Category: Research

Mothersâ?? words have healing powers. Thatâ??s the conclusion released yesterday by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. More specifically they found that a stressed-out daughter will calm down as effectively after talking to her mother on the phone as from getting a hug from Mom in person.

The next time youâ??re watching a report from the national hurricane center, keep your ears tuned for the acronym CIMSS. It stands for the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, and itâ??s right here in the Midwest.

A veteran University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist says the suspension of his research privileges is unfair and devastating for his career. Professor Gary Splitter says the unauthorized experiments involving an infectious disease in his laboratory was a failure of university oversight.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher caught a rare infectious disease in 2008 in a laboratory that has been shut down for performing unauthorized experiments.

A biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says one of his students conducted an illegal experiment – but now heâ??s paying the price.

A veteran University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist said the suspension of his research privileges is unfair and devastating for his career.

A UW-Madison professor who studies an infectious disease lost his laboratory privileges for five years after conducting unauthorized experiments with a potentially dangerous drug-resistant germ. One person who worked in professor Gary Splitterâ??s lab got brucellosis but university officials donâ??t know if that individual, who has since recovered, caught the strain used in the unauthorized experiments. Brucellosis is a disease that is usually found in farm animals but can spread to humans and cause flu-like symptoms or worse.

Just hearing Momâ??s voice over the phone may have the same soothing effect as getting a hug in person, according to new research to be published tomorrow in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B

The working mother who cannot be at home to cuddle a distraught child can relax – her voice on the phone soothes as much as a hug, a study suggests.

The familiar sound produces an increase in the hormone oxytocin in girls which is linked to emotional bonding while simultaneously quelling the hormones brought on by stress.

Children know that mumâ??s got the words when life seems to be getting too much.

A hug from Mom can help soothe a stressed child, but new research shows that just hearing her voice can initiate the same biochemical responsesâ??even if the mother is speaking over the phone.

Grateful children have long recognized the healing power of a motherâ??s love.

A report due yesterday, 100 ladybug-shaped cupcakes to make for the school bake sale (tomorrow morning!), and your mother-in-law arriving for the weekend… Feeling stressed yet?

A new study to be published on May 12 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found a motherâ??s voice can quell her young daughterâ??s stress with a quick phone call. Three researchers at University of Wisconsin Madison stressed out a group of tween girls aged 7-12 in front of strangers and divided them into three groups where different treatments were applied. One groupâ??s mothers were present to calm them down, another spoke to their mothers on the phone and the last group watched an emotion-neutral 75-minute video.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has revoked a veteran scientistâ??s research privileges for five years and paid a $40,000 fine for allowing unauthorized experiments involving a dangerous bacteria.

Forbes Magazine has named the University Research Park & MGE Innovation Center at the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison as one of the top 10 technology innovation and development parks thatâ??s changing the world.

Honored: University Research Park & MGE Innovation Center at the University of Wisconsin: Started in 1984, this park hosts more than 110 companies that employ 3,500 people. Graduates include Madisons Exact Sciences, which is developing a non-invasive DNA test for detecting colon cancer. Exact Sciences trades on the Nasdaq and boasts a recent $160 million market cap.

The UW Board of Regents on Thursday approved Phase I of University Research Park II at an estimated cost of $4.75 million. Phase I includes a 125-acre portion west of Junction Road between Valley View Road and Mineral Point Road.

The financial teaching grade is in for teachers â?? and itâ??s not good.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison surveyed K-12 educators and not surprisingly most instructors donâ??t think they are suitably trained to teach their students the basics of personal finance. The study, â??Teachersâ?? Background & Capacity to Teach Personal Finance,â??â?? was funded by the National Endowment for Financial Education.

Itâ??s a building that promises to bring bio-tech research to the forefront. The University of Wisconsin unveiled the first floor of its new Wisconsin Institute for Discovery on Thursday.

The UW Board of Regents on Thursday approved Phase I of University Research Park II at an estimated cost of $4.75 million. Phase I includes a 125-acre portion west of Junction Road between Valley View Road and Mineral Point Road.

