Human genome map published by consortium

By Jim Dryden

The Human Genome Project public consortium an- nounced Monday that it has assembled and published a nearly completed physical map of the human genome --the genetic blueprint for a human being.

The map, which is more than 95 percent complete and covers 96 percent of the genome, is published in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Nature.

Organized by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, with contributions from laboratories throughout the world, the map provided the basis for the selection of clones for sequencing, and in turn provided the scaffold on which the draft human genome sequence was assembled. After the multiple centers involved in the public effort sequenced pieces of DNA, these pieces could be positioned with respect to one another to determine where particular pieces fit with other pieces on a chromosome.

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Earthquake program centered at WU

By Tony Fitzpatrick

It doesn't take a catastrophe on the order of the recent India earthquake for civil engineers to realize that earthquake-engineering studies need to be intensified. University civil engineers are engaged in an effort to indoctrinate young earthquake engineers with hands-on research early in their undergraduate careers.

To achieve this effect, University faculty and students have joined forces with engineering educators at 22 other national institutions to form a unique consortium that is considered to be a model for future nationwide educational efforts.

The University Consortium on Instructional Shake Tables (UCIST), funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Undergraduate Education, is headquartered at Washington University. Shirley L. Dyke, Ph.D., assistant professor of civil engineering, is the director of the consortium.

According to Dyke, the overall goal of the UCIST project is to develop a series of earthquake engineering experiments for integration into a civil engineering undergraduate curriculum. The centerpiece for each experiment is a portable, computer-controlled, bench-scale shake table, constructed to meet a set of specifications developed by the earthquake center investigators.

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Brick-and-mortar projects abundant

By Betsy Rogers

Why would a university plan to spend nearly $800 million in precious resources on new construction in a single decade? Why would that money not go toward faculty salaries, or expanding curriculum, or scholarships for worthy students?

The answer at Washington University is that precious resources are indeed committed to new professorships, faculty salaries and student financial support. The University has already created a number of new endowed chairs and earmarked funds for many more; it has expanded financial aid and added a variety of new fellowships and scholarships; and it continues to add new interdisciplinary programs to meet changing needs and student interests.

The second part of the answer is that state-of-the-art facilities are critical to attracting the best faculty and the brightest students.

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Viewed here looking south from the parking garage, a new chemistry building - one of numerous construction projects on campus - rises from the ground.

Cranes dot the skyline at the Medical Campus, where many construction projects are under way or are scheduled to begin soon.