Category: Research

What did The Wisconsin State Journal not know and when didnâ??t it know it? On Oct. 23, the paper ran a story on the UW-Madisonâ??s push to create a new high-ranking post, vice chancellor for research, to address woes including aging facilities and a “major action” violation by an animal research lab on campus.

A scientist warns the fish are moving faster than the federal government when it comes to keeping the predatory Asian carp out of Lake Michigan waters. Last spring, a $9 million electronic barrier was installed in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to keep the Asian carp from swimming into Lake Michigan and wreaking havoc on the lakeâ??s eco-system. University of Wisconsin biologist Phil Moy, whoâ??s working on the barrier project, says the barrier is effective but needs some routine maintenance. “Thereâ??s no problem with the barrier. Itâ??s just scheduled to go for maintenance, just like changing the oil in your car.”

UW-Madison physician Suresh Chandra, founder of the Combat Blindness Foundation, has been leading trips to the developing world for 25 years with the goal of eradicating preventable blindness.

Quoted: Paleontologist Joe Skulan, an assistant faculty associate in the department of geology and geophysics at UW-Madison.

Hector DeLuca has seen his share of contentious campus issues since arriving at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for graduate school in 1951. There were the Vietnam War protests in the 1960s and the heated debates over merging UW-Madison and the Wisconsin State Universities into the University of Wisconsin System in the early 1970s.

Ever wonder why the word â??railroadingâ? came into use to describe a plan or idea being pushed ahead too quickly or forcefully? Just picture the scene in â??Back to the Future Part IIIâ?, where Doc Brownâ??s tricked-out locomotive goes soaring over the edge of a cliff after the time machine disappears in flaming tire tracks.

Dr. Hector Valdivia, a physiology professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison is isolating the paralyzing poisons that scorpions use to immobilize their victims. The ability of these toxins to mysteriously penetrate cell membranes — with lethal results for unfortunate victims — could end up benefiting mankind, by delivering drugs to otherwise impenetrable cells.

Wisconsin is a far cry from being Americaâ??s fruit bowl. But a collaboration between Dale and Cindy Sechers of Carandale Farm and the UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems is aimed at making our brutal climate more fruit-friendly. Since 2003, the Sechers have been growing and evaluating 42 unusual and forgotten fruits with a goal of finding perennial fruits that are easy to grow without a lot of labor or chemicals, nutrient-rich and appealing to consumers, able to provide a healthy income for the farmer while being easily affordable for customers and produce jobs that lead to regional development.

About 150 Madison-area residents are apart of a UW-Madison study asking if meditation or exercise can ward off colds and the flu. The research is especially relevant this fall as swine flu levels have soared before enough vaccine against the H1N1 virus is available, leaving millions of Americans wondering how to stay healthy. The seasonal flu vaccine also is in short supply. Scientists know meditation reduces stress and exercise can prevent chronic diseases. But they donâ??t know if either activity makes the immune system better able to fight respiratory infections, said Dr. Bruce Barrett, a UW Health family physician heading up the research. The study, which started last month, features eight weekly classes in meditation or exercise.

FluGen, a Madison company based on research by UW-Madison scientist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, has produced swine flu vaccine without using eggs, the company announced Thursday. The companyâ??s use of cell lines to grow vaccine against the H1N1 virus is an alternative to the egg-based method used by most manufacturers, which has been blamed in part for the current shortage of vaccine.

Creating energy from methane produced in cow manure could lead the way to local farmers generating their own electricity, said Tom Drendel, the former superintendent of the Marshfield University of Wisconsin Agriculture Research Station.

Some UW-Madison faculty members are opposing a plan that would shake up the universityâ??s internal structure by creating a new office to oversee research. A resolution from the sociology department will be presented at Mondayâ??s Faculty Senate meeting, alleging that the proposed reorganization has been presented without a detailed written plan or proper consideration of its implications. The plan from Provost Paul DeLuca would put oversight of research under a new vice chancellor, rather than where they’re currently housed in the graduate school.

Joanne Cantor’s son was 5 years old when he passed an elaborate Halloween exhibit with a scarecrow oozing “bloody” macaroni-and-ketchup intestines.

Halloween is a tricky time for the 5 and under set. On one hand, they get orange M&M’s, school parades and face paint. On the other, they have to contend with slithering snakes, 8-foot ghost skeletons and bloody animatronic ghouls.

Cantor, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of “Mommy, I’m Scared: How TV and Movies Frighten Children and What We Can Do to Protect Them,” has advice for parents trying to navigate the spookiest holiday.

