The National Institutes of Health has awarded Daniel Moran, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering, more than $1 million over five years to create the Translational Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Training Program. This interdisciplinary program will train students to use engineering tools to develop technology that address neurological issues such as […]
The debate over abortion has only intensified in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped away constitutional protections for abortion, returning the issue to states. Since the ruling, 12 states have banned or severely restricted abortion care, and at least 10 other states have bans […]
While conducting fieldwork at a lab at Princeton University, Talia Dan-Cohen, associate professor of sociocultural anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, observed a common but perplexing problem. For her book A Simpler Life: Synthetic Biological Experiments, Dan-Cohen was tracking the work of practitioners in the developing field of synthetic biology, and she noticed two researchers discussing […]
Deanna Barch, PhD, chair and professor of psychological and brain sciences, has been named vice dean of research in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Her new role took effect July 1. A leading scholar in the field of cognitive and language deficits in disorders like schizophrenia, Barch recently co-chaired Arts & Sciences’ strategic planning steering […]
Having positive social interactions is associated with older adults’ sense of purposefulness, which can fluctuate from day to day, according to research from the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. And although these findings, published in the July 2022 issue of the American Journal of Geriatric […]
The Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) has awarded its Glass Brain Award to Deanna Barch, PhD, chair and professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences and the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry and professor of radiology at the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. OHBM is an international society […]
Gerald Early, PhD, the Merle King Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences, will serve as interim director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE2) at Washington University in St. Louis, effective July 1. The center provides programs and partnerships for Danforth and Medical campus faculty researching issues related to race […]
In one of the first studies to look at the association between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) medications and brain development in young children, research from the Behavioral Research and Imaging Neurogenetics (BRAIN)Lab at Washington University in St. Louis found no association between children’s exposure to the drugs in the womb and later childhood depression. The study […]
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting May 6, numerous faculty members were appointed or promoted with tenure or granted tenure, effective July 1 unless otherwise indicated. Appointment with tenure Andrew Clark as associate professor of electrical and systems engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering; Xianglin Li as associate professor of mechanical […]
K. Eliza Williamson, PhD, an anthropologist and a lecturer in Latin American studies and in Romance languages and literatures, both in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was awarded a postdoctoral fieldwork grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for longitudinal ethnographic research with families raising children diagnosed with congenital Zika syndrome in Bahia, […]
Chemist Jennifer Heemstra will join the Arts & Sciences faculty this July as the Charles Allen Thomas Professor of Chemistry. Currently a faculty member and director of faculty recruiting and development at Emory University, Heemstra is a highly regarded researcher whose work focuses on harnessing the molecular recognition and self-assembly properties of nucleic acids for applications in biosensing and […]
“Shared and unique brain network features predict cognitive, personality, and mental health scores in the ABCD study” (2022) Nature Communications Shared and unique brain network features predict cognitive, personality, and mental health scores in the ABCD study(2022) Nature Communications, 13 (1), art. no. 2217, . Chen, J.a b c d , Tam, A.a b c d , Kebets, V.a b c d , Orban, C.a b c d , Ooi, L.Q.R.a b c d e , Asplund, C.L.b c d f g h , Marek, S.i , Dosenbach, N.U.F.j k l m , […]
Volunteers from Synapse, Washington University’s student neuroscience club, help support adaptive sports programs for children with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders. (Video: James Byard/Washington University) Eleven-year-old Emma loves Mondays. That’s when she gets to dance, box and play games with other children who have cerebral palsy at Music & Movement, a weekly class offered […]
Crows and ravens are well known for their black color and the harsh “caw” sound they make. They are intelligent birds that use tools, solve complex abstract problems and speak a volume of words. But what is less well appreciated is how diverse they are. Their diversity is accompanied by their ability to live all […]
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at Washington University in St. Louis presented outstanding mentor awards to James Stroud, PhD, Alexxai Kravitz, PhD, and John Russell, PhD, at the 17th annual Postdoc Symposium on March 21 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Medical Campus. Stroud, a postdoctoral research associate in biology, received the Outstanding […]
The Society for Research in Psychopathology has awarded its Joseph Zubin Lifetime Achievement Award to Deanna Barch, PhD, chair and professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences as well as the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry and professor of radiology at the School of Medicine, all at Washington University in St. Louis. The award, […]
In order to understand healthy neurodevelopment — and the threats to that health — researchers need a more comprehensive understanding of how the brain grows throughout childhood and young adulthood. To that end, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $753,181 grant to Deanna Barch, PhD, chair and professor of psychological and brain […]
At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting March 4, numerous faculty members were appointed or promoted with tenure or granted tenure, effective July 1 unless otherwise indicated. Promotion with tenure Carlos A. Botero to associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences; Caitlyn M. Collins to associate professor of sociology in Arts & […]
Kristin Van Engen, PhD, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences and of linguistics, both in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a $433,242 National Science Foundation grant to support research into why some speakers are more difficult to understand than others and how listeners adjust to unfamiliar accents. Unlike […]
The U.S. Senate passed a bill last week that would make daylight saving time permanent. If it gains full congressional approval, the change would take place in fall 2023 and would keep evenings lighter year-round, eliminating the seasonal adjustments of springing forward and falling back to move in and out of standard time. Many rejoiced. […]
Yehuda Ben-Shahar, PhD, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, won a $190,388 supplemental award from the National Science Foundation for his project “Molecular mechanisms for signal-receptor functional coupling in phenomenal systems.” Originally published on The Source.
