TomoTherapy is hoping the sun will shine on the company during the second half of 2010. With several new formats for its specialized cancer treatment radiation technology and the nationâ??s economy trying to emerge from a recession, things could align in TomoTherapyâ??s favor, company officials said. When TomoTherapyâ??s technology, discovered at UW-Madison, hit the market, it was unique.
During the day, flowering plants proudly display their colorful blossoms to the world. At dusk, some of them demurely close their petals for the night, only to open them again the next morning. Why do they bother closing? According to Richard Vierstra, a professor of genetics at UW-Madison, it probably has to do with enhancing their chance of reproductive success.
A former UW-Madison genetics professor pled guilty in federal court today to falsifying data in a grant application. Elizabeth B. Goodwin of Upton, Mass., admitted her conduct constituted “misconduct in science,” according to a news release from the Department of Justice. She could face up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.Goodwin resigned from UW-Madison on February 23, 2006.
In a rare criminal prosecution for research misconduct, a former University of Wisconsin-Madison genetics researcher pleaded guilty Friday to submitting false data to the federal government. Elizabeth Goodwin of Upton, Mass., pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement, admitting she included false data in a progress report to convince federal reviewers that her lab had made more progress than was actually the case.
Wisconsin taxpayers and health care groups that are following the recent challenges to UW-Madisonâ??s patents on embryonic stem cell lines may not be fully aware of the much larger and more fundamental issues at stake.
Should human body parts or tissues be patented and then bought and sold to the highest bidder in the marketplace? Human tissue samples are taken from blood tests, biopsies or during surgeries. How many of us really know how many tissue samples we have given away or how they were used? Are informed consent agreements now signed in the donation process legally binding? Lastly, should patients be compensated for allowing another to use her or his human tissue samples?
Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, toured a biomanufacturing facility on the UW Madison campus yesterday to show support for a kind of stem cell research his Republican challengers oppose.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Monday he fully supports embryonic stem cell research and criticized his Republican opponents in the race for governor for their opposition to the potentially life-saving research.”My concern is you have candidates for office .â??.â??.â??who want to inject politics into science,” Barrett, a Democrat, said after touring the stem cell labs at the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Waisman Center.
Pharmaceuticals are effective at treating many diseases, but making them can hurt the environment in the process.A new technique developed by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, however, suggests that drugs can be made without toxic byproducts. Their report was published online June 16 in the journal Green Chemistry.
The U.S. Forest Products Laboratory will dedicate its new Centennial Research Facility at 9 a.m. Wednesday at 1 Gifford Pinchot Drive. Invited speakers include Harris Sherman, undersecretary of the USDAâ??s Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell; Deputy Chief of Research Ann Bartuska; and UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Molly Jahn.
Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett spoke about his support for embryonic stem cell research, and criticized his competitorsâ?? opposition to it, on Monday during a visit to UW-Madisonâ??s Waisman Center. “This is an institution that can provide huge benefits to the people who live in this society, but it can only do so if we allow it to continue its mission,” Barrett said. “And my concern is that you have candidates for office at the state level… who want to inject politics into science.”
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he will back stem cell research just like Gov. Jim Doyle if heâ??s elected governor. Barrett says itâ??s wrong for opponents of embryonic stem cell research to suggest the work is unethical. Barrett says he will be a champion for stem cell research being done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and will stand up to attempts by lawmakers to limit it. Barrett spoke after touring the Waisman Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Monday.
National Institutes of Health chief Francis Collins turned down a private lab’s request for federal research funding approval of 47 human embryonic stem cell lines, many of them with genes for diseases such as muscular dystrophy or cystic fibrosis. Collins approved ei lines from academic centers, bringing the total number of NIH approved cell lines to 75.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he will back stem cell research just like Gov. Jim Doyle if heâ??s elected governor.
The Democratic candidate for governor is defending UW research using embryonic stem cells. Thereâ??s been groundbreaking work on Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, or IPS cells, derived from adult stem cells, at the University of Wisconsin
Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett spoke about his support for embryonic stem cell research, and criticized his competitorsâ?? opposition to it, on Monday during a visit to UW-Madisonâ??s Waisman Center.
“This is an institution that can provide huge benefits to the people who live in this society, but it can only do so if we allow it to continue its mission,” Barrett said. “And my concern is that you have candidates for office at the state level… who want to inject politics into science.”
Counting the number of days that the temperature reached 90 degrees is one reasonable way to gauge the heat of a summer season. It turns out that this number is extremely variable here in Madison, say Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin, professors in the UW-Madison department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.
