Architecture students develop two projects in New Orleans: St. Thomas Seven Pepper Hot Sauce is one of the hottest sauces in New Orleans, grown and bottled at God's Vineyard Community Garden, 918 Felicity St., in the Lower Garden District. Yet like much of the city, this nonprofit farm was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina. Animals were lost; crops and structures were damaged; the volunteer staff (mostly children from the nearby St. Thomas Housing Project) scattered. This spring 10 senior architecture students from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, led by lecturer Derek Hoeferlin, have collaborated with garden founders Earl Antwine and Noel Jones to reestablish God's Vineyard as a productive urban farm. More specifically, in this age of gaudy "star-chitect" towers and international museums, these designers have turned their talents to an entirely more prosaic structure: The chicken coop. "Half the garden is for growing hot peppers but the other half is for raising animals," explains Hoeferlin, a Tulane graduate who previously led three design studios focusing on the Lower Garden District and the Central City neighborhood. Indeed, prior to Katrina, God's Vineyard fed more than 1,500 people each month, providing vegetables, eggs and poultry for community meals. "I thought the chicken coop would be a terrific design/build project," adds Hoeferlin, who once lived just a block from God's Vineyard. "But for me, at the end of the day, the point is to help this great little farm get back on its feet." While visiting New Orleans Hoeferlin's class agreed to tackle a second project, after meeting with representatives of the Good Work Network, a not-for-profit business incubator that provides training and support services to low-income and minority entrepreneurs. The Good Work Network had recently acquired the Franz Building, a 6,800-square-foot retail space at 2016 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. in Central City. The group saw the structure as key to reviving the entire O.C. Haley corridor, an historically African-American shopping district, and planned to occupy half the building. The other half would house four businesses: a bakery, a consignment shop, a beauty salon and an arts cooperative. "It's a gem of a building," Hoeferlin says. "It needs to be comprehensively renovated but it's structurally very sound, with a commercial store front and load-bearing brick walls. We don't build them like this anymore."

Researchers close in on origins of main ingredient of Alzheimer's plaques: The ability of brain cells to take in substances from their surface is essential to the production of a key ingredient in Alzheimer's brain plaques, neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned. The researchers used a drug to shut down the intake process, known as endocytosis, in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The change led to a 70 percent drop in levels of amyloid beta, the protein fragment that clumps together to form Alzheimer's plaques. Importantly, they also found that endocytosis' ability to increase amyloid beta was coupled to normal nerve cell communication called synaptic activity. "Blocking endocytosis isn't a viable option for treatment because cells throughout the body, including brain cells, need endocytosis for healthy function," says first author John Cirrito, research instructor in neurology. "But we are starting to understand the origins of amyloid beta in more detail now, and what we're learning is opening other options we can pursue to seek new treatments for Alzheimer's disease." While endocytosis is necessary for normal function of brain cells, Cirrito and others believe it may accidentally be causing the cells to take in the amyloid precursor protein (APP), which breaks down into amyloid beta. If so, a drug that reduces brain cells' intake of APP may help reduce amyloid beta production.

WUSTL's Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition winners have an artistic bent: On April 17, four local nonprofits were honored at the Awards Dinner for the 3rd annual Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC). The teams will receive a total of $110,000 in cash and in-kind support for successfully demonstrating that their ventures have social value and that their group has the ability to implement its plans. Partners in the SEIC are Washington University's Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the YouthBridge Community Foundation. The SEIC is designed to foster growth for social entrepreneurs who craft innovative processes, approaches and solutions to help resolve social issues. This year's winning teams were selected from a field of 24 entrants. The teams have participated in workshops and judging events and received feedback on their ideas along the way. The YouthBridge series of workshops is free and open to all with an interest in social entrepreneurship, and this year's workshops were designed for nonprofits that may be interested in the concept, but perhaps not ready to compete. The SEIC has several other supporters in addition to Washington University and YouthBridge. This year the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis joined with the Incarnate Word Foundation, which returned for its third year of supporting the competition. RubinBrown is a Skandalaris Center supporter and will be providing in-kind support to two of the winners, and Innovate VMS, the venture mentoring service of Innovate St. Louis, also plans to support the winning teams.

ARCHITECT Magazine ranks Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design 5th in nation: Washington University's Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has been ranked 5th in the nation by ARCHITECT Magazine. The survey examined all 117 programs recognized by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. Washington University was tied with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg. It was ranked first in the Midwest. "This ranking reflects the strong contributions that our graduates are making to the practice of architecture," said Bruce Lindsey, dean of the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design. "The survey asks a cross-section of employers about which recent graduates have had the most significant influence on their work. It's a powerful testament to the impact of our young alumni."

