Plans for east end of campus unveiled

"This is not about being bigger, but being better," said James E. McLeod, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and vice chancellor for students, announcing new plans for the east end of the Hilltop Campus at a public forum for neighbors Aug. 29 in Steinberg Hall Auditorium. "Our undergraduate student body will remain about the same."

McLeod and Steven P. Hoffner, assistant vice chancellor for students and director of operations, unveiled plans for $200 million in new construction --six new buildings --between now and about 2007, including a new campus for the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Visual Arts and Design Center (VADC) adjacent to Steinberg Hall and a new building for the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences.

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New chemotherapy approach holds great promise against disease

By Brian Schnall

Imagine a day when a cancer patient can have a blood or biopsy sample fed into a DNA diagnostics machine, which takes the disease-state DNA results and within hours comes up with a tailored drug/catalyst therapy. This treatment will kill the cancerous cells in the body and leave the others unharmed --and it is capable of beating the cancer even as it mutates.

John-Stephen Taylor, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, and his research team have taken the first step toward making this happen. They've designed a new approach to chemotherapy that makes direct use of genetic material as a trigger to annihilate cancer or virally infected cells.

This innovative approach would facilitate the selective destruction of harmful cancer or viral cells, which has always been the less-than-realized purpose of chemotherapy.

"All throughout history, the development of drugs has been based on trying to find a molecule toxic only to the pathogen or organism you want to kill," Taylor observed.

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Park gift strengthens ties to Asia

Some of the most interesting years in alumna Helen Ette Park's life were spent in Asia. It's not surprising, then, that her bequest to the University provides generous support for her alma mater's Asia initiatives.

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'Give till it feels good': United Way campaign begins

It's likely that someone you know has been helped through the United Way. In fact, one in three people in the St. Louis area benefits from the services provided by United Way-funded agencies --through job training, family counseling, daycare services, the YMCA, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association or other programs.

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