When Gov. Jim Doyle was elected in 2002, he pledged to put Wisconsin in the forefront of stem cell research nationally and internationally. He has kept that promise by:
â?¢ Increasing Wisconsinâ??s investment in this critical field with a goal of capturing 10 percent of the stem cell market by 2015.
â?¢ Launching a $750 million initiative to develop stem cell research and biotechnology in Wisconsin, highlighted by the construction of the Institutes for Discovery, which is scheduled to open in December
The state commits to collaborating with California on stem cell research. Wisconsin signs an agreement with California to help scientists in both states to combine forces and more quickly discover better treatments for patients.
Itâ??s no secret that the Amazon rain forest is in trouble. Deforestation at the hands of logging and agriculture has beat back this crucial natural resource, which sucks greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, steadies global climate patterns, and is home to an incredible diversity of animals and plants.Â
If you were consoled by the news last year that the tropical rainforests are growing back, and that these new forests are â??almost as biodiverse as untouched forestâ?, prepare to be unconsoled.
UW-Madison will receive $246,249 to develop a high performing non-vapor compression cooling system
As if we needed further proof that chopping down the Amazon was a bad idea, a new study suggests that deforestation in Brazil had led to an increased incidence of disease.
Clearing forests in the Amazon helps mosquitoes thrive and can send malaria rates soaring, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
“It appears that deforestation is one of the initial ecological factors that can trigger a malaria epidemic,” said Sarah Olson of the University of Wisconsin, who worked on the study.
Chopping down the rain forest can harm animals such as toucans, golden lion tamarind monkeys and poison dart frogs. Now, add another species to the list – humans. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon can lead to malaria epidemics years later, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The work “points out how tropical forest conservation can be important for human health,” said UW-Madison epidemiologist Sarah Olson, lead author of the study.
Philips Healthcare plans to add 27 employees over the next six to nine months at its radiation oncology business in Fitchburg. Philips currently has 57 employees at 5520 Nobel Drive, where it develops cancer treatment planning software. The technology was developed at UW-Madison.
Gov. Jim Doyle will sign an agreement today that is expected to spur collaboration between California stem-cell researchers and those at UW-Madison, the governorâ??s office announced Wednesday. No specific research projects or funding have yet been identified for researchers from California and UW-Madison.
Cellular Dynamics International and Promega Corp. have entered into a research collaboration to develop toxicity tests for drug developers that use stem-cell derived heart cells. The companies, both based in Madison, said the collaboration has potential to provide pharmaceutical company researchers with more predictive data, driving the development of safer and more effective drugs. Cellular Dynamics was founded by stem cell pioneer James Thomson and several other UW-Madison researchers
Two prominent Dane County biotechnology companies are collaborating on a research project whose goal is to improve and speed up the drug discovery process. Human heart stem cells derived from adult tissue by Cellular Dynamics International, Madison, were combined with the testing technology platform developed by Promega Corp., Fitchburg. Cellular Dynamics was started in 2004 by UW-Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson.
Itâ??s a shining example of UW-Madison research leading to a big idea that attracts tens of millions of dollars in private investment to create good-paying jobs right here in Wisconsin. Itâ??s Virent Energy Systems, which last week announced that investors had pumped an additional $46.4 million into the Madison company. All told, Virent has now attracted $116 million in funding since it was founded in 2002 by UW-Madison chemical engineering professor James Dumesic and former UW-Madison researcher Randy Cortright, who now serves as Virentâ??s chief technical officer.
Reducing community stigma may help reduce transmission, said Geoffrey Swain, medical director at the Milwaukee Health Department and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists recently surveyed Doctors Park in Bayside for the presence of deer ticks and found evidence suggesting that ticks were not just present in the county, but were living and reproducing there, too.”As far as I know, this is the first demonstration of an established population in Milwaukee County, although ticks have been getting closer and closer,” said Susan Paskewitz, a UW professor of entomology who led the survey.
Deer ticks have long inhabited Wisconsin but were never known to populate Milwaukee County – until now. A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists recently surveyed Doctors Park in Bayside for the presence of ticks and found evidence suggesting that ticks were not just present in the county, but were living and reproducing there, too.
Animal experimenters in the US, beware: you may find yourselves facing criminal charges for simply doing your job. Thatâ??s what has happened to nine staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who could go to jail or pay heavy fines for carrying out decompression experiments on sheep for the US navy.
