Virtually every cell in the human body has an internal clock. These clocks take their cues from a central clock in the brain. In a normal, biological process called synchrony, the central clock coordinates daily rhythms around the body, so that every cell and tissue recognizes the same external time of day. Knowing local time […]
Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia are devastating disorders that emerge following the buildup of misfolded proteins in the brain. The newest generation of Alzheimer’s therapeutics targets accumulations of the protein amyloid beta with engineered antibodies, but the results have been underwhelming, with some adverse effects, not to mention using engineered antibodies can be prohibitively expensive. […]
Deanna Barch, PhD, a leading scholar in the field of cognitive and language deficits in disorders like schizophrenia, recently won two honors from national organizations. Barch is vice dean of research and a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences and the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, […]
WashU researchers are studying how the brain perceives, processes, and remembers everyday events.
Washington University in St. Louis seniors Elijah Darden and Isaac Seiler were both Rhodes Scholars finalists, one of the world’s highest academic honors. Darden, 22, is majoring in psychological and brain sciences and minoring in music, both in Arts & Sciences. He is a member of the Rodriguez Scholars program and president of WashU’s Emergency […]
A new study from the Hengen Lab published in Neuron takes a closer look how diseases like Alzheimer’s affect cell teamwork. To function properly, our brains need to maintain balance—a homeostatic set-point called criticality. “It’s as excitable as the system can be without losing control,” Keith Hengen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, explained. “At criticality, patterns of all […]
The Washington University in St. Louis community came together Nov. 9 at its annual Founders Day celebration to honor the outstanding achievements of some of the university’s most distinguished faculty, alumni and friends. The event was held at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel. Four faculty were among those recognized at the event, which was […]
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting Sept. 27, numerous faculty members were granted tenure, effective that day. Granting of tenure Kirsten Gilbert Alberts, PhD as an associate professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine; Robert A. Campbell, PhD as an associate professor of emergency medicine at WashU Medicine; Carmen M. Halabi, MD, PhD as […]
Faculty and university leadership selected Wesley Wagner, a graduate student in chemistry, as the winner of the 2024 Dean’s Award for Graduate Research Excellence. Six additional graduate students were also recognized.
When trying to understand how genetic influences factor into youth behavior, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have taken the “big trawl” approach, casting their net wide to pull in all the measured traits, behaviors and environments that make up who we are and examine associations with the genetic building blocks comprising risk for […]
Mindfulness-based approaches are mental health practices intended to ground people, help them focus attention, and teach them how to think through overwhelming emotions and problems, but that is just the start. The more people are taught ways to better handle stress, the better protected they may be from the physiological problems that stress produces, including […]
The Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at WashU has received an 18-month $136,000 grant from the RRF Foundation for Aging to study how older adults understand and experience ageism. Ageism is “prevalent, invisible and hurts older people and communities,” said Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, the Bettie Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy at the Brown […]
For the first time, annual research funding to Washington University in St. Louis has surpassed $1 billion. External funding supports WashU investigators tackling big challenges from Alzheimer’s disease to air pollution to childhood depression. Research funding also ripples across the economy, sparking job growth, new construction and local spending, said Chancellor Andrew D. Martin. “There […]
The new project stemmed from an unexpected discovery made when researchers trained an artificial neural network to study car dashcam footage.