Does being sentenced to juvenile detention or community service truly serve as a means to rehabilitation? One mechanism to rehabilitate a young person deemed by the justice system to be on the path to a life of crime is to change behaviors associated with crime. A research team at Washington University in St. Louis tested […]
Ryan Bogdan, PhD, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected as a 2022 American Psychological Association (APA) Fellow. In his research, Bogdan investigates genomic and environmental factors associated with the risks of psychopathology, as well as their biological correlates. To be named […]
Tammy English, PhD, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected as a 2022 Association for Psychological Science (APS) Fellow. In her lab, English works to better understand how emotion regulation operates in daily life. Specifically, she works to understand how emotion and emotion regulation […]
About 50 high school students from across St. Louis region gathered virtually Feb. 26 to test their knowledge of the brain and to learn about neuroscience research and careers at the St. Louis Area Brain Bee, an annual event hosted by Washington University in St. Louis. “We were thrilled to have such a diverse, motivated group […]
Carl F. Craver, PhD, a professor of philosophy and of philosophy-neuroscience-psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won a grant of $282,603 from the National Science Foundation. The NSF grant will fund a new project titled “Time and Episodic Memory: Neuropsychology Meets Philosophy.” This will build on Craver’s previous investigations with R. […]
Many North American migratory birds are shrinking in size as temperatures have warmed over the past 40 years. But those with very big brains, relative to their body size, did not shrink as much as smaller-brained birds, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis. The study is the first to identify a […]
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. Research from Washington University in St. Louis will test how these daily patterns are set and maintained through the coordinated activity of certain neurons and hormones. The five-year $1.98 million project relies on new high-throughput machine learning techniques to determine the roles […]
Jeffrey Zacks, PhD, professor and associate chair of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will explain how and why television and movies can have such strong effects on our brains in a Mirowitz Center online program, co-sponsored with St. Louis NORC and the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival. The Zoom event, which […]
Eight faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis are among 564 new fellows selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. Arts & Sciences’ Leonard Green, PhD, Elizabeth S. Haswell, PhD, Sophia E. Hayes, PhD, Erik Herzog, PhD, Mark A. McDaniel, PhD, Jay W. Ponder, PhD and Crickette […]
Dear Colleagues, I am pleased to announce that, after a nationwide search, Paola Cepeda, PhD, has been named Director of Postdoctoral Affairs in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, effective January 4, 2022. Paola currently serves as the Program Manager for Graduate and Postdoctoral Professional Development at Stony Brook University. In the role […]
When COVID-19 hit, many people were suddenly cut off from their social support systems, the people with whom we often share our emotional lives. They who listen to our grievances, share in our happiness, or just sit there, being bored with us. Is that a problem? How much do we depend on others to help […]
“Levetiracetam Prophylaxis for Children Admitted With Traumatic Brain Injury” (2022) Pediatric Neurology Levetiracetam Prophylaxis for Children Admitted With Traumatic Brain Injury (2022) Pediatric Neurology, 126, pp. 114-119. Surtees, T.-L.a , Kumar, I.b , Garton, H.J.L.c , Rivas-Rodriguez, F.d , Parmar, H.d , McCaffery, H.b , Riebe-Rodgers, J.b , Shellhaas, R.A.b a Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United Statesb Departments […]
To assess how different styles of face masks affected speech intelligibility in normal hearing listeners, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis put some of the most popular mask designs to the test. Their research was published in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. The team, from the labs of Kristin Van Engen, PhD, assistant professor […]
When students were told to stay home after COVID-19 began to spread stateside, it’s not surprising that their social media use increased — there wasn’t much else to do. But was it all doom scrolling and catastrophizing or was social media living up to its promise to keep people connected and strengthen our ties to […]
Jessie Minton, vice provost and chief information officer at the University of Oregon, has been appointed vice chancellor for technology and chief information officer at Washington University in St. Louis, effective April 15, according to Shantay Bolton, executive vice chancellor and chief administrative officer. Minton will succeed Stephanie L. Reel, who has served as interim chief […]
In a new study from the lab of Deanna Barch, PhD, professor and chair of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, and the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry and of radiology at the School of Medicine, all at Washington University in St. Louis, researchers examined the association between distressing and persistent psychotic-like experiences […]
“Multi-scale semi-supervised clustering of brain images: Deriving disease subtypes” (2022) Medical Image Analysis Multi-scale semi-supervised clustering of brain images: Deriving disease subtypes(2022) Medical Image Analysis, 75, art. no. 102304, . Wen, J.a , Varol, E.b , Sotiras, A.c , Yang, Z.a , Chand, G.B.d , Erus, G.a , Shou, H.a e , Abdulkadir, A.a , Hwang, G.a , Dwyer, D.B.f , Pigoni, A.g , Dazzan, P.h , Kahn, R.S.i , Schnack, H.G.j , Zanetti, M.V.k , […]
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are joining scientists at 24 other sites around the country to conduct a comprehensive study aimed at understanding how prenatal factors and early life experiences influence brain development and behavior in infants and young children. With more than $37 million in funding from several institutes […]
“Personalized networks of social anxiety disorder and depression and implications for treatment” (2022) Journal of Affective Disorders Personalized networks of social anxiety disorder and depression and implications for treatment(2022) Journal of Affective Disorders, 298, pp. 262-276. Piccirillo, M.L., Rodebaugh, T.L. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States AbstractIntroduction: Social […]