Recession's root cause is consumer debt, expert says: There's no magic bullet, says Steven Fazzari, economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis. The root cause of the current economic slowdown in the U.S. goes back several decades. There has been a concurrent wave of increasing consumer spending and rising consumer indebtedness. In the past, consumer spending actually helped the economy as it raised firms' sales and encouraged more hiring. But the associated rise in household debt, most obviously in the recent housing bubble, has come back to haunt the U.S. "For more than two decades we had consumer-led growth, which actually mitigated the recessions of the early 1990s and 2001," Fazzari says. "Part of the reason we had mild recessions was due to consumer strength. But we kept building up debt. It was also a period of falling nominal interest rates. This meant that every cycle of low interest rates was another opportunity for people to refinance on better terms and extend their spending further." The economy is changing, however, and we can't rely on consumer spending to keep rising beyond its already inflated level; households can no longer push the debt limit because the credit isn't there. Even the Federal Reserve Bank's move to lower interest rates doesn't give Fazzari much hope for a turnaround. "Bernanke deserves credit for creative approaches to containing instability in financial markets," Fazzari says. "But the source of the recession comes from structural problems that need to be changed. Bail-outs may help prevent everything from cascading further, but the Fed does not have the tools to solve these problems.

Nineteen WUSTL graduate, professional programs in U.S. News' top 10: Nineteen WUSTL schools, academic areas and departments at the graduate and professional levels currently hold top 10 rankings in U.S. News & World Report's rankings of graduate and professional programs, which were released Friday, March 28. The George Warren Brown School of Social Work earned a No. 1 ranking among master's of social work programs, topping its No. 2 ranking from 2004, when U.S. News last ranked social work programs. "We are delighted that the Brown School continues to be ranked with the best schools of social work in the nation," said Edward F. Lawlor, Ph.D., dean and the William E. Gordon Professor. "I am so grateful for the hard work of our faculty, staff and students that has helped us maintain our leading reputation in the field." The School of Medicine ranks No. 3 among research-oriented medical schools after holding the No. 4 spot the past two years. Many individual programs at the School of Medicine are very highly ranked by U.S. News as well: The Program in Occupational Therapy is tied for the No. 1 rating, and the Program in Physical Therapy is tied for No. 2.

Walking lowers colon cancer risk in women: A team of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and Harvard University has found that women who walk for at least two hours a week are less likely to get colon cancer than those who don't exercise regularly. The new finding builds on earlier evidence suggesting that physical activity decreases the risk of colon cancer in women. But the new study focused specifically on walking because that is the most common type of exercise women do. "We looked at women who only participated in walking and found that walking was sufficient to reduce risk of colon cancer," says study co-author Kathleen Wolin, an assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in both men and women. Wolin says it's not yet clear how walking lowers colon cancer risk. It may reduce insulin resistance or alter hormone levels. Physical activity may also reduce inflammation throughout the body or reduce the time it takes for food, which may contain potential carcinogens, to pass through the intestines, she adds.

Washington University School of Law launches unique Transnational Law Program: Washington University School of Law is launching a Transnational Law Program, a first-of-its-kind offering for students in both the United States and Europe. This program expands upon the law school's ongoing partnership with Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Beginning in fall 2008, a new four-year combined degree program will be offered in association with four prestigious European universities: Utrecht, Queen's University Belfast, University of Trento (Italy) and Catholic University of Portugal. The new Transnational Law Program allows United States students to study at both Washington University School of Law and Utrecht University. Initially, these students will spend five semesters acquiring a solid foundation in United States law with an emphasis on international and transnational law from an American perspective. They will then undertake three semesters of study in Utrecht, acquiring an appreciation for European law and enhancing their understanding of international and transnational law. Faculty and students from the other three European partners will contribute to the strength of the program. Upon completion, the United States graduates will earn a J.D. from Washington University and an LL.M. from Utrecht School of Law. European participants will pursue a complementary course of study; after earning their degree from Utrecht, they will enter the LL.M. program at Washington University. "There is a growing need for lawyers who understand both American and European law, can identify legal issues and know reliable sources in the U.S. and throughout Europe," says Kent D. Syverud, law dean and the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor. "Many American law schools are expanding their international curricula study-abroad programs. Washington University Law and Utrecht University are now taking international legal education to the next level."