Madison, Wis. – While a decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office might not come for another month, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation expects the office to review its controversial stem cell patents.
This is why you always have to read the fine print.
Last week republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green announced a plan to spend $25 million dollars to fund embryonic stem cell research in Wisconsin. At least that�s what he wants you to think.
The WiCell Research Institute reached an agreement with a California company Tuesday to distribute human embryonic stem-cell lines generated without destroying donor embryos, contingent on whether the federal government provides the necessary funding.
WiCell Research Institute and a California company said Tuesday they have a preliminary agreement to jointly distribute a range of new embryonic stem cell lines that may be created without destroying human embryos.
The WiCell Research Institute in Madison has agreed to distribute stem cells created through a new technique that might spare embryos, if such cells are approved by the federal government, WiCell said Tuesday.
The move could help WiCell, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, have more of a hand in the technique announced last month by Advanced Cell Technology of California if it turns out to be promising.
Sept. 13, 2006 ââ?¬â?Ã? Worrying too much about an unpleasant task you will face an hour down the road will burn that experience more deeply into your brain, making it much more difficult for you to forget how badly you blundered, according to new research.
And that memory of your failure could make it more difficult for you to face the same task later, thus sending you into a downward spiral of self-fulfilling prophecies.
The research, conducted by psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that simple anticipation of an emotional event, whether good or bad, will reinforce the memory of that event.
The WiCell Research Institute in Madison is collaborating with the firm that said in August it generated human embryonic stem cells without harming embryos to distribute stem cell lines under the new process, provided the federal government approves.
More than 25 Chinese scholars studying in the U.S. will convene in Madison this weekend to study ways to attack global environmental problems.
The students, from a variety of disciplines, hope to establish an Environmental Health Network of Chinese Scholars to promote discussion on public health and environmental issues.
Stanford University Medical Center will prohibit its physicians from accepting even small gifts like pens and mugs from pharmaceutical sales representatives under a new policy intended to limit industry influence on patient care and doctor education.
Enzyme sweetener may have healthy payoff in drugs
Adding a new sweetener to common antibiotics and anti-tumor drugs may help enhance their function, a Madison research study shows.
Madison Area Technical College recently ordered and received a biodiesel reactor. The reactor will be used to educate MATC students in the production and use of biodiesel fuels, and to promote biodiesel awareness around the state. To find their reactor MATC looked no further than UW-Madison.
Ana Garic-Stankovic is far from the stereotype of an unskilled worker who sneaks illegally across the border into the United States.
A researcher at UW-Madison’s department of nutritional sciences, she came here legally from Macedonia, and she and her husband overcame several hurdles to stay and become U.S. citizens.
For most of its 81 years, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has enjoyed a reputation as a pioneering and savvy leader in the commercialization of university inventions, the force that helped bring to market vitamin-D-enriched foods with to fight rickets, the blood thinner Warfarin to prevent strokes, and key technologies used in PlayStation 2 video-game machines.
Here on the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin, the foundation commonly referred to as WARF is also widely heralded as an enduring and generous benefactor of the research enterprise. It has provided close to $1-billion for professorships, research grants, and new buildingsÃ? ââ?¬â? including, most recently, a matching gift that will help build the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. The project, announced this spring, will foster cutting-edge collaborations in biology, nanotechnology, and computer science.
Early in his campaign, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle chose stem-cell research as a defining issue separating him from Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Mark Green.
And, until last week, it seemed voters could make a black-and-white distinction between the two candidates, both of whom are Roman Catholic.
Then came a gray area, and Green dove in, hoping to neutralize Doyle�s barrage of criticism.
If you’re planning on being outside at all this weekend – be for warned, the bees are buzzing in record numbers.
Experts say those heading to the Badger game tomorrow and also out to watch the Ironman competition Sunday can expect to find plenty of the pests around.
While fans root for Bucky at Camp Randall stadium, odds are they’ll also be swatting at something less cute and cuddly. Along with garlic mustard and zebra mussels, you can add the German yellow jacket to a list of invasive species here in Wisconsin.
Quoted: Mark Sager, director of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute and a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Anticipating a gruesome or traumatic event makes it more vivid and deeply imprinted in the memory, a study says.
Researchers found if people were aware something was going to happen, a key memory-forming part of the brain fired.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison said the findings may have implications in the treatment of conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Madison, Wis. – