Category: Research

Milwaukee, Wis. – Citizens in southeastern Wisconsin overwhelmingly support embryonic stem cell research, according to a new poll released by Milwaukee Public Radio.

In the poll, they indicated strong support not only for embryonic stem cell research, but they believe that effective therapies will result from the research, and they believe by an overwhelming majority that continuing to conduct embryonic stem cell research is more important than allowing politics and religion to be injected into the debate.

Independent studies have found that like alcohol, grape juice can reduce the risk of blood clots and prevent LDL (â??badâ? cholesterol) from sticking to coronary arteries, among other cardiac benefits. One, conducted by scientists at the University of Wisconsin and published in the journal Circulation, looked at the effects of two servings of Concord grape juice a day in 15 people with coronary artery disease. After two weeks, the subjects had improved blood flow and reduced oxidation of LDL. Oxidized LDL can damage arteries.

Madison is hosting the World Stem Cell Summit. It runs through Tuesday, and combines science and policy in a field of research that might someday help those with Parkinson’s, Alzheimers and diabetes. Shamane Mills reportsâ?¦ (Audio.)

Although hundreds of scientists from around the world have come to Madison for the 2008 World Stem Cell Summit, the kickoff Sunday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pyle Center was aimed at the non-scientist, the person who may not have seen the cells before and may have only a vague idea that the research is promising or controversial.

Ann Arbor Democrat Tom Weider knows that your perspective is skewed if you don’t get out of town now and then.

“I always say ‘… as Ann Arbor goes, so goes Berkeley and Madison,'” says the long-time party activist.

Kidding aside, he was ready with a prediction in a recent appearance on WEMU’s “Lynn Rivers Show”: Obama 54 percent of the vote; McCain 46. That’s rounding off the votes that will be cast for minor party candidates.

MADISON, Wis. — It was all about stem cells on Sunday, as dozens of scientists and researchers took part in an educational seminar about the future of regenerative medicine.

Members of the public attended Lab on the Lake, a pre-conference all-day pubic event and festival Sunday, held at the Pyle Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Leaders in the stem cell industry have converged on Madison for a couple of days. The city is hosting a worldwide summit on stem cell research. Scientists believe it could someday provide cures for diseases such as Parkinsonâ??s or cancer. While the industry has changed, Wisconsin has remained at the forefront of the research. The industry has changed somewhat, but Wisconsin has remained at the forefront, and thatâ??s why itâ??s ground zero this week. WUWMâ??s Marti Mikkelson reports.

MADISON, Wis. — Sam Schmidt has lived life for 44 years on four wheels.

He was an Indy car driver until a crash in 2000 changed his life forever.

“The things that you miss are the things you take for granted, I mean, being able to hug my wife, being able to pick my kids up, put them on my shoulders,” said Schmidt.

Wisconsin is the focal point of stem cell science this week. But is the state falling behind? Madison is hosting the World Stem Cell Summit through Tuesday. Ed Fallone is president of the nonprofit group Wisconsin Stem Cell Now. “It’s a great opportunity for us to use the increased public interest in the topic . . . to get the information out to the public, so that people can learn more about stem cell research and participate in the debate in an informed manner,” says Fallone, referring to a primer on stem cell research in Wisconsin, produced by his group. It’s aimed at the general public and addresses questions on science, funding, ethics and advocacy

More than 800 people are expected to meet in Madison for the World Stem Cell Summit.

One attendee is turning a personal tragedy into advocacy for medical research and treatment.

Indy Car racer Sam Schmidt’s life changed forever when he suffered a crash 8 years ago. The accident left him paralyzed from his chest down.

Monsanto Co. has given $1 million to support doctorate-level graduate students in the plant-breeding and plant-genetics program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Scientists dispatched the Stardust science probe to get a look at material they thought had formed in the far outskirts of the solar system. Instead, they uncovered proof that the same type of particles forged near the sun ended up in a frozen comet’s body.

University of Wisconsin’s Noriko Kita and colleagues used a unique ion microscope to probe the tiny grains, the largest of which is about one-thousandth of an inch across. They found oxygen isotope ratios that closely resemble materials in asteroids, meteorites and even the sun itself.

(MADISON) Scientists have taken another step toward developing cost-effective ways to turn plants and other biomass sources into alternatives to fossil fuels.

One challenge has been to remove most of the oxygen atoms to form molecules that will burn. UW Madison chemical engineering professor James Dumesic says in the laboratory, he and some UW colleagues have found a way to make that happen, by passing sugars over catalysts â??consisting of nano-particules of precious metalâ?, in a process that helps remove oxygen atoms from sugar molecules. (Tenth item.)

A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a process that creates transportation fuel from plant material.

The alternative fuels developed by UW chemical and biological engineering professor James Dumesic and his team look a lot like the gasoline and diesel fuel used in vehicles today. That’s because the new fuels are identical at the molecular level to their petroleum-based counterparts. The only difference is where they come from.

Not, unsurprisingly, the web ads that are driving a lot of chatter.

In fact, the Wisconsin Advertising Project and TNS-CMAG report, Obama aired more negative spots than McCain.

“In the first week of advertising after the conventions, Obama aired a higher percentage of negative ads than did McCain. 56 percent of the McCain campaign ads were negative, while 77 percent of Obamaâ??s ads were negative,” according to the report.

Madison, Wis. – The entire ecosystem of the stem cell community will converge on Madison next week during the 2008 World Stem Cell Summit, where the unpredictable field of stem cell research will be celebrated.

Researchers, the biotech industry, pharmaceutical companies – even nonprofit organizations and grass roots citizens and patients – will be among the stakeholders and the roster of speakers and presenters. The event comes to Madison on the 10th anniversary of a key research breakthrough by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor James Thomson, who first isolated human embryonic stem cells.

Results of the Big Ten Battleground Poll, an innovative new project that tests voter sentiment in the eight Big Ten states that are key to this closely fought presidential campaign, will air this Thursday on the Big Ten Network.

The results of the unique regional poll — a partnership involving eight Big Ten universities — will be unveiled in a 90-minute show called “Big Ten Battleground: Campaign 2008” at 3 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

A new manufacturing technique could overcome the technological limitations currently facing the microelectronics and data-storage industries, and pave the way for smaller electronic devices and higher-capacity hard drives.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies have developed a technology that combines lithography techniques traditionally used to print, or pattern, microelectronic circuits with self-assembling materials called block copolymers. These consist of two or more chemically different polymer segments, or blocks, connected by a junction point.

Johns Hopkins University again tops all U.S. colleges and universities for research expenditures, spending $1.55 billion in fiscal year 2007.

The National Science Foundation ranked the university first among 20 U.S. academic institutions, marking its 29th year in the No. 1 slot. The university spent nearly $1.49 billion on research in fiscal year 2006.

The University of California, San Francisco, with $843 million, and the University of Wisconsin, with $620 million, ranked behind Johns Hopkins University in research expenditures.

(MADISON) California has one of the largest amounts of public funding for stem cell research. A conservative think tank questions such funding in a report that highlights Wisconsin’s more modest financial support for such research.

Later this month, Madison will host the World Stem Cell Summit. States and nations with plenty of taxpayer funding for that purpose will be showcased along with states that don’t bankroll that type of science, instead leaving it to private companies to come up with the cash.

The role of Wisconsin taxpayers in funding stem cell research is small. This fact is lauded by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which noted UW Madison researcher James Thomson’s 1998 discovery of human embryonic stem cells was privately funded. The Institute notes embryonic stem cell research is speculative and politically controversial; therefore it says government should leave it to the private sector. (Third item.)

The strongest hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean have become more intense because of global warming over the past 25 years, says a new study in the current edition of the journal Nature. The findings add fuel to the simmering argument in the meteorological community about Earth’s changing climate and its relationship to the power of tropical systems worldwide.

Scientists from Florida State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison analyzed satellite data from nearly 2,000 tropical cyclones around the world from 1981 to 2006 and found that the strongest storms are getting stronger, especially over the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

Madison, Wis. – After 35 years of producing soy sauce and related products in Wisconsin, perhaps it was no surprise that Kikkoman Corp. would choose Madison’s University Research Park as the site for its new research and development lab.

No surprise, that is, until you think about the range of global choices available to Kikkoman.

Sangtae “Sang” Kim, a scientist from Purdue University with a background in the pharmaceutical industry, was named executive director of the Morgridge Institute for Research, the private part of a $150 million public-private research building under construction on the UW-Madison campus.

Kim, a professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at Purdue, will begin his duties as leader of the Morgridge Institute Oct. 1. The international search for a director took about a year-and-a-half to complete.

Sangtae Kim, who currently serves as a professor of both mechanical and chemical engineering at Purdue University, was named the executive director of the new Morgridge Institute for Research — the private half of the twin Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

Kim, who served as the chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at UW-Madison from 1995-97, will begin his duties as leader of the Morgridge Institute on Oct. 1.

Former UW-Madison professor Sangtae Kim will become executive director of the new Morgridge Institute for Research, the university announced Thursday.

Kim, who is currently a chemical and mechanical engineering professor at Purdue University, will assume his new role on Oct. 1.

MADISON, Wis. — It could open the doorway to a whole new world or at least a new understanding of it.

The world’s largest atom smasher is now up and running in Europe — thanks in large part to the ongoing work from University of Wisconsin scientists and engineers.

How does mass form? Are there other dimensions out there? Those are some of the big secrets UW staff and other scientists worldwide are hoping to unlock now that the world’s largest particle accelerator is up and running underground near Geneva, Switzerland.