European regulators on Thursday ruled against allowing a patent on developing human embryonic stem cells, a decision that could stifle research by stem cell companies for commercial purposes.
NEW YORKâ??European patent regulators have confirmed an earlier decision that inventions that use or destroy human embryos can’t be patented, turning down a patent application by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s research arm.
The board of appeals for the European Patent Office upheld an earlier rejection of a patent filed by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The rejection was based on a rule that forbids patenting of inventions that use human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes.
A college research project gives a Chippewa Falls native an out of this world experience.
Luke Hunt is a senior at UW-Madison majoring in astronomy and math. During a research class, using the world’s largest radio telescope, he and his classmates stumbled upon what could be an unknown galaxy. More research is needed, but so far, the data has everyone looking up.
A Wisconsin stem cell pioneer expects the next president to help reduce some of the problems facing federal research funding.
Stem cell research has faced tight funding restrictions under the Bush administration. Dr. James Thomson expects that to change under President-elect Barack Obama.
It didn’t capture banner headlines, but a news story that broke in mid-November suggests why private equity investors may finally be paying attention to companies working with human stems cells.
The beat builds slowly after Spud Davis puts on the headphones. Eminem fills his ears, even though he’s not that much of a hip-hop fan.
The lyrics to “Till I Collapse” start to come in, first with the enigmatic rapper narrating about how you can feel tired and feel like you want to give up, but how you have to find inner strength and not be a quitter.
With the state facing an economic crisis, the University of Wisconsin System it taking steps to tighten its proverbial belt.
On Wednesday, UW System President Kevin Reilly asked academic leaders systemwide to examine ways to streamline and enhance educational offerings. He also announced that system institutions would start to scrutinize more closely out-of-state travel.
MADISON â?? For people who suffer from epilepsy, current drugs donâ??t always control seizures. A startup company with ties to UW-Madison technology, NeuroGenomex Inc., is trying to provide a breakthrough medication.
Epilepsy affects more than 3 million Americans every year, with most new cases developing in children and elderly. Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder whose main symptom is seizure caused by electric activity in the brain.
Cellular Dynamics International, founded by world-renowned UW-Madison stem-cell researcher James Thomson, announced a merger Monday with sister companies Stem Cell Products Inc. and iPS Cells Inc.
One of the stateâ??s largest stem cell research companies, founded in part by stem cell pioneer James Thomson, announced a merger with two other Madison-based corporations, finalizing $18 million in funding.
Too much television, low self-esteem, disappointing grades and poor family relationships can be a formula that adds up to early teenage sex, according to a new study.
“If you add up all the factors, you get a much more powerful predictor of who has sex and who doesn’t,” said Dr. Janet Hyde, of the University of Wisconsin, who headed the research team.
U.S. scientists have revealed the genes that lead to an antitumor antibiotic. The team, led by Ben Shen at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says the research could provide the tools to create new anticancer drugs.
Cellular Dynamics International, the Madison-based research company founded by stem cell pioneer Dr. James Thomson and three fellow UW-Madison professors, has merged with two sister companies and is getting $18 million in new financing.
The two companies merging with CDI are Stem Cell Products Inc. and iPS Cells, Inc.
Three companies founded by star University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell researcher James Thomson are merging into a single entity that aspires to be a world leader in the field.
Under a deal announced Monday, Cellular Dynamics International is joining forces with Stem Cell Products Inc. and iPS Cells Inc. Backed by $18 million in private venture capital, the new company is keeping CDI (nyse: CDI – news – people )’s name and its headquarters in Madison.
Cellular Dynamics International Inc., a firm co-founded by stem cell pioneer and University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher James Thomson, has absorbed a pair of sister companies and raised $18 million in financing, the firm said Monday.
CDIâ??s sister companies, Stem Cell Products Inc. and iPS Cells Inc., merged into the company, placing the intellectual property and commercial, research, and production capabilities of the predecessor companies under a unified management team.
Three Wisconsin companies focused on stem cell research are merging.
The companies are joining under the banner of Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), based in Madison. Stem Cell pioneer, Dr. James Thomson, says they’re looking at the commercial use of stem cell technology.
David DeWitt’s journey to becoming one of the world’s leading academic experts on databases started off almost by accident. “I had taken one database class in graduate school,” DeWitt recalled. “That was enough that when I showed up as a new faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (in the mid-1970s), the chairman said, ‘You’re the new database guy.'”
