In the News

A group led by BioSTL and Washington University recently applied for $160 million in grant funding to boost the region’s neuroscience and neurotech ecosystems.

There are infinite ways to map a place, and capturing the many dimensions of Ferguson is what Patty Heyda set out to do in her new book, “Radical Atlas of Ferguson, USA.” With more than 100 maps that explore the distribution of libraries, fast-food franchises, airport runways and Fortune 500 companies in north St. Louis County, Heyda’s survey-like book illustrates how municipal planning has led to poverty and racial inequality.

If you want to learn about why life can be so difficult in north St. Louis County, Patty Heyda has mapped it all out in clear and convincing detail. Ten years after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson brought stark, unwanted attention to the North County suburb, “Radical Atlas of Ferguson, USA” provides a close, critical look into disparities in the region, how they compare with similar conditions in other parts of the county and what can be done to correct them.

In the world of Alzheimer’s disease research, where the setbacks have been many, the advent of blood tests has been hailed as a welcome innovation. And a St. Louis company is on the cutting edge of the field, pioneering new tests in hopes of advancing drug research and one day giving patients earlier indicators of the disease. The company has been growing its workforce and competing in the crowded field of medical firms developing faster methods of diagnosing Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.

Food Outreach has partnered with Dan Ferris, an assistant professor of practice at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, to conduct a study to evaluate the effect of Food Outreach’s type II diabetes pilot program. Ferris’s study, titled “From Translation to Transformation: Medically Tailored Meals and Food-is-Medicine Approaches for Reducing Health Disparities in Diabetes Management,” aims to evaluate how a comprehensive Medically Tailored Meals program in St. Louis can improve outcomes for adults with type 2 diabetes.

Through more than 100 maps analyzing racial, socioeconomic, tax incentive, and urban planning, the new book from WashU professor Patty Heyda reveals how the physical environment impacts Americans’ lives.

The United States and the world have learned a lot about the lunar surface since the crew of Apollo 11 landed back on Earth 55 years ago Wednesday. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have been studying the Moon ever since the time of the Apollo missions. Researchers at Washington University are currently preparing for NASA’s planned Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the lunar surface. The mission seeks to land on a part of the Moon that has not been explored before, specifically the south pole.

After being told she should go gluten-free in 2009, Britt Royal, owner of Britt’s Bakehouse, kept baking – a favorite hobby of hers – despite her diagnosis. The doors opened at her gluten-free bakery in Kirkwood, Missouri, in November 2019, and it’s been a community favorite ever since. Although she wasn’t born here, it made sense for Royal to open her bakery in St. Louis: Her mom’s side of the family is from the area, and Royal herself attended college at Washington University in St. Louis.

The bioscience community in St. Louis is collaborating on what it hopes will be the financial footing to make our region the neuroscience hub of the world. BioSTL, Washington University, along with others are working together to help secure a $160 million grant that would continue growing the neuroscience scene in St. Louis.

This year, St. Louis celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Eads Bridge, which was an incredible feat of engineering when it opened in 1874. At my inauguration as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis five years ago, I drew on the Eads Bridge as an example of what St. Louis and WashU can achieve when we unite in common cause.