St. Louis is vying for a $160 million grant that leaders and academics hope will turbocharge the neuroscience sector and rectify entrenched health disparities throughout the region. The effort is part of an application to be one of the next National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines. The idea is to help assets in higher education, nonprofits, […]
When you think of mindfulness, a personal practice of deep breathing, meditation or pausing for reflection might come to mind. Expanding its use beyond the individual benefit to the collective to achieve systemic change and organizational equity is the focus of a prestigious National Science Foundation grant recently awarded to Washington University in St. Louis. […]
The Research Development Office in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research is pleased to announce the final awardees from FY 2024 of the Here and Next Seed Grant Program. The program’s broad goal is to encourage novel, innovative interdisciplinary research excellence amongst Washington University researchers on both the Med School and Danforth Campuses. […]
As a new academic year begins, Washington University in St. Louis is unveiling a new visual identity and an enhanced effort to communicate its important contributions in the areas of education, research and patient care to key internal and external audiences. The update includes a new university logo and website and the official adoption of […]
A new cross-disciplinary study by Washington University in St. Louis researchers has uncovered an unexpected psychological phenomenon at the intersection of human behavior and artificial intelligence (AI): When told they were training AI to play a bargaining game, participants actively adjusted their own behavior to appear more fair and just, an impulse with potentially important […]
In humans and other animals, signals from a central circadian clock in the brain generate the seasonal and daily rhythms of life. They help the body to prepare for expected changes in the environment and also optimize when to sleep, eat and do other daily activities. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are working […]
Dwight A. McBride, PhD, the Gerald Early Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences and a senior advisor to the chancellor, is now executive director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE2), Washington University in St. Louis announced. His appointment took effect July 1. McBride, a nationally recognized scholar of race and literary […]
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Dartmouth College have discovered a connection between toddler hair cortisol levels — a long-term stress biomarker — and maternal prenatal depression. The findings, published in the American Journal of Human Biology, suggest that a child’s long-term stress physiology — or how the body responds to stress — may […]
Scientists are trying to understand how cannabis may affect long-term neurodevelopment when people were exposed to it in the womb. Previous work by Washington University in St. Louis researchers Sarah Paul and David Baranger in the Behavioral Research and Imaging Neurogenetics (BRAIN) lab led by Ryan Bogdan, PhD, found associations between prenatal cannabis exposure and potential mental health conditions in childhood […]
On the first day of class, Elinor Harrison, AB ’01, PhD ’18, asks her students to think about the primary purpose of the brain. “Cognition? Perception? Motor learning? Emotion? “Of course, that’s a trick question,” she says. “There’s no real way to separate these phenomena. They are all integral to the human experience.” Harrison is […]
Stan Braude, a professor of practice in biology and in environmental studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died at home Saturday, June 1, 2024, after a short illness. He was 62. Braude earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in biology at the University of Michigan, spending summers at the […]
Bettina Drake, PhD, professor of surgery in public health sciences at the School of Medicine, will be the inaugural faculty director of the St. Louis Confluence Collaborative for Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Practice, Washington University in St. Louis Provost Beverly Wendland announced May 31. The new role takes effect July 1. The collaborative, identified as […]
What happens when biological and artificial intelligence meet? Since its launch in 2022 as a multiyear project funded by the Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures, Toward a Synergy Between Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience has explored the intersections between the human brain and the novel AI networks that seek to emulate its functions. On May 15, that work culminated in […]
Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain cancer that has no cure. A recent chart study of patients with glioblastoma found that taking chemotherapy in the morning was associated with a three- to six-month increase in median survival. Now a study from Washington University in St. Louis reports that glioblastoma cells have built-in circadian rhythms that create better […]
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs is pleased to announce the awardees of the 2024 W. M. Keck Postdoctoral Fellowship: The W. M. Keck Postdoctoral Fellowship provides one year of funding to Washington University postdocs within their first two years of postdoctoral training in biomedical sciences and molecular medicine. The Fellowship recognizes outstanding scientists in the early […]
Each year, the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders recognizes trainees (students and postdocs) who present their work at the Hope Center Retreat. Hope Center award winners are selected based on scientific merit, presentation, and projects that address the Hope Center mission. Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Hope Center Awards! Winner from the talks: Vishnu Muraleedharan Saraswathy, […]
On behalf of the Jakschik Decision Committee and the Roy and Diana Vagelos Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, we are excited to announce that the 2024 Jakschik Award has been given to two students within DBBS this year! Congratulations to Lily Spatz & Ciyang Wang! The Barbara Jakschik Award was established in honor of Dr. […]
