Washington University in St. Louis News & Information > News Topics > Science & Technology >
Chemistry
Chemistry is a multifaceted science that extends into biology, medicine, physics, mathematics, business and commerce. Researchers at Washington University explore the structure and constitution of the microworlds of atoms and molecules, the chemical and physical transformations that occur, and the principles that govern these changes.
Chemists delve into the core areas of chemistry: organic, physical, inorganic, nuclear and theoretical. Emerging interdisciplinary fields are organometallic, bioorganic, biophysical, macromolecular, polymer, environmental and materials chemistry. The department has close research ties with physics, earth and planetary sciences, biology, chemical engineering and mechanical enginering, as well as with departments at the School of Medicine.
| Faculty Experts: |
Showing Chemistry Experts 1 through 5 of 11.
- Show More |
|
Richard Axelbaum
Professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering
Axelbaum is the Director of the Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization. He also heads the Laboratory for Advanced Combustion and Energy Research and has directed the Engineering section of the NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium at Washington University in St. Louis since 1997. He served as the associate ...
Expertise: Clean coal, nanoparticles, nanotechnology, materials, synthesis, flames
Direct contact: (314) 935-7560
/
rla@wustl.edu
|
Robert Criss
Professor of Earth & Planetary Science
 |
| Criss |
Criss specializes in hydrogeology, the geology of water and systems of water. Much of his work has an environmental slant. He investigates the transport of aqueous fluids in environments such as rivers, cool potable groundwater systems essential to civilization, and deeper, hotter hydrothermal systems. ...
Expertise: Geology, hydrogeology, floods, river systems, dams
Direct contact: (314) 935-7441
/
criss@wustl.edu
|
Jonathan Chase
Associate Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences and director of Tyson Research Center
 |
| Chase |
Jonathan M. Chase, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences and director of the university's Tyson Research Center, focuses his research on the rules (or lack thereof) underlying the diversity, distribution, and abundance of animal and plant species from the population/community/ecosystem ...
Expertise: biology, ecology, ecosystem, natural history, evolution, biodiversity, food webs, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-4105
/
jchase@wustl.edu
|
Ralph Quatrano
Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., is the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences and chair of the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis. He is internationally known for his plant science work on patterns of embryo formation, and how the patterns lead cells to acquire traits or ...
Expertise: Plants, plant biology, botany, moss, genome, algae, genes, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-6850
/
rsq@wustl.edu
|
Michael Welch
Professor of radiology
Welch, an expert in synthetic chemistry, has been a leader for more than 30 years in the development of synthetic imaging agents that have allowed doctors to use positron emission tomography (PET) to diagnose an increasingly wide variety of disorders. He is also head of the Radiochemistry Institute ...
Expertise: PET, nuclear medicine, synthetic chemistry, oncology, imaging agents, radioisotopes, radionuclides
Media assistance: (314) 286-0122 / purdym@wustl.edu
|
Showing Chemistry Experts 1 through 5 of 11.
- Show More |
|
| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing Chemistry Stories 1 through 3 of 109.
- Show More |
|
Going platinum
New catalyst could boost cleaner fuel use
May 14,
2009 --
Material scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique for a bimetallic fuel cell catalyst that is efficient, robust and two-to-five times more effective than commercial catalysts. The novel technique eventually will enable a cost effective fuel cell technology, which has been waiting in the wings for decades and should give a boost for cleaner use of fuels worldwide.
|
Birds of a feather
Study finds particles, molecules prefer not to mix
May 4,
2009 --
In the world of small things, shape, order and orientation are surprisingly important, according to findings from a new study by chemists at Washington University in St. Louis. Lev Gelb, WUSTL associate professor of chemistry, his graduate student Brian Barnes, and postdoctoral researcher Daniel Siderius, used computer simulations to study a very simple model of molecules on surfaces, which looks a lot like the computer game "Tetris." They have found that the shapes in this model (and in the game) do a number of surprising things.
|
Novel energy
DOE makes largest research award in Danforth Campus history
April 28,
2009 -- Washington University and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center have received two awards totaling $35 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to do research on novel energy initiatives. At $20 million, the Washington University research award is the largest ever received on the Danforth Campus. The $15 million for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is the largest the organization has ever received.
|
Showing Chemistry Stories 1 through 3 of 109.
