University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have unlocked a potential new treatment to target an incurable form of childhood cancer with the help of a fast-reproducing pest known for swarming kitchen produce.
Professors Melissa Harrison and Peter Lewis used fruit flies to to study how cellular pathways are misregulated by a cancer-causing mutant protein. The pesky bugs were perfect lab subjects for the project because two-thirds of the cancer-causing genes in humans are shared by fruit flies.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dramatically reducing the number of vaccines it recommends to all American children, taking six off the list that have been considered routine for decades.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have unlocked a potential new treatment to target an incurable form of childhood cancer with the help of a fast-producing pest known for swarming kitchen produce.
Professors Melissa Harrison and Peter Lewis used fruit flies to to study how cellular pathways are misregulated by a cancer-causing mutant protein. The pesky bugs were perfect lab subjects for the project because two-thirds of the cancer-causing genes in humans are shared by fruit flies.
The flu season is now fully underway, and Dr. James Conway, professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, is worried that this year will be a challenging one. That’s in part because a new strain of the virus called the “K subclade,” is circulating and people may not have the immunity to easily fight it off.
“We’re looking at another bad season. Last year was pretty brisk … But this one really seems to be picking up,” Conway told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “This new K clade of the H3N2 influenza A is really kind of a novel and really rapidly expanding virus, and so we’re seeing a lot of disease related to that particular strain.”
UW–Madison psychologist Shilagh Mirgain shares five strategies for making and keeping New Year’s resolutions.
As the new year approaches, a survey from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine shows that half of American adults plan to start new diets. Dietitians, however, caution against extreme restrictions and unrealistic goals.
Registered dietitian Brianne Thorton of UW Health said, “Dieting has not changed much. It just looks different with a different name on top.”
Better bike lanes, electric buses and more charging stations for electric cars – these are all ways cities can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change.
But for those who think curbing the planet’s warming is a lofty goal, two Wisconsin researchers are trying to show how these actions can improve human health – and perhaps prevent Milwaukee residents from scoring worst in the nation in one key measure.
Gabby Mullally, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is applying for residencies and plans to specialize in anesthesiology. She knows she would be working with patients during times of heightened anxiety, namely right before someone undergoes surgery.
That’s why she took an improv theater class this past semester.
Years living with an autoimmune disease meant it was a matter of when, not if, Adam Barnes would need a liver transplant.
That time was approaching after he was hospitalized for a blocked bile duct in 2024. The idea of seeking a living donor came up but there was something about it that turned him off.
Using fruit flies, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are uncovering a new way to think about treating an aggressive and deadly form of childhood brain cancer.
By understanding how different proteins affect genetic mutations in the flies’ wings and eyes, the researchers say it could lead to new ways to silence genes behind the disease
Research suggests that even if you don’t actually meet up with someone or send them an email or text, it can be enough to simply send good thoughts their way. “You can start with a simple appreciation practice,” Cortland Dahl, a research scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds, previously told HuffPost. Just bring a friend or loved one into your mind, then consciously focusing on the things you really cherish about them.
Nedergaard and her colleague Prof Gary Lupyan at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the US, decided to explore the potential effects of lacking inner speech, recruiting people who scored low on a questionnaire with statements such as “I think about problems in my mind in the form of a conversation with myself.”
By coining the term ‘anendophasia’ – from the Greek an (lack), endo (inner) and phasia (speech) – Nedergaard and Lupyan hope to create a similar keyword that will help to catalyse research into those lacking inner speech.
UW Health’s Med Flight also started a whole blood transfusion program last year. Dr. Ryan Newberry, assistant medical director for UW Health Med Flight, said around 90 patients have been given over 160 units of whole blood in the first year of the program.
Giving health testing and monitoring gifts comes with some tricky etiquette questions.
“There is some risk of offending,” says Evan Polman, a consumer psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has studied gift giving. It could convey that the recipient is somehow inadequate, he says.
If you are giving devices that track both sleep and physical activity, such as those from Oura and Whoop, Polman suggests highlighting the sleep monitoring—not the fitness.
When giving health-testing and tracking devices, he suggests buying them for yourself, too. “If we’re doing it together, I think it takes away almost all of the judginess,” he says.
“Living donation is the gift of a lifetime because a kidney from a living donor often lasts longer than a kidney from a deceased donor,” said Dr. Dixon Kaufman, the director of the UW Health Transplant Center and a professor of surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “We see the urgent need for more donors every day, which motivated us to launch this initiative.”
“It’s still early in the season, but we’re starting to see things start to go up,” said Dr. James Conway, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Global Health Institute. “We fortunately seem to be later than some areas of the country, which is good, but our immunization rates are well below where they need to be.”
