University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley greeted energy industry representatives Thursday at a preliminary dinner for an energy conservation conference this weekend, saying technologies from UW will contribute to the field.
MADISON â?? Beth Donley, former general counsel for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), said Thursday that she expects the next president to loosen the reins on funding human embryonic stem cell research.
But whoever is elected â?? Republican or Democrat â?? will face stiff opposition from some quarters in Congress, said Donley, who spoke at a luncheon sponsored by WisBusiness.com, Madison Magazine and the Madison Club.
Q. It has been my understanding that garbage in a plastic bag does not disintegrate as efficiently in the landfill as does garbage that is exposed to the elements. I understand it’s cleaner during the collection process, but does that override the long-term effects?
A. “The master variable that causes waste to decompose in a landfill is water,” explains Robert Ham, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at UW-Madison. “To the extent that a bag is secure and doesn’t allow water to flow through the waste, it will slow down decomposition.”
Skull caps, plenty of beds and hotel-like rooms shielded from electromagnetic waves that can throw off study results are among the features at Wisconsin Sleep, UW-Madison’s new sleep center.
One in eight new mothers in Wisconsin drinks excessively, putting their children’s health at risk, a study by UW-Madison researchers found.
The self-reported survey of 8,706 postpartum mothers found that 12 percent reported at-risk alcohol-related behaviors — consuming seven or more drinks per week or four or more drinks on a single occasion at least once in the past month.
“Maternal alcohol consumption has been linked to violence toward children, and the interaction of maternal alcohol use and lactation on infant development remains unclear,” the researchers reported in an article in the Wisconsin Medical Journal.
Are boggy northern Wisconsin lakes contributing to global climate change?
Researchers at the UW-Madison are finding that such lakes, which are scattered across Wisconsin’s North Woods, break down organic matter in a way that may indeed create more carbon dioxide, which contributes to the warming of the climate.
Brookfield, Wis. – Wisconsin once received its fair share of classified research and defense dollars and would like to again, but first it has to get over what one business leader calls a â??Vietnam hangover.â?
The organization established to secure more classified research grants for Wisconsin colleges and businesses took center stage at a luncheon meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network’s Milwaukee-area chapter.
Seven years ago, Jo Handelsman ‘s mother died after her body became resistant to the antibiotics that were holding her illness at bay.
Today, working in her lab on the UW-Madison campus, hardly a day goes by that Handelsman doesn ‘t think of her mother ‘s death and the frustrating and ultimately failed struggle of doctors to find drugs that would keep her alive.
Two UW-Madison faculty members made considerable efforts in the United Nationsâ?? Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday jointly with former Vice President Al Gore.
MADISON, Wis. — Al Gore’s crusade against global warming won him the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shares with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on climate change.
A lot of the research done on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is part of that prestigious group, WISC-TV reported.
“This is definitely the wake-up call, and what’s concerning to the climatologists is the rate of warming that we’ve had,” said Jonathan Patz, an associate professor at UW-Madison’s Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Study.
Q. Why do leaves change color in the fall?
A. Actually, many of the colors we see in the fall are always present, but normally they’re hidden from view, says UW Arboretum native plant gardener Susan Carpenter.
Dr. Eric Sandgren has in recent years become an outspoken counterweight to the animal rights activists whoâ??d like to see his and other UW-Madison animal study laboratories shut down.
An associate professor of experimental pathology in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, part of the UW’s School of Veterinary Medicine, Sandgren is chair of two animal-use oversight committees on the UW campus. As such, he has sparred with expert critics who condemn experimenting on animals as cruel, inhumane and unnecessary.
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet named former UW-Madison professor of genetics, Oliver Smithies, a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine Monday.
Smithies, along with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah and Martin J. Evans of the United Kingdom, received the Nobel Prize â??for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells,â? according to a statement from the Nobel Assembly.
Smithies was a professor at UW-Madison from 1960-1988, when he left for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he is currently the Excellence Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Members of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery discussed design plans Monday to add a new University of Wisconsin research building that would host various projects and programs to enhance human health.
The project will cost approximately $150 million, split evenly among the state of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and John and Tashia Morgridge, according to Carl Gulbrandsen, chair of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
As the temperature drops and the daylight ebbs, Hannah Carey gets giddy.
“This is my favorite time of year,” the UW-Madison biologist said. “The magic is happening again.”