While some Wisconsinites spent Saturday seeking white-tailed deer, researchers were hunting for another organism: the deer tick.
Teams from University of Wisconsin System schools and the Wisconsin Division of Health fanned out to more than a dozen deer registration stations in the eastern half of the state Saturday, gathering ticks from the deer brought in by hunters.
Black Earth (WKOW) — Scientists from the University of Wisconsin spent their opening day of the gun deer season focusing on a disease carried by deer.
In this case, the effort wasn’t on Chronic Wasting Disease, but on Lyme Disease.
The UW researchers were at deer registration stations Saturday collecting ticks, the insects that carry Lyme Disease.
Could the tongue help a paraplegic pick up a slippery glass or a soft, squishy kitten? Justin Williams and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin are testing electrical stimulation of the tongue as an adjunct to visual feedback for brain-controlled computer interfaces, such as those used to control prosthetic arms.
This could be the next tool in the battle against alcoholism.
” I don’t think it’s limited to alcoholism or even addiction.”
For five years Andrew Isham and his team of researchers at the UW have been developing Innovations for Recovery.
” What we are trying to do here is facilitate timely connections between the patient and people who they have determined to be in their support system.”
Also sponsoring MGE’s new green energy Web site are UW-Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, and 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin, an environmental group.
The surgical removal of small colon polyps found during computed tomography imaging of the colon, or CT colonography, is costly and unnecessary, according to a new study.
“We shouldn’t aggressively pursue sub-centimeter lesions, since the costs, risks, and inconvenience of the subsequent colonoscopy outweighs the clinical importance of these small polyps,” Dr. Perry J. Pickhardt from University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison told Reuters Health. “Over time, the few small polyps that matter will declare themselves by showing interval growth,” the researcher added.
Q. How do birds migrate?
A. The essential skills of bird migration are orientation — knowing north from south, and east from west — and navigation, having some sort of “map” to establish the location you’re aiming for, says Stanley Temple, emeritus professor of conservation at UW-Madison.
A University of Wisconsin research team will be joining the annual deer hunt — to look for ticks that spread Lyme disease.
More than a dozen scientists led by UW-Madison entomologist Susan Paskewitz will head to selected Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources deer registration stations Saturday to collect deer ticks from carcasses brought in by hunters.
It’s part of a fight against Lyme disease, which is caused by a bacterium that can be carried by deer ticks that bite people.
MADISON, Wis. – Local governments across Wisconsin denied, ignored or did not properly fill three out of every 10 requests for basic public documents, according to an audit released Wednesday.
The audit was conducted by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. It involved 318 public records requests filed primarily by newspaper reporters in 65 counties in September and October.
Local governments across Wisconsin denied, ignored or did not properly fill three out of every 10 requests for basic public documents, according to an audit released Wednesday.
The audit was conducted by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. It involved 318 public records requests filed primarily by newspaper reporters in 65 counties in September and October.
A statewide public records audit found that one in 10 requests for basic documents were denied or ignored by local governments.
Another two in 10 requests were fulfilled only after records custodians required the requesters to identify themselves or explain why they wanted the documents, in violation of state law.
The audit, conducted by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, of which I am president, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, involved 318 public records requests filed in 65 counties.
WAUSAU â?? Southeast Wisconsin is home to some of the state’s healthiest â?? and least healthy â?? people, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study released today.
“RoboCop” and “I, Robot” may not be as far-fetched as you think, and IBM and five universities including Stanford are teaming up to prove it.
IBM is teamed with five colleges – Stanford, UC Merced, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell and Columbia – and for now they are all aiming to draw up plans for a chip that can imitate the actions of 1 million neurons.
University officials celebrated the past 10 years of breakthrough discoveries in the area of stem-cell research by James Thomson at the Overture Center for the Arts Tuesday.
James Thomson, an anatomy professor at the University of Wisconsin, spoke at the Overture Center for the Arts Tuesday night as part of the 10-year anniversary of his achievements in human embryonic stem cell research.
With President-elect Barack Obama poised to lift the ban on federal funding of research on new embryonic stem-cell lines, UW-Madison and Dane County could strengthen their position as a leader in the pioneering research, officials say.
They warn, however, it will take new federal dollars in addition to a change in policy to have a strong impact here.