The Washington University R25-supported Neuroprep Program, a two-year Post-Bacc program readying recent college grads for graduate training in Neuroscience, will enter its second year this summer. The inaugural five students are now pursuing their individual research projects in different laboratories across the university. Incoming trainees will arrive in August, 2024. Current trainees (2023-2025) Incoming trainees (2024-2026)
Each year, the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis awards a prize to a graduating senior in memory of Marion Smith Spector, a 1938 graduate who studied zoology under the late Viktor Hamburger. The Spector Prize, first awarded in 1974, recognizes academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in […]
Four Washington University in St. Louis faculty are among 250 newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies. They are John P. Atkinson, MD, Pauline Kim, Adia Harvey Wingfield, PhD and Jeffrey Zacks, PhD. Founded in 1780, the academy honors exceptional scholars, leaders, artists and innovators and engages them […]
Researchers in The Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences are using cutting-edge techniques to help us weather the challenges of everyday life. Human behaviors and emotions can be as complex as any force of nature. From our biggest life choices to the subtle thoughts we barely notice, our minds are always at work. Inspired by […]
Seanna Leath, PhD, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected to receive the Society for Research on Adolescence’s Early Career Award. The award is given for outstanding contributions to the study of adolescent development. Leath studies identity development and well-being processes among […]
Nine faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis are among the 502 new fellows selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the most distinct honors in the scientific community. The 2023 class includes: Deanna Barch, Laura Bierut, Kendall Blumer, Andreas Burkhalter, Jennifer Heemstra, Kathleen McDermott, Jeffrey Miner, Camillo Padoa-Schioppa and David Perlmutter. It is also the 150th year […]
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting March 1, numerous faculty members were appointed with tenure, promoted with tenure or granted tenure. Their new roles and titles take effect July 1, unless otherwise indicated. Appointment with tenure Steven Miles as a professor of history in Arts & Sciences. Granting of tenure Paul […]
Osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease, limits the mobility of 32 million people nationwide, many to the point of significant disability. Affected individuals face limited options, as there are no drugs to cure or substantially lessen the disease, and invasive joint replacement is often the only option when it reaches its later stages. With the goal […]
Higher levels of well-being have been robustly associated with a lower risk for future dementia, researchers have found. Happiness is potentially protective against cognitive decline. Emily Willroth, PhD, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis further elaborates in chapter four of this year’s World Happiness […]
There are basic resources every baby needs for the best possible chance to develop as a healthy well-functioning human. Start with good nutrition, breast milk if possible. That baby is going to need stimulation, lots of looking, reciprocal interactions, exposure to language and interesting stimuli. If at all possible, you should live in a place […]
Major life changes can affect personality, and the COVID-19 pandemic was the rare big life event that all humans shared together. “This was a really unique opportunity to see how a life event that’s happening at the global stage to the entire population at the same time is changing personality,” said Emily Willroth, PhD, an […]
More than 60 high school students representing 32 schools conducted experiments, explored careers in neuroscience and tested their knowledge of the human brain and the nervous system at the 14th annual St. Louis Area Brain Bee March 2 at Washington University in St. Louis. “Neuroscience isn’t part of the standard high school curriculum, but every year we […]
In an age of GoFundMe campaigns, it’s easier than ever to help family, friends, and even strangers in times of need. It’s also easy to look the other way. “Most people see themselves as cooperative and generous, but there’s a cost to helping people who can’t reciprocate,” said Pascal Boyer, PhD, the Henry Luce Professor of […]
Preschoolers with clinical depression are more likely than their peers to have attempted suicide or to have had thoughts of killing themselves by age 12, according to a new study from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. The findings, published recently in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, suggest […]
Two Washington University in St. Louis faculty members have been awarded prestigious early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Zachariah Reagh, PhD, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, and Gaia Tavoni, PhD, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the School of Medicine, were among 126 scientists selected for […]
Emily Willroth, PhD, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has received the SAGE Early Career Trajectory Award from the Society for Social and Personality Psychology. The award recognizes outstanding achievements by early-career scholars in social and personality psychology, including contributions to teaching, research or service […]
Calvin Lai, PhD and Renee Thompson, PhD, both associate professors of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, were among the 2024 fellows named to the Association for Psychological Science (APS). Researchers qualify for fellow status for “exceptional contributions to the field through the development of research opportunities […]
Interview with Faculty Fellow Anya Plutynski, PhD
Two Washington University in St. Louis faculty members have been named fellows of the Society of Experimental Psychologists (SEP). Julie Bugg, PhD and Leonard Green, PhD, both professors of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, were among the eight fellows named by the SEP this year. This brings the total number of Washington […]