A group of local planning and demography specialists known as the Regional Data Group estimate the county will have 887,000 residents by 2050, an increase of roughly 58% from the 2020 census count of 561,504.
The Regional Data Group includes staff from the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission and the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization, along with the city, county and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its projections take into account local development patterns and expects much more room for population influx.
The American Red Cross of Wisconsin is extending heartfelt thanks to blood and platelet donors for their role in helping the University of Wisconsin-Madison secure $1 million through Abbott’s “We Give Blood” competition.
The campaign by Abbott highlights the critical need for regular blood donations. The $1 million award will support health initiatives at UW-Madison, showcasing the power of community action for lifesaving causes.
he Madison School District will partner with the UW-Madison School of Public Affairs to come up with a policy for implementing the state’s new ban on cellphone use during instructional time.
The ban, signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers in October, requires school districts to come up with such policies by July 1. The law includes exceptions from the ban for emergency situations, a student’s ability to manage their health and educational purposes authorized by teachers.
“Between our child life specialists talking with siblings with our social workers’ help with identification, that was absolutely critical,” said Dr. Nicholas Kuehnel, vice chair of clinical operations for UW Health’s Dept. of Emergency Medicine. “Even our environmental services teammates that worked to help us turn the room over, get beds into place, get the linens on. None of this would be able to happen as smooth as it does without these individuals really helping each step along the way.”
Oscar Rennebohm — who would go on to a magisterial career that included serving as Wisconsin governor and president of the UW-Madison Board of Regents — opened his first Madison pharmacy in 1925. There were eventually more than two dozen Rennebohm’s that were purchased by Walgreens in 1980.
Across the years, major beneficiaries have included the UW School of Nursing, Edgewood University, Access Community Health Centers, the Henry Vilas Zoo — the list is long.
Dr. Earlise Ward is faculty director for the Cancer Health Disparities Initiative (CHDI) and co-director of the T32 Primary Care Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She conducts community-engaged clinical intervention research focused on African American adults’ mental health and culturally competent mental health services. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Baruch College, master’s degree in counseling and Brooklyn College and PhD in counseling psychology at UW-Madison.
Donald Dantzler is an alder for the City of Fitchburg, candidate for Dane County Board, and a Survey and Research Specialist for the Madison Metropolitan School District. He was previously faculty and adjunct faculty for UW-Whitewater, and has also worked as a research associate at Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory and a project assistant for the UW System Administration Office of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Success. He earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UW-Whitewater and is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis program at UW-Madison.
UW-Madison student Nai’Taija Williams McMorris is eyeing what’s next. Set to graduate from her nursing program next year, Williams McMorris aspires to enter the master’s program she needs to complete to become a nurse practitioner.
But new federal loan caps going into effect in July may reduce her and other Wisconsin students’ options to enter careers that require a graduate-level degree. The new law lowers the amount of money students seeking some advanced degrees, including nursing, can borrow in federal loans.
When Brayan Riascos looks at the Wisconsin cattle herds, he sees untapped potential.
A third-year Ph.D. civil and environmental engineering student from Colombia, Riascos’ research looks at what most consider the least attractive part of dairy and beef cattle — the piles of manure — and he sees what could someday be the building block of a more sustainable plastic than traditional petroleum-based production.
Any plastic made from manure undergoes several chemical makeovers before it’s a finished product, and certainly looks — and thankfully, smells — nothing like its source material.
Child survivors of gun violence, and their parents, require special attention in the aftermath of a school shooting, said Janet Hyde, professor emeritus of psychology and gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Under the right circumstances, returning to school can be a form of exposure therapy, especially if schools can emphasize learning, social activities and have an open channel for students to express their feelings, Hyde said, who authored the book, “The Psychology of Gun Violence.” It can also build resilience, which helps kids cope and manage stress.
Across the country, many school districts are experiencing high vacancy rates and turnover in cafeterias — largely because of low wages, according to Jennifer Gaddis, a University of Wisconsin Madison associate professor who studies food labor and policy. A 2024 study found that school food service workers make an average of $3.16 less than custodial staff.
“It is much harder to not only improve meal quality, but also to provide a really caring, constructive environment for young people in schools when you’re dealing with that much turnover,” Gaddis said.
According to data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, organic farming in the state supports more than 2,000 jobs and results in about $424 million in revenue. Wisconsin is home to 1,455 certified organic farms, covering 245,333 acres, second only to California, according to the Wisconsin State Farmer.
Imposing the tax is “only logical,” said Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“They used to control the population, but now they are encouraging people to have more babies; it is a return to normal methods to make these products ordinary commodities,” Yi said.
“You want a healthy amount of skepticism in a democracy…You don’t want 100 percent believers,” said Dietram Scheufele, a social scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies public perspectives on science and technology. But he warned that skepticism in the US is “on steroids,” pushing people from the middle into polarized political camps and toward conspiratorial thinking.