Itâ??s axiomatic that even on the East Coast long sandwiches go by a host of names: hero (especially New York City), grinder (chiefly in New England), hoagie (mainly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey) and submarine (everywhere). For 45 years, DARE has been documenting Americaâ??s geographically variant vocabularies. Despite the conforming effects of air travel, television and the Internet, neither mobility nor media seem to be able to erase regional patois. “In speaking and writing and talking with strangers, we tend to use a more homogeneous vocabulary,” said Joan Houston Hall, who has headed DARE for the past decade. “But in daily lives, those words vary. Thereâ??s a whole panoply of words not found in normal dictionaries that we use without thinking.” These words are the stuff of DARE, which is supposed to be completed by next year. The first four volumes were published by Harvard University Press, in alphabetical order beginning in 1975. Now, a dozen surviving DARE researchers and editors working in a library building on the University of Wisconsin, Madison, campus are putting the finishing touches on the final volume, “Slab-Z.”
Dear Editor: I read the article regarding the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into whether scientists should be charged after sheep died in University of Wisconsin experiments, violating a Wisconsin law that prohibits killing animals by decompression. I believe this law was enacted due to the excruciating pain animals endure when put through this procedure. It was made law for a reason. If the UW experimenters broke the law, they should be prosecuted. They are not above the law. The fact that they even think that makes me wonder how many other laws are broken due to the autonomous feelings such experimenters have.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Saturday there is a “substance gap” between him and his Republican opponents for governor because he is the only one to have issued detailed plans on creating jobs and slimming down the state budget. Barrett raised a new issue in his convention speech, saying he supported embryonic stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin and said the two Republicans want to “shut that science down.”
Not many. But that doesnâ??t mean itâ??s safe to be in the water. The low numbers are likely due to awareness campaigns and good safety programs.
After many years of laboring against animal research, the animal rights movement has gained momentum in Madison in recent months. Research opponents won a favorable court ruling earlier this month, packed a room for a public debate in March, and got the Dane County Board to take up the issue. But despite increased public attention, animal rights activists say there has been little change when it comes to the use of monkeys and other animals in scientific studies. “What weâ??re up against is still huge,” said Rick Marolt, a research opponent and member of the Madison-based Alliance for Animals. “Real change is still difficult and could be quite a ways off. But there is something rare going on.” Their efforts have also been buoyed by some high profile cases at UW-Madison.
Rebecca Nelson and John Pade are developing, educating and selling of products for aquaponics that their company â?? Nelson and Pade Inc. â?? seeks to make a difference in the way people grow or acquire food. Aquaponics is the combination of two practices: aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil). Nelson and Pade are putting into practice the research of James Rakocy, director of the University of the Virgin Islands Agricultural Experiment Station. Rakocy, a Milwaukee native and a 1967 UW-Madison graduate, has been developing aquaponics for 30 years.
Birds may be able to eat peppers because they have so few taste buds: Chickens have just 24 taste buds, and pigeons have 37, says Anna Pidgeon, an assistant professor of forest and wildlife ecology at UW-Madison.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who hopes to make Wisconsin history by keeping the governorâ??s office in Democratic control for more than two terms, told party faithful Saturday that he has more substance than his Republican opponents. Barrett said he would also defend embryonic stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin, while the Republicans would try to shut it down.
Itâ??s axiomatic that even on the East Coast long sandwiches go by a host of names: hero (especially New York City), grinder (chiefly in New England), hoagie (mainly in Pennsylvania and New Jersey) and submarine (everywhere). Only if youâ??re an aficionado of the Dictionary of American Regional English are you likely to know that when kids still play hopscotch, they may call it “potsy” in Manhattanâ??but itâ??s “sky blue” in Chicago.
From watching the discussion of the proposed BioLink business incubator at Mondayâ??s Board of Estimates meeting and Wednesdayâ??s Madison Development Corporation board meeting, itâ??s almost as if the people involved were talking about two completely different projects.
At Mondayâ??s meeting with city officials, the tone was tense, with strong advocates and skeptics weighing the proposalâ??s economic development potential with the risks in relaxing another requirement of the cityâ??s financial aid policy for it.
The BioLink incubator is a proposal for the cityâ??s southeast side that would bring 31,000 square feet of specialized incubator space for fledgling bio-agriculture businesses, including shared lab and greenhouse space.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin called a Dane County Board proposal on monkey research “not a productive one” in a letter to board supervisors. “The proposal that a panel be constituted to continue a discussion on a topic that has been exhaustively debated – and where reasonable people will continue to disagree – is not a productive one,” she wrote in a letter this week.