Carey is enchanted by hibernation, specifically the seasonal slumber of the 13-lined ground squirrel.
A UW-Madison researcher has identified another molecular change that could enable bird flu to become more dangerous in people.
Two Americans and a Briton won the 2007 Nobel Prize in medicine yesterday for developing the immensely powerful â??knockoutâ? technology, which allows scientists to create animal models of human disease in mice.
The winners, who will share the $1.54 million prize, are Mario R. Capecchi, 70, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City; Oliver Smithies, 82, of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; and Sir Martin J. Evans, 66, of Cardiff University in Wales.
Dr. Smithies has credited his interest in science to his boyhood love for radios and telescopes, and for a comic-strip inventor whom he wanted to emulate. He earned a scholarship to Oxford, then dropped out of medical school to study chemistry before moving to the University of Wisconsin. Because of a visa problem, Dr. Smithies worked in Toronto for about seven years before returning to Wisconsin. He became a geneticist and moved to the University of North Carolina 19 years ago.
UW-Madison nursing Professor Linda Baumann is among 50 of the nation’s health experts chosen to be ambassadors for an organization that works to raise awareness of the need for greater U.S. public and private investment in research to improve health worldwide.
Quoted: Hasan Mukhtar, vice chair of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
For most of us, fewer wasps and yellow jackets is welcome news. It means eating outside is much more pleasant. But it’s not welcome news if you’re counting on yellow jackets for your doctorate, like Ben Taylor. He studies how the insects build their nests and search for food. This summer and fall, they’ve been mysteriously quiet.
“We’re not exactly sure why there are fewer numbers. It could be a parasite, it could be some sort of predator,” said Taylor.
Phil Pelleteri studies insects for a living with UW-Extension. He’s also mystified by the disappearance of so many of these stinging, aggressive insects.
Researchers from the UW-Madison have identified a key step that the avian flu virus would have to take to be able to transmit easily from person to person — which could result in an international pandemic.
The researchers, led by internationally known virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, have identified a single change in a viral protein that facilitates the virus’ ability to infect the cells of the upper respiratory system in mammals.
By adapting to the upper respiratory system, the virus could infect a wider range of cell types and would be more easily spread.
Q. Can plants and trees sense when they’re being cut or chopped down?
A. It depends on how you define “sense, ” said UW-Madison botany professor Edgar Spalding.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) has filed three supplemental amendments to its disputed embryonic stem cell claims, which are undergoing re-examination by the US Patent Office.
But the changes will have little impact on the point at issue, which is whether the techniques described were original enough to be patented, according to William L. Warren, an intellectual property lawyer with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan in Atlanta.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The H5N1 bird flu virus has mutated to infect people more easily, although it still has not transformed into a pandemic strain, researchers said on
Thursday.
The changes are worrying, said Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.”We have identified a specific change that could make bird flu grow in the upper respiratory tract of humans,” said Kawaoka, who led the study.
Dr. John Kuo, a UW Hospital brain surgeon, knows all too well what frequently happens after he removes a cancerous tumor from a patient.
The tumor grows back, despite post-surgery radiation and chemotherapy.
Researchers have identified a new reason for such recurrences: cancer stem cells.
Having an X-ray to look for signs of colon cancer may soon be an option for those who dread the traditional scope exam. Two of the largest studies yet of “virtual colonoscopy” show the experimental technique works just as well at spotting potentially cancerous growths as the more invasive method.
Quoted: Dr. Perry Pickhardt, one of the researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School who are reporting the results of their study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
A new study supports the effectiveness of an innovative form of colonoscopy that relies on a CT scanner that’s sent through a patient’s colon.
When it comes to detecting polyps that might become malignant, this so-called “virtual colonoscopy” is just as effective as the traditional approach of using a fiber-optic device, explained study lead Dr. David Kim, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Wisconsin.
NEW YORK – Having an X-ray to look for signs of colon cancer may soon be an option for those who dread the traditional scope exam.
Two of the largest studies yet of “virtual colonoscopy” show the experimental technique works just as well at spotting potentially cancerous growths as the more invasive method.
“This is ready for prime time,” said Dr. Perry Pickhardt, one of the researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School who are reporting the results in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
The latest plans for the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building to be constructed across from Union South were unveiled Monday at the first of three town hall meetings hosted by UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Dear Editor: In addition to the ethical issues raised by animal research, more and more members of the medical research community are calling attention to the fundamental problems with animal experiments (“Doc: Testing on animals obsolete”).
