(Image: Shutterstock)
February 23, 2021 SHARE
The next time your stomach turns at the smell of spoiled food or the sight of feces, pay attention. New research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Feb. 15, suggests that disgust could be the body’s way of helping people avoid infection giving new meaning to the phrase “trust your gut.”
The study is the first in its field to directly test whether people who experience a greater pathogen disgust sensitivity that is, people who are more sensitive to feeling disgust will become exposed to fewer pathogens in their local environments, and thus suffer fewer infections, according to Theresa E. Gildner, assistant professor of biological anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and study co-author.
Research from Washington University in St. Louis helps flesh out the origin story for the so-called “lost crops” of the Midwest and Northeast. These plants that may have fed as many Indigenous people as maize, but until the 1930s had been lost to history. Natalie Mueller, assistant professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, shares evidence that bison were “co-creators” along with Indigenous peoples of landscapes of disturbance that gave rise to greater diversity and more agricultural opportunities.
November 23, 2020
Research team awarded $1.7M to redesign the genome of a fast-growing cyanobacterium
(Image: Shutterstock)
February 15, 2021 SHARE
Himadri Pakrasi, the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor in biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, leads a team awarded $1.7 million from the National Science Foundation to streamline the genome of a cyanobacterium with the goal of developing a green cellular factory for sustainable production of food, feed and fuels.
Pakrasi
“In this project, we are aiming to redesign the genome of a photosynthetic organism without sacrificing its production capacity. This is a tall task, never attempted before,” Pakrasi said.
Himadri Pakrasi, the George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor in biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, leads a.
February 12, 2021 SHARE
Holocaust studies scholar Erin McGlothlin has been named vice dean of undergraduate affairs in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, effective June 1, announced Feng Sheng Hu, the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor and dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences.
McGlothlin
McGlothlin is professor of German and chair of the university’s Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and professor of Jewish studies in the Department of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (JIMES).
She will succeed Jennifer R. Smith, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, who has been named to the new position of vice provost for educational initiatives in the Office of the Provost.