Most K-12 teachers lack basic training on how to teach money management to students, though many would like to.The study is an undertaking by researchers at UW-Madison. UW-Madison human ecology professor Wendy Way co-authored the study, which determined that nationally, relatively few educators are teaching personal finance education.
The study of technologies to clean wastewater and generate energy from algae and use new materials to reduce air pollution are among projects that will bring researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee together.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin called a Dane County Board proposal on monkey research “not a productive one” in a letter to board supervisors.
“The proposal that a panel be constituted to continue a discussion on a topic that has been exhaustively debated – and where reasonable people will continue to disagree – is not a productive one,” she wrote in a letter this week.
After a long public discussion, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has a workable plan for its new School of Freshwater Sciences that should keep both the researchers and the schoolâ??s corporate allies happy.
FluGen, a Madison company that specializes in technology to prevent and treat flu viruses, said Tuesday it has gained rights from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation to a new class of antiviral drugs with a wider time window for therapeutic action. The technology was developed at UW-Madison and patented through WARF.
Virent Energy Systems is ready to rev up hiring and research and move closer to selling its biofuel to the public now that investors have pumped another $46.4 million into the Madison company. Virent converts plant sugars from beets, corn and sugar cane into fuel that has the same molecular structure as gasoline; it would be blended with petroleum-based gas for up to a 50/50 mixture. Eventually, the company wants to use non-food agricultural residues for its biofuel. With the latest funding round, Virent has attracted more than $116 million since the company was founded in 2002, based on UW-Madison research.
It was the top story for several days last week on the health section of the influential BBC News website. But the story — on a site that typically boasts “74,900 pages were read in the last minute” — was an old one from 2003, inexplicably revived by lovers of Irelandâ??s favourite brew.”Guinness could really be good for you,” reads the headline, over a nostalgic picture of the long-running ad with the slogan: “Guinness Is Good For You”.
Insomnia isnâ??t just an annoyance, it seems. People who were chronically unable to get a good nightâ??s sleep were three times more likely to die of all causes than well-rested folks, a long-term study shows.
Noted: Some scientists and advocates for gender equity have argued that the remaining gender gap in extreme scores is rapidly shrinking and will disappear. It was called â??largely an artifact of changeable sociocultural factorsâ? last year by two researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Janet S. Hyde and Janet E. Mertz. They noted evidence of the gap narrowing and concluded, â??Thus, there is every reason to believe that it will continue to narrow in the future.â?
The way psychopathic prisoners play games resembles patterns shown by people whose brains have been damaged by such medical conditions as strokes and tumors, according to an intriguing set of experiments conducted by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
The research, published in this monthâ??s issue of Neuropsychologia, is the latest contribution to a growing trove of evidence challenging long-standing notions about the nature and roots of psychopathic behavior.
Quoted: Researchers Michael Koenigs, assistant professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine and Public Health, and Joseph Newman, professor of psychology.
A: Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean basin runs from June through November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting 14 to 23 named storms this season, say atmospheric sciences professors Steven A. Ackerman and Jonathan Martin.
A free public workshop on competition and regulatory issues in the dairy industry will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 25 in the Union Theater at UW-Madison, 800 Langdon St. The workshop is the third in a series of five around the nation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
I was pleased to see that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has petitioned to bring criminal charges against UW-Madison for causing the painful death of numerous sheep. It is beyond my imagination that researchers could carry out experiments causing this type of cruelty to research animals. And how can the university conduct experiments that according to the State Journal article are illegal?
Q: It is rare that I see mourning doves in my yard anymore. Has the state-sanctioned hunt reduced the population? A: “The two winters before this were hard on doves and their population has declined dramatically,” says Scott Craven, professor of wildlife ecology at UW-Madison. “The decline is primarily about weather and has little or nothing to do with the hunting season.”
Dying for a good nightâ??s sleep? That may be truer than you think. New research suggests chronic insomnia may increase the risk of an earlier death by threefold. Researchers who followed more than 2,000 residents of Wisconsin for up to 19 years found the risk of death was three times higher among those who reported symptoms of chronic insomnia versus those without insomnia.
As the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico grew worse, government officials suspected that BP was underestimating the leak. So they reached out to a small number of scientists across the country for a second opinion.
One of the researchers they contacted was Anders Andren, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute.