“Our collective expectations of fathers have shifted. We expect dads to be more involved with their kids,” says Allison Daminger, author of “What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life” and a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
“At the same time, the expectations on breadwinning and dads hasn’t changed. We’ve added to their job description. I think younger dads are starting to feel that strain.”
“It’s intriguing because it’s from one place, and it’s spreading in another place,” Anne Pringle, a mycologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told NPR in September, pointing to Northern California as a death cap “hot spot.”
Rich Hartel, a food science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, studies chocolate for a living. He said one of the most common ways manufacturers cut costs is removing a key ingredient from their chocolate.
“Cocoa butter’s probably the most expensive component in chocolate. So if you can replace some of the cocoa butter with a different, cheaper fat, then you’re saving money,” he said.
“I really saw a turning point during the pandemic when parents were really struggling, and moms in particular were really struggling,” said Allison Daminger, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the division of labor in adult romantic relationships.
Daminger’s book, “What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life,” examines how gender shapes household duties and why women are more likely to carry the mental load.
Anne Pringle, a professor of mycology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said there is a litany of poisoning cases in which people misidentify something because their experience is not relevant to a new region: “That’s a story that comes up over and over again.”
Rudolph Johnson, a toxicologist with experience working for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, started in the top role at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in November, the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health announced Monday.
Supporters of isocycloseram said it could help with a pest that’s long shown resistance to insecticides. Russ Groves, an entomology professor and Extension specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the insecticide has been evaluated in Wisconsin to gauge its effectiveness at controlling the Colorado potato beetle. The pest eats the leaves off potato plants, resulting in serious yield losses.
“We’ve evaluated this tool alongside others, and we see that it’s a very good fit,” Groves said. “It performs well in controlling the insect.”
The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene announced its new director, Rudolph Johnson, who brings national leadership experience to the role.
The laboratory, established in 1903, serves as Wisconsin’s public laboratory focused on clinical, environmental, and occupational health, as well as genetic testing, forensic toxicology, cytology, outbreaks, emergency preparedness, and epidemics. It is a key partner of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and reports to the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
The technology is ready to treat at least some of these diseases, though. “There’s a whole toolbox now that can target arguably any part of the genome pretty precisely,” said Krishanu Saha, a gene-editing researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Researchers with a few more years of experience are more protected, but still facing setbacks. Fátima Sancheznieto is an associate researcher at the University of Wisconsin who studied biomedical sciences for her Ph.D., but now focuses on education and social science research. Before the Trump administration began cutting federal research funding, she was looking for faculty positions as an assistant professor — now she’s put that search on hold.
“You always have the — I don’t want to call it imposter syndrome, but — imposter phenomenon of, ‘Do I really belong here?’” Sancheznieto said. “When you start to notice maybe that you’re not getting as many job offers or career advancement opportunities and things like that — is it because I’m out and transgender?”
Leonard Polzin, dairy markets and policy outreach specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension, said whole milk has benefited from the diet craze around protein, driven in large part by health and fitness influencers online.
“The more protein, the better. Consumers are all about that,” he said. “The other portion is kind of a shift towards healthy fats too. So for example, cottage cheese is having a real moment right now.”
Dr. Jonathan Temte, associate dean of public health and community engagement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said Friday’s vote was not based on new scientific evidence. And he believes it will have consequences for people’s health care.
“This creates a great deal of confusion for parents, for clinicians, for public health providers, for vaccine managers,” Temte said. “I believe there have been purposeful approaches to create as much havoc and a great deal of parental concern over safety when none of this is necessary.”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison won the Big Ten “We Give Blood Drive” competition, earning $1 million that will go toward student or community health initiatives.
The competition, sponsored by Abbott, challenged all Big Ten schools to collect the most blood donations to help address the nationwide blood shortage.
The University of Wisconsin won in the second season of Abbott and the Big Ten’s We Give Blood Drive, overcoming Nebraska in a close contest.
Running from Aug. 27 through Dec. 5, the “We Give Blood” competition, was announced at the 2025 Discover Big Ten Football Championship Game in Indianapolis.
Dominique Brossard, a professor of life science communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and principal investigator at the Morgridge Institute for Research, says it’s likely the people who get the flu vaccine every year likely did so again this year but the public confusion might have dissuaded those who were undecided.
“People that are hesitant might actually become reluctant,” she said.
Rich Hartel, a professor of food engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who teaches candy science to his students, wonders if freeze-dried candy “will just be a fad, but you never know if long-time customers will continue to come back to a type of sweet they didn’t really enjoy when it was chewy.”
he University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health has used improv classes to help medical students develop their interpersonal skills, combining performing arts and health-related fields into a six-week course.