- Show More |
|
Precise Measurement of Phenomenon Advances Solar Cell Understanding
ScienceDaily.com
and 3 others
Nov. 19,
2008 -- Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shed light on a basic process that could improve future solar cells.
|
Finding Industry Funding
Science Magazine
March 14,
2008 -- WUSTL's Karen Wooley, professor of chemistry, comments on the difficulties and approaches academic researchers use to garner industry funding.
|
Eat less for a youthful heart
Hindustan Times (India)
and 5 others
Jan. 11,
2008 -- WUSTL medical school scientists examined a group of healthy, overweight but not obese, middle-aged men and women and found that a yearlong regimen of either calorie restriction or exercise increase had positive effects on their heart function. WUSTL professor and study senior author Sandor Kovacs comments.
|
Mimicking plant evolution proves fruitful
MSNBC.com
Jan. 11,
2008 -- By mimicking plant evolution, a team of Illinois researchers has improved upon nature's design to build a leafy energy-producing powerhouse — or at least a virtual one on a supercomputer. In a study published within the journal Plant Physiology, WUSTL biology and chemistry professor Robert Blankenship comments on the Illinois study.
|
Wild weather: Iron rain on failed stars
USA Today
and 1 others
July 5,
2006 -- Ever since their discovery 11 years ago, brown dwarfs have baffled scientists.
Sometimes called "failed stars," brown dwarfs are too small to trigger the fusion of hydrogen that keeps stars like our sun shining for billions of years. Instead, over tens of millions of years brown dwarfs slowly cool and fade.
Meanwhile, the weather on these strange objects is some of the wildest in the galaxy.
WUSTL planetary chemistry professor Katharina Lodders comments.
|
Marine science: Boiling points
Nature.com
Feb. 23,
2006 -- Article about the discovery of a particular kind of hydrothermal vent called black smokers at the Galapagos Islands.
Minerals and heated water spewed out of hydrothermal vents may support marine life that wouldn't otherwise survive.
But some vents spew out a toxic mixture that can contaminate local ground water. WUSTL microbial geochemist Jan Amend comments about research his team is doing on vents near Papua New Guinea.
|
Astronomers sweep space for the sources of cosmic dust
Science Magazine online
Nov. 1,
2005 -- Article on new observing tools scientists can use to study interstellar dust. Astronomers know that interstellar dust illuminates the erratic deaths of stars, and it traces a direct link from stars to the birth of our solar system — and ultimately, to Earth. WUSTL physicist and cosmochemist Ernst Zinner comments.
|
More Heat Aids Cancer Therapies
Associated Press
and 44 others
Sept. 27,
2005 -- Scientists have long thought that simple heat could increase the effectiveness of some cancer therapies. But just how much to cook the tumor and which cancers are susceptible, have stymied the field. Now, backed by tantalizing new evidence, a growing number of studies are enrolling patients in hopes of finally settling whether it's time to turn up the heat. WUSTL physicist William Straube comments. Like Duke, WUSTL has a major research program on cancer hyperthermia.
|
Scientists Release Rover Panoramic Photo
Associated Press Online, Astrobiology Magazine
and 58 others
Sept. 2,
2005 -- Scientists released the first full-color panoramic picture of the landscape taken by the rover from its lookout point, showing the rover's tracks in the dust, flat plains of the surrounding Gusev Crater region, rugged terrain dubbed "the geologic promised land" by one scientist, distant plateaus on the crater rim and more hills.
WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor Ray Arvidson comments. He is deputy principal investigator of the rover mission.
|
Man, Chimp Separated by Dab of DNA
New York Times, Los Angeles Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
and 55 others
Sept. 1,
2005 -- Article on the reports published in Nature and Science magazines that an international team of scientists, including WUSTL's Genome Sequencing Center director Richard Wilson and colleague LaDeana Hillier, have finished sequencing the genome of the chimp. The comparison of genetic blueprints shows that just a handful of mutations account for the vast differences between the species. Scientists say the results provide a roadmap for studying diseases and the mechanisms by which humans evolved into the dominant species of Earth.
|
Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to two Israeli researchers, American for discoveries of how cells give "kiss of death"
Associated Press State & Local Wire, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, New York Times
and 3 others
Oct. 7,
2004 -- One of the three scientists to win the Nobel Prize in chemistry is Israeli Aaron Ciechanover, who is a visiting professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, where he has spent a portion of each year since 1987. He is the 23rd Nobel Laureate associated with WUSTL.
|
Depression: hidden cause of heart attack?
The Wall Street Journal
and 2 others
April 26,
2004 -- You may have one of the biggest risk factors for heart attack, and your doctor doesn't even know it. While doctors screening for heart problems know to monitor smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, few pay attention to a potentially more serious foe: depression. "In cardiology there have been dozens of studies done on hypertension," said Kenneth Freedland, professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, who has been studying the link between depression and heart disease since the 1980s. "We need to make sure the public and medical community understand that this is an important problem, too."
|
|
Download
Show More Chemistry Clips
Email this page
Print ready page