Barack Obama’s transition team has announced the officials who will review personnel and policies at federal agencies for the new Administration, including dozens who will begin visits to examine the work of science agencies this week.
One is R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison, whose support for research using human embryonic stem cells reflects Obama’s position on the controversial work.
WASHINGTON â?? Sleep not only refreshes the body, it may also push the reset button on the brain, helping the brain stay flexible and ready to learn, new research shows.
Whether it is slow-wave sleep or rapid eye movement (REM), sleep changes the biochemistry of the brain, and the change is necessary to continue learning new things, suggests research presented November 18 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
Hundreds of genes behave differently when an animal is asleep rather than awake, says Chiara Cirelli of the University of Wisconsinâ??Madison. Cirelli and her colleagues are trying to settle a long-standing debate about why sleep is necessary. One theory is that sleep helps solidify memories by replaying information learned during the day. Another idea holds that sleep is for energy restoration.
Tuesday night at the Overture Center, stem cell supporters celebrated a decade’s worth of bio-science breakthroughs. They’re not only talking about what they’ve done in the past — but what they hope to do in the future.
Ten years after his discovery, UW professor James Thomson recalled the infancy of stem cells and how they can transform themselves in the human body.
Say what? You’re going to take Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s word on where the best places for you to go to school are?
I had vaguely heard that the Shanghai university made an annual list of the best research university’s in the world but didn’t pay it much heed. After all, those kinds of lists often strike me as arbitrary.
I got up this morning still thinking about the matter. After Googling the list, I quickly found that places like the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of Minnesota proudly note that they are fairly high on Jiao Tong’s list.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Wausau, Wis., company have come up with a 37-inch, bullet and bomb-proof Humvee tire based on a polymeric web so cool looking there’s no need for hub caps.
Resilient Technologies and Wisconsin-Madison’s Polymer Engineering Center are creating a “non-pneumatic tire” (no air required) that will support the weight of add-on armor, survive an IED attack, and still make a 50 mph getaway. It’s basically a round honeycomb wrapped with a thick, black tread.
Overwhelming cloudbursts and flooding similar to those that struck Sauk County communities and southern Wisconsin in June could be more frequent as global warming trends continue, a climate researcher told county officials Monday.
Steve Vavrus of the Center for Climate Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison spoke before the Intercounty Coordinating Committee as the group met in Baraboo. The audience included emergency management leaders, government officials and interested citizens from Sauk, Columbia, Dodge, Green Lake and Jefferson counties
U.S. researchers say they have uncovered a specific process that they say contributes to unrealistic optimism.
Study authors Robin J. Tanner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Kurt A. Carlson of Duke University say consumers adopt the tentative hypothesis that they will behave in an ideal fashion when predicting their future behavior.
The birth of University Research Park on Madison’s West Side 25 years ago was a historic breakthrough in the area’s economic development.
In the story of the park’s beginning and its growth are two lessons:
University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering students also have been involved in the project. Dan Negrut, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has worked on computer simulation models to show how the tires will behave in different scenarios.
Few issues are likely to generate more emotional opposition than federal funding of stem cell research. Handled wrongly, it could energize conservative opponents and derail Barack Obama’s presidency. There is no question that we must move ahead, but caution is key.
Q. Could a Twinkie really survive intact for 100 years, as people say?
A. Go ahead and pull that box of Twinkies from your bomb shelter pantry, as their ultra-long shelf life is more urban myth than truth. Made primarily of flour, various sweeteners, water, shortening and egg (with another two dozen or so minor food components thrown in for good measure), Twinkies have an official shelf life of a mere 25 days. It’s a shockingly short term, one that human experience strongly suggests is overly conservative.
The rapid growth in the number of nonprofits in Wisconsin combined with an impending wave of retirements in that sector will create job opportunities for people seeking meaningful work. But making the leap from the corporate to nonprofit realm requires more than a big heart.
“With these trends, there’s a real need to train and educate nonprofit leadership,” Jeanan Yasiri said.
As executive director of the new, privately funded Center for Nonprofits on the UW-Madison campus, Yasiri and faculty director Shepherd Zeldin are creating undergraduate majors and doctorates in nonprofit studies â?? something Yasiri said are rare.
A biochemist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has won a $100,000 award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help develop a “stealth” drug that can be used to battle viruses such as HIV.