Noted: University of Wisconsin paleontologist Ewan Wolff, lead author of the report, the holes in Sueâ??s jawbone are not shaped like teeth. “They are perfectly round. What theyâ??re not, is teeth-shaped,” he said. They also occur in exactly the same place as in modern birds with trichomonosis, Wolff said.

The last of five town hall meetings for the proposed restructuring of the graduate school brought hundreds of faculty and community members to the Humanities building Friday.

Also present for the first time were Chancellor Biddy Martin and Dean of the Graduate school Martin Cadwallader.

UW-Madison faculty, staff and students continued to scrutinize Provost Paul DeLucaâ??s graduate school restructuring proposal at his fifth and final town hall meeting Friday, while Chancellor Biddy Martin offered several reassurances.

The proposal would decouple the schoolâ??s current structureâ??where Martin Cadwallader acts as both dean of the graduate school and vice chancellor of research. According to supporters, it would increase UWâ??s influence within federal grant agencies and address increasingly complex financial and safety regulations required for federal grants management.

Two University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering alumni have been named as two of Popular Science magazineâ??s “Brilliant 10” shaking up science today.

J. Adam Wilson has been tabbed by the magazine as a genius for his work in brain-computer interface technology. He demonstrated the technology when he posted a Twitter update by thought. Wilson earned his doctorate in biomedical engineering from UW-Madison in May. He is now doing research in New York.

Dennis Hong, an associate professor in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, is on the “Brilliant 10” list for his work in robotics. Hong got his bachelorâ??s degree in mechanical engineering from UW-Madison in 1994.

The November 2009 edition of Popular Science magazine recognized two University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering alumni as two of its â??Brilliant 10,â? the 10 young geniuses shaking up science today.

UW-Madison leaders say they need to create a new position to handle the universityâ??s vast research enterprise, sparked in part by run-down animal facilities that could have cost the school millions in federal funding.

Stem cell pioneer James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison told members of the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine that techniques that allow scientists to change human skin cells into something almost identical to embryonic stem cells will change the way new drugs are developed in the next 10 or 20 years.

A UW-Madison doctoral student will hold a first of its kind position in Wisconsin: dairy sheep specialist.

This week is National Chemistry Week and one chemistry professor is traveling around the county, trying to get kids interested in science.

Dr. Bassam Shakhashiri from the University of Wisconsin visited Mary Baldwin College Tuesday to perform experiments that show how science applies to everyday life and can translate into a job.

Noted: Schweitzer completed the display on Oct. 8 with the help of UW-Madison zoology professor Karen Steudel, who fact-checked his research. He plans to keep the exhibit up through October.Schweitzer, an adjunct professor at UW-Madisonâ??s law school and an attorney for the state Department of Regulation and Licensing, has set up similar displays before.

A book by Sean Carroll, a UW-Madison professor of molecular biology and genetics, has been nominated for the National Book Award.

* The University of Wisconsin-Madison put out a press release Friday noting that, according to statistics compiled by the National Science Foundation, the university is the nationâ??s third-largest research institution as measured by dollars spent.

….Other than Johns Hopkins, UW-Madison is the only institution that has ranked among the top five research universities for each of the past 20 years.

Due to this success, itâ??s at least somewhat surprising UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca is proposing a potential restructuring of the universityâ??s research enterprise.

How a father raises his offspring may be influenced by the care he received from his own father as an infant, new animal research suggests. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison observed the parenting skills of two sets of male California mice: those raised by castrated fathers and those whose fathers weren’t castrated. Castrating California mice makes them less attentive, hands-on fathers.

The University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s first permanent branch farming research station is gearing up for its 100th birthday.

The latest figures from the National Science Foundation confirm what many people in Wisconsin already knew: the UW-Madison is one of the nation’s leading research universities.

The numbers also underscore the fact that academic research and development isn’t confined to the labs and research offices of the state’s flagship university. Research and development work is taking place at colleges, universities and similar institutions across Wisconsin, and the total reflects a competitive edge most states would envy.

Johns Hopkins University led the nation in research and development spending in fiscal year 2008, according to a new National Science Foundation ranking, and most other Washington area institutions maintained their national R&D rankings in a down economy.

Hopkins has ranked as the top research university on the survey since 1979. The school reported $1.7 billion in R&D spending in fiscal 2008. The institutions ranked second through fifth — University of California at San Francisco; University of Wisconsin at Madison; University of Michigan and UCLA — all reported spending in the $800 million to $900 million range.