As a neurologist and public health specialist, I know there is ample evidence that underscores the urgent need to move away from using animals in research.
The Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has helped train Chinese farmers in some of the latest dairying techniques. More than 700 model dairy farms have been established around Beijing and Tianjin, with 280,000 cows, according to the Chinese government.
A planned $150 million research and business incubator in Madison will be housed in one building, with two institutes representing the public and private sectors each having their own lab areas.
Architectural renderings unveiled Monday on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus showed a building with three towers.
American laboratories handling the world’s deadliest germs and toxins have experienced more than 100 accidents and missing shipments since 2003, and the number is increasing steadily as more labs across the country are approved to do the work.
In a statement issued several weeks ago, scientists reported Arctic sea ice coverage has shrunk to its lowest level in more than 30 years, alarming researchers that global warming might be occurring at an even faster rate than expected.
The University of Wisconsin received more than $6.6 million last week from the federal government in an effort to jumpstart alternative fuel research.
A grant received by Centrose LLC highlights the growing cluster of companies in Madison aiming to develop new drugs in areas like cancer and neurodegenerative and heart disease.
Centrose said Friday it has received a $160,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue developing its lead anti-cancer drug program. The company, based in Madison, is using sugar chemistry to work with a variety of existing and failed drugs to make them less toxic and more effective.
Many University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have received grants from the cancer institute, but more companies in the area are getting them now, said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council.
Her patients can ‘t tell Dr. Ruthanne Chun what ‘s wrong with them.
The dogs she sees at UW-Madison ‘s School of Veterinary Medicine don ‘t explain when their front left leg hurts or they feel run-down or they have a suspicious lump.
Dear Editor: At a public debate on Sept. 26, Dr. Ray Greek made the argument, supported by much data and clear logic, that animal research does not and cannot help us cure human disease or find safe and effective drugs for humans. His debate opponent, Eric Sandgren from the UW-Madison, failed to present a meaningful rebuttal.
NEW YORK — The more educated you are, the less likely you are to become chronically ill or disabled, but the amount of money you make plays a bigger role in whether your illness progresses, a new study shows.
Based on the findings, the most effective single policy strategy for improving health might be to make higher education more accessible, Dr. Pamela Herd of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health.
Madison, Wis. – In an era of standardized testing, the idea of introducing computer games into the classroom might be tantamount to driving a square peg into round hole.
Even though parents and educators increasingly see the value of computer game learning, the powers who drive education policy are either still too wedded to the type of learning that prepared students for the industrial age, or they think teaching with computer games is too radical to suggest at the moment – even if they know the digital world is creating a new paradigm for education.
The potential value of computer game education, and the counterintuitive thinking it requires, has not been lost on University of Wisconsin-Madison professor David Williamson Shaffer, author of â??How Computer Games Help Children Learn.â?
Q. During World War II, Japanese and Germans prisoners of war were detained in camps in Wisconsin. Where were the Wisconsin camps, how long were these people held and what happened to them after the war?
A. More than 3,000 Japanese and 5,000 German POWs were held in Wisconsin during World War II, said Geraldine Strey, reference librarian and archivist at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The president of Americans for Medical Advancement and a UW-Madison professor and animal researcher clashed heads on the question of whether using animals for research can help scientific advancement for humans at a debate Wednesday in a packed Wisconsin Historical Society building auditorium.
Two respected experts debated the issue of using animal research as a reliable predictor of human diseases and their cures Wednesday night at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The use of animals for drug testing and disease research is flawed science and should be abandoned, the leader of an advocacy group says.
“It’s like using a canoe to cross the Pacific Ocean. Yes, it was done at one time, but today we use airplanes,” said Dr. Ray Greek, president of Americans for Medical Advancement and a retired anesthesiologist and expert in pain management living in California. “Today we are studying humans at the level where the differences between species outweigh the similarities.”
Greek debated with UW animal researcher Eric Sandgren on the merits of using animals in scientific research before a crowd of about 175 at the Wisconsin Historical Society building Wednesday night.
UW Madison researchers have found the symptoms of autism sometimes improve over time. (Audio.)
Two health-related research grants won by UW-Madison show yet again the university’s immense value to people in Wisconsin and in the nation.
Republican lawmakers negotiating the state budget should keep that in mind. Shortchanging the UW System would shortchange the public.
