifier technology to develop breast cancer MDx
12/07/2010
BioClassifier has granted NanoString Technologies an exclusive worldwide license to develop in vitro diagnostic and research products for breast cancer intrinsic subtyping based on the Bioclassifier PAM50gene signature. “Upon validation and regulatory approval, we believe this gene-expression panel will become part of the standard of care for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, and will be useful in the evaluation of all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients,” said Bioclassifier co-founder Matthew Ellis, M.D., who directs the Breast Cancer Program at the Washington University School of Medicine. Link to Article
Transplant News
HRSA award $2.2 million in grants to identify how to increase organ donation
11/01/2010
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced it has awarded more than $2.2 million in grants to six organizations/institutions to help identify effective strategies for increasing organ donation in the US. Washington University in St. Louis will receive $400,010 for social and behavioral Interventions to increase solid organ donation. More than 109,000 Americans are on waiting lists to receive organs for transplantation, and the number keeps growing. Read Full Text
KLAS-TV
8 News Now at 4PM
Doctors at Washington University School of Medicine say a unique treatment called plaque radiotherapy is showing promise for stopping eye tumors in kids with retinal blastoma. The treatment uses a thin gold disc that looks like a bottle cap with radioactive seeds on one side; its temporarily sewn onto the eye, with the seeds aimed at the tumor. William Harbour, MD, professor of ophthalmology and director of the ocular oncology service Washington University in St. Louis, says the disc delivers a lethal dose of radiation to the tumor without exposing the other healthy structures of the eye to large doses of radiation.” Link to Broadcast Related news release http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/20490.aspx
Resources | BNET
Achieve killer results without killing yourself
12/06/2010
“The lone genius is a myth; instead it’s group genius that generates breakthrough innovation,” argues Keith Sawyer, a creativity guru at Washington University in St. Louis. Sawyer has literally written the book on where change and progress come from. In Group Genius, he emphasizes the relationship between innovation and improvisation and explains how few leaders are prepared to recognize the messy and hard-to-manage truth about the real logic of business success. Link to Article
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Saturday Chat: Science, religion not warring beliefs
12/06/2010
There are people who believe in God but don’t belong to a particular church, and there are people who are church members who do not necessarily believe in a transcendent or supernatural being. Ursula Goodenough, a cell biologist at Washington University in St. Louis, lectures on the sacred depths of nature. The central claim of the religious naturalist, whether theistic or nontheistic, is that the natural world represents a wondrous object for mindful reverence. Link to Article
KRCG-TV
KRCG Evening News
One in 20 people in the U.S. will get a brain aneurysm, and if these swollen blood vessels burst, there’s a 50 percent chance you won’t make it. “When an aneurysm is ruptured, there’s a high likelihood that it ruptures again, and if it does rupture again, there’s a very high likelihood that that rupture is worst than the first and often fatal,” says WUSTL Interventional neuro-radiologist Colin Derdeyn. Now, doctors can repair these aneurysms with a procedure so minimally invasive, it doesn’t require a scalpel. Link to Broadcast
STLtoday.com
Graphic celebration
12/07/2010
Drawing on the strength of members’ involvement since 1886, the nonprofit St. Louis Artists’ Guild is sculpting plans for an even more colorful future. The guild is planning a kickoff party for its 125th anniversary at 6 p.m. Dec. 15 at its headquarters in Clayton’s Oak Knoll Park. The kickoff party is the first in a series of anniversary activities the guild will hold throughout 2011.The organization was formed by artists, Washington University art professors and art enthusiasts. Link to Article
STLtoday.com
Trailnet announces changes to board of directors
12/07/2010
Trailnet, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting active living, has announced changes to its board of directors. Susan Plassmeyer, assistant vice chancellor for administration and development services at Washington University, is joining the Trailnet finance and asset committee. Link to Article
STLtoday.com
Jones to receive Marshall Scholarship
12/07/2010
Matthew Jones, a recent graduate of the University of Chicago who has worked at the Genome Center at Washington University in St. Louis, is among the 31 winners of the Marshall Scholarship, which selects graduate students from across the United States to study in the United Kingdom. Over the past two years, Jones has researched genetic pathways in leukemia and lymphoma. Link to Article
STLtoday.com
Head of China’s largest brewery visiting
12/06/2010
The president of Tsingtao Brewery, China’s largest beer-maker, will drop by Schlafly’s Bottleworks brewery in Maplewood on Tuesday. In town to pick up an MBA degree from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, Sun and his MBA classmates will tour Schlafly at 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to the university. A-B used to own a 27 percent stake in Tsingtao. But after InBev bought A-B, the combined company sold the last of its stake last year. Link to Article
News in higher education
International Herald Tribune / New York Times
Doctorate degrees in U.S. increase to record level
12/5/2010
Research doctorate degrees were awarded to 49,562 students by American academic institutions in the 2008-9 academic year, the highest number ever reported, according to the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates. The growth was due largely to increases in the number of degrees awarded in the fields of science and engineering. Link to Article
Student Free Press
Tea Party student groups cropping up on campus, face challenges
12/6/2010
Student-run, grassroots Tea Party groups are springing up on campuses around the country — and now they may be banding together. The recently launched TeaPartyStudents.org has made the first attempt at bringing together individual Tea Party groups into one network. The on-campus groups were started independently of each other, all by students who felt that their views were unrepresented by the curriculum and by the clubs already on campus. Some have met with “scary backlash” from campus groups like Jewish Students for Peace and the Muslim Students Association. Link to Article
Bloomberg News
Obama says U.S. faces ‘Sputnik Moment’ in global race
12/6/2010
President Barack Obama said the U.S. is facing a “Sputnik moment” in the race to educate and train a workforce that can compete in the global economy and to put the nation’s finances in order. He said advancing and spreading technology for clean energy, high-speed rail and broadband Internet service are Internet the “seeds of economic growth” for the 21st century. Link to Article
Related Bloomberg article / U.S. Teens Lag as China Soars on International Test
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