Amy Zelenski, a professor of medicine at the school, teaches an elective class in improvisational theater. She is no stranger to the performing arts scene, as she has a background in theater.
A study led by Andrea Hicks, the director of sustainability education and research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, yielded similar results, concluding that single-serve coffee pods have a similar environmental impact to drip-filter and French press coffee.
“I was surprised when we first found this, after reading all of the popular press saying that single serve coffee pods were terrible for the planet,” Dr. Hicks said. “It seems the public has a hard time believing this, as well.”
Public schools must provide disabled students with equal opportunities to participate in athletics. But how schools meet that requirement can be complicated, according to Julie Mead, a professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in special education law.
Early results of a new study show landfill runoff contained the highest levels of PFAS among liquid wastes sampled statewide in Wisconsin.
Since 2023, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been collecting and analyzing samples from four waste materials that could be potential sources of PFAS in groundwater, which provides drinking water to two-thirds of state residents. It’s also a source of drinking water for around 800,000 private wells.
Musicians in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health perform classical music with surgical precision as part of the Medical Sciences Orchestra. Founded in 2018 by fourth-year medical student Joohee Son, the orchestra provides a chance for new operations for students, faculty and alumni in the medical field.
The holidays are always exciting, but they can also be incredibly stressful. Our Leigh Mills sat down with psychologist Dr. Shilagh Mirgain to discuss ways to keep your mental health in check during the cold, dark winter months.
Early results of a new study show landfill runoff contained the highest levels of PFAS among liquid wastes sampled statewide in Wisconsin.
Since 2023, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been collecting and analyzing samples from four waste materials that could be potential sources of PFAS in groundwater, which provides drinking water to two-thirds of state residents. It’s also a source of drinking water for around 800,000 private wells.
Ash Engel and Dante Lucchesi work together as collegiate recovery specialists in UW-Madison’s Badger Recovery program. They provide one-on-one coaching, weekly meetings and social events for students in recovery from substance use, disordered eating and addictive behaviors.
‘Lab culture: A recipe for innovation in science’ by Dr. Ahna Renee Skop, Crystal Xin Qing, Hareem Rauf, Dr. Diana Chu
This cookbook — written in-part by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, a student and an alumnus — is a collection of more than 75 recipes and stories from more than 120 scientists from around the globe who are connected with the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s IF/THEN Ambassadors program.
When Camp Randall Stadium started selling alcohol last fall during Badger football games, University of Wisconsin-Madison leaders said a portion of the revenue would go to campus.
They said the money would support “efforts to promote student wellness and to encourage responsible behavior around the use of alcohol, such as offering alcohol-free programming for students and supporting students experiencing challenges related to high-risk behaviors.”
So far, nearly $500,000 in revenue from alcohol sales at athletic events has been distributed for this purpose, said Gillian Drummond, a campus spokesperson. The university’s Student Affairs division received $442,000 last school year and University Housing received $50,000, she said.
Years living with an autoimmune disease meant it was a matter of when, not if, Adam Barnes would need a liver transplant. That time was approaching after he was hospitalized for a blocked bile duct in 2024. The idea of seeking a living donor came up but there was something about it that turned him off.
Barnes, the University of Wisconsin senior associate athletic director for business operations, initially didn’t want someone else to go through the danger of elective surgery and a painful recovery to benefit him.
Dr. Jim Conway, medical director of UW Health’s immunization program, said he thinks health care providers and public health officials have done a good job communicating the risks of flu and other respiratory illnesses for seniors.
“But it is a little bit troubling that they do seem to be, even for that group, a little bit behind,” he said.
Extending enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Marketplace plans was what Democrats were holding out for in the government shutdown that ended on Nov. 12. The continuing resolution put forth by Republican lawmakers ended up passing without that extension, and ACA policyholders are girding for premium hikes that could more than double.
“There’s really no uncertainty about that — it’s basically pretty straightforward, simple math,” said Justin Sydnor, a professor of risk and insurance at the Wisconsin School of Business. “The way the tax credits work is that they’re tied to a share of the percent of your income, and the enhanced tax credits increased or decreased the share you would have to pay, and increase the income range for people who are eligible. So they’ll definitely go up. The share that you’re responsible for paying goes up if those subsidies expire — how much depends a lot on your income level.
Student Affairs along with other campus organizations held the semesterly Swipe Out Hunger Drive Nov. 24 to raise funds to help ensure all Badgers have access to affordable and nutritious food.
This fall marks one year since UW Health opened its Eastpark Medical Center, and the facility’s usage is already outpacing the healthcare provider’s predictions.
The 475,000 square-foot facility, located at 4621 Eastpark Blvd., saw about 1,050 clinic visits per day in its first year. There were also about 4,600 ancillary appointments per day for services such as imaging, nutrition and rehab.