In the aftermath of 9/11, UW-Madison officials hastened to assert that a campus-based nuclear reactor used for research and teaching posed little danger to the public or national security (see a 2002 Isthmus report).

Noted: But that didnâ??t deter Stinchcomb or his co-founder, Jorge Osorio, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine who grew up in Colombia, where dengue fever is endemic. Inviragen lined up $250,000 in angel funding and some grants from the National Institutes of Health, and initial animal trials of Inviragenâ??s vaccine were soon showing promising results. Even Schwarzer started to believe that this could be a compelling business proposal.

Gov. Jim Doyle said two cutting-edge research centers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will open in December. Doyle announced at a biotechnology conference in Chicago on Tuesday the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery will open its doors just before he leaves office in January.

Itâ??s hard to believe but another academic year is winding to a close.

Following are a few notes, quotes and observations from Monday eveningâ??s UW-Madison Faculty Senate meeting at Bascom Hall — the final such assembly of 2009-10.

** It took a little longer — OK, a lot longer — than some had anticipated, but the faculty senate finally gave the green light for the UW-Madison administration to move forward with plans to restructure the universityâ??s research enterprise.
The University Committee, the executive committee of the faculty senate, put forth a motion Monday to restructure. It featured four recommendations.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has suffered a blow in its effort to protect a key patent for embryonic stem cell technology.

Opponents of a much-contested set of stem-cell patents are claiming victory with a decision from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which declared one of the three patents invalid.

Powerful stem cells made by reprogramming adult tissue could reduce the need for animal testing of new drugs, according to a scientific pioneer of the technology.

Jamie Thomson, of the University of Wisconsin, told The Times that â??in-vitro trialsâ? based on so-called induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells would refine pharmaceutical development so that fewer animal experiments would be required.

Molly Jahn, Cornell Ph.D â??88 answers seven questions about the future of American agriculture.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Officeâ??s Board of Appeals and Interference has reversed an earlier decision from the Patent Officeâ??s re-examination division that upheld the claims of one of the stem cell lines held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Consumer groups challenging a key patent covering embryonic stem cell research pioneered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have won an appeal overturning an earlier rejection of their claims.

Clearly, something significant happened for the UW-Madison to revoke the animal-use privileges of researcher Michele Basso last year. But what, exactly? The Wisconsin State Journalâ??s March 19 article, which revealed the suspension, refers vaguely to Bassoâ??s alleged “lack of respect for veterinarians, incomplete record-keeping and instances where monkeys developed brain injuries.” It even quotes Basso plausibly describing the charges against her as vague.

The Board of Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a decision on April 28, 2010 in the inter partes re-examination of U.S. Patent No. 7,029,913, granted to University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and internationally-recognized stem cell researcher Dr. James Thomson. In the decision, the BPAI rejected the claims of the patent, reversing an earlier determination by a USPTO examiner.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor and Extension specialist has been awarded the 2010 Pound Award for her work at the schoolâ??s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Eileen Cullen was recognized for her work with integrated pest management implementation.

The meteor that lit up the sky in southwestern Wisconsin on April 14 has spawned its share of wacko science stories: everything from aliens to zombies. But about an hour away from where it landed, the science behind the meteorite is no less wild.In Weeks Hall on the UW-Madison campus, in-depth studies of the meteorite got under way Thursday. The science that will unfold over the next six months is expected to be out-of-this world: Researchers could end up finding out details on the material from which our solar system was birthed, or how to blow apart a threatening asteroid.

UW-Madison researchers are asking anyone who finds a meteorite they believe is from the April 14 event to register their find. Professor John Valley said the information will be used to create a database and a map that shows the scatter field, or location of the meteorites in southwestern Wisconsin.

The National Institutes of Health on Tuesday reapproved a handful of popular embryonic stem cell lines owned by WiCell, a nonprofit research institute and private support organization of UW-Madison that advances stem cell science.

This means these lines can once again be used in studies backed with federal research dollars.

This is big news to stem cell researchers, who have been expressing frustration with President Barack Obamaâ??s new stem cell policy because it had been creating new barriers and jeopardizing years of experimentation.