U.S. researchers found just 7 percent of respondents do not have the usual human tendency to favor one’s own group and not form racial prejudices.
Their study, published in the journal Psychological Science, found the 7 percent of people that showed no racial bias differed from biased individuals in a fundamental way — they also were less likely to form negative emotional associations in general.
Robert Livingston of Northwestern University and Brian Drwecki of the University of Wisconsin asked white college students to do tasks that repeatedly paired unfamiliar Chinese characters with positive or negative images such as puppies or snakes. The results showed non-biased individuals were less likely than biased individuals to acquire negative emotions toward the character paired with negative pictures.
Should animals be used by UW-Madison researchers? Are they a reliable predictor of diseases and their cures for human beings?
Two highly respected experts on the subject will tackle that issue in a debate sponsored by The Capital Times at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the auditorium of the Wisconsin Historical Society building on the UW’s Library Mall.
It was back in 1995 that a group of Minnesota middle schoolers shocked the scientific community when they returned from a field trip to report that more than half the frogs they’d captured had major deformities.
Some had five or more hind legs or even no legs at all.
But in the investigations that followed, it quickly became clear that cases of deformed amphibians went far beyond that Minnesota pond and were actually fairly widespread across the U.S.
Both education and income can determine whether a person will remain healthy, but those who stay in school longer have the best odds, largely because education so strongly influences income, say the authors of a new study.
“Those with less education are more likely to develop health problems and those with low incomes who already have health problems are more likely to see their health worsen,” said lead author Pamela Herd, a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist.
Aboard a newly built research vessel, UW-Madison geologist Harold Tobin and a team of scientists set sail Friday on an eight-week expedition to drill, sample and study a fault zone off the coast of Japan.
The international research expedition, which is part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, will look into understanding what causes earthquakes at deep-sea fault lines.
The University of Wisconsin has been awarded a $7.2 million grant for research employing stem cells and growth factors to fight a devastating disease.
A small Madison biotechnology company called Ratio is working to commercialize a painless way to administer drugs. The system, which is touted as being simpler and less expensive than others on the market, was invented by David Beebe, a UW-Madison professor of biomedical engineering, and his colleagues at UW-Madison and the University of Illinois.
Note: This is a new weekly profile series that will focus on UW-Madison’s groundbreaking researchers.
The early language transformation has intrigued UW-Madison psychologist Jenny Saffran for more than a decade.
When it comes to natural disasters, the Japanese government is good with numbers. It expects, for instance, a magnitude-8.1 quake to strike in the next 30 years with an epicentre in the Nankai trough â?? a depression in the sea-floor 100 kilometres off the country’s east coast. And when it hits, it is likely to kill between 12,000 and 18,000 people.
The Nankai trough lies in a subduction zone, a perilous region in which one tectonic plate dives under another, building up the sort of rock strain that can unleash the world’s most powerful earthquakes. All earthquakes with a magnitude of greater than 9 have occurred in these zones. And although the next earthquake at Nankai is not expected to be quite this big, the region could prove key in understanding why earthquakes in subduction zones release such vast amounts of energy.
Quoted: Harold Tobin of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the project’s other chief scientist.
While searching for a mouse that exhibits the behaviors commonly seen in patients with autism, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have stumbled upon a super smart yet socially awkward mouse similar to the loveable Raymond from the 1988 movie â??Rain Man.â?
Droughts, floods, surges in insect populations and threats to food supply may sound like a biblical apocalypse but according to Jonathan Patz, UW-Madison professor of environmental and population health sciences, these are likely future consequences of climate change.
Last week, UW-Madison researchers announced they had created a new form of an enzyme that adds sugar to a variety of chemicals. In the future, researchers hope to use the newly evolved sugar enzymes to improve current drug treatments.
Even before the sun eases up past the horizon, the Lakeshore Path is dotted with runners and bikers hoping to get the path to themselves before itâ??s filled with families and leisurely walkers, looking for the first glinting red leaves of autumn. A few people walk briskly in the crisp air, swinging briefcases and backpacks, on their way to work at the Capitol or to campus for school. Golden light sifts its way through the trees near the Lakeshore dorms, revealing a large pair of bulldozers near a huge pile of brush.
Virtually nothing stirs up the human emotions more than the practice of using animals in medical and scientific experiments that have become so commonplace on many of our university campuses.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is no exception. Scientists there experiment on everything from pigs to monkeys in researching the causes and cures for human disease.
