Category: Arts & Sciences

Social interactions tied to sense of purpose

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 […]

OHMB recognizes Barch with Glass Brain Award

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 […]

Early to serve as interim CRE2 director

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 […]

SSRI use during pregnancy not related to childhood depression

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 […]

Board grants faculty appointments, promotions, tenure

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 […]

Williamson to study families affected by Zika

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, […]

Chemistry recruits new faculty, ‘Rising Star’ department chair

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 […]

WashU weekly Neuroscience publications: May 9, 2022

“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 , […]

Synapse volunteers help children with cerebral palsy build strength, have fun

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 […]

Brains and brawn helped crows and ravens take over the world

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 […]

Researchers honored as outstanding mentors

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 […]

Barch recognized for achievement, excellence

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, […]

NIH funds Barch research on neurodevelopment

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 […]

Board grants faculty appointments, promotions, tenure

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 & […]

NSF awards grant to Van Engen

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 […]

Daylight saving time year-round would make our lives worse, Wash U expert says

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. […]

Ben-Shahar receives NSF grant

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.

Juvenile justice: ‘We are coming up short’

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 […]

APA selects Bogdan as fellow

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 […]

APS selects English as fellow

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 […]

St. Louis students compete at annual Brain Bee

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 […]

Craver wins National Science Foundation grant

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. […]

Brainy birds may fare better under climate change

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 […]

Herzog to test how cortical neurons, hormones regulate daily patterns of behavior

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 […]

Zacks’ talk ties movies to neuroscience

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 […]

AAAS names eight Washington University faculty as 2021 fellows

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 […]

Paola Cepeda named Director of Postdoctoral Affairs

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 […]

How do others help us regulate emotions?

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 […]

WashU weekly Neuroscience publications

“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 […]

Which mask is easier on the ears?

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 […]

It’s complicated: Social media and well-being during COVID-19

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 […]

Minton appointed vice chancellor for technology and chief information officer

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 […]

Persistent, distressing psychotic-like experiences associated with impairment in youth

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 […]

WashU weekly Neuroscience publications

“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 , […]

Prenatal, early-life influences on child brain development focus of new study

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 […]

WashU weekly Neuroscience publications

“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 […]

Irene Antony on her Society for Neuroscience Award, and the importance of undergraduate mentorship at WashU

Irene Antony, a neuroscience major in the School of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, won the Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) from the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). The TPDA is awarded from a common pool of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows who demonstrate scientific merit and excellence in research. Recipients […]

Lodge to depart Washington University

Jennifer K. Lodge, PhD, vice chancellor for research at Washington University in St. Louis and the David T. Blasingame Professor, will leave the university at the end of the year. Lodge will be joining Duke University as vice president for research and innovation in January. “Dr. Lodge has served Washington University during extraordinary times, providing […]

WashU weekly Neuroscience publications

“Semaphorin-Plexin Signaling: From Axonal Guidance to a New X-Linked Intellectual Disability Syndrome” (2022) Pediatric Neurology Semaphorin-Plexin Signaling: From Axonal Guidance to a New X-Linked Intellectual Disability Syndrome(2022) Pediatric Neurology, 126, pp. 65-73.  Steele, J.L.a , Morrow, M.M.b , Sarnat, H.B.c , Alkhunaizi, E.d , Brandt, T.b , Chitayat, D.A.d , DeFilippo, C.P.e , Douglas, G.V.b , Dubbs, H.A.f , Elloumi, H.Z.b , Glassford, M.R.g , Hannibal, M.C.g , Héron, B.h , Kim, […]

WashU weekly Neuroscience publications

“Contribution of animal models toward understanding resting state functional connectivity” (2021) NeuroImage Contribution of animal models toward understanding resting state functional connectivity(2021) NeuroImage, 245, art. no. 118630, .  Pais-Roldán, P.a , Mateo, C.b , Pan, W.-J.c , Acland, B.d , Kleinfeld, D.b e , Snyder, L.H.d , Yu, X.f , Keilholz, S.c a Medical Imaging Physics, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine 4, Forschungszentrum Jülich52425, Germanyb Department of Physics, University of […]

WashU weekly Neuroscience publications

“The relationship between diffusion heterogeneity and microstructural changes in high-grade gliomas using Monte Carlo simulations” (2022) Magnetic Resonance Imaging The relationship between diffusion heterogeneity and microstructural changes in high-grade gliomas using Monte Carlo simulations(2022) Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 85, pp. 108-120.  Lee, C.-Y.a , Bennett, K.M.b , Debbins, J.P.c , Choi, I.-Y.a d e f , Lee, P.a e f a Hoglund Biomedical Imaging Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, […]

$15 million gift to strengthen life science education, research across university

A decades-long friendship and a shared passion for basic science has inspired a $15 million gift to the Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) at Washington University in St. Louis to fund undergraduate programs and graduate student fellowships in the life sciences. DBBS’ founding director, P. Roy Vagelos, MD, and his wife, Diana Vagelos, […]