A proposal by a UW-Madison biochemist to create “stealth” drugs that hide inside cells until activated by a pathogen has received a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Biochemist Ron Raines and his research group were awarded the funding through the foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative.
Do you ever find yourself yawning in response to another person’s yawn? Some say it seems to happen often and claim there is scientific proof behind the theory that yawns are contagious.
Often times, yawns are a sign of fatigue or boredom. But the true meaning of why people yawn has stumped researchers.
“What a yawn is good for, we don’t really know,” said Mary Klink, associate director of University of Wisconsin Health’s Wisconsin Sleep.
For those unfamiliar with the burgeoning field of synthetic biology, the annual iGEM competition might seem more like science fiction than a college event.
The international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, which took place this past weekend outside of Boston, bills itself as the largest synthetic biology conference in the world. Much like an electrical engineer might build a circuit, synthetic biologists construct devices from cells and genes using standardized biological parts, called BioBricks.
The theory of intelligent design cannot be tested — there isn’t any evidence, any research or any hypothesis, world-renowned biologist Francisco Ayala told a Madison audience Monday night during his Distinguished Lecture Series talk attended by about 300 people in the Wisconsin Union Theater.
At the South Pole, the temperature on a pleasant summer day is 30 below zero.
In that kind of cold, skin cracks and, according to the journals of one old-time explorer, “tears turn to steam.”
So imagine the challenge of staying healthy for the large number of UW-Madison researchers and engineers who make Antarctica their home for the summer.
Jon Roll, an instructor at the University of Wisconsin, wants to make one thing clear about a new course creating buzz on the Madison campus.
“This is not a course to help kids go out and slam beers on Friday night,” he said.
On the third floor of the 101-year old University Club, wall paint is peeling, asbestos lurks under the carpet, and thick strands of cables snake visibly along the hallway ceiling.
This is to be the new home of the Center for Humanities at UW-Madison, which is moving into the aging building next year with several other humanities and arts-based centers and institutes. The directors of those centers say they are glad for the space and central location, which will be renovated and is part of the East Campus Mall, a planned arts-and-humanities hub.
Wisconsin residents that participate in funding breast cancer research and awareness may not know that the Madison area is home to many scientists who rely on the support donated by others
One of the young scientists working here is engaged in cancer research. His team’s lab is a place few get to see, but he said the public should know how their fundraising support might have helped him make a huge discovery.
The bond between a newborn infant and mother, is almost instant.
For a new dad, that instant bond isn’t as easy.
But, researchers at the Wisconsin National Primate Center at the University of Wisconsin have found the mere scent of a new baby, may make it easier for dad.
The statistics show that one in eight people will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
It can be difficult to identify — it’s not something that can be done with a simple blood test, brain scan or routine physical. People need to find a doctor who has experience in identifying Alzheimer’s disease.
But experts said that often what people think is Alzheimer’s disease could be something else.
“When someone comes into our clinic, what we’re trying to see is what’s causing their memory problems, or if they have memory problems at all,” said Dr. Cindy Carlsson, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
By examining the processes in a sea urchin’s early skeletal formation, a UC Berkeley researcher, along with scientists from other institutions, may have shed light on how biomaterials are naturally formed.
The study, which was spearheaded by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, discovered a new transitional phase in urchin development.
Q. How do public health officials determine which strain of influenza to create vaccines for each year?
A. This year’s influenza vaccine in the United States contains three strains of the influenza virus. Last March, experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization chose those strains based on the varieties of flu virus that were present at the end of North America’s flu season.
The decision also took into account viruses found in Australia, South Africa and the tip of South America. “These countries were at the very beginning of the influenza season, when we were at the tail end,” says Jonathan Temte, an associate professor of family medicine at UW-Madison.
MADISON, Wis. — The election results might be good news for local researchers, who are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the isolation of stem cells.
On Nov. 6, 1998, the journal “Science” published a paper called “Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived From Human Blastocysts” by University of Wisconsin-Madison biologist Jamie Thomson.
Ten years after the groundbreaking research began, Thomson and stem cells are household names.
A decade ago the journal Science reported Dr. James Thomson’s team at UW-Madison had discovered embryonic stem cell lines which can regenerate tissues and organs inside the body. Much of the technology has not yet reached patients but Ed Fallon of Wisconsin Stem Cell Now is optimistic. The non-profit president believes the coming years will bring advancements in cellular biology and researchers will better develop understanding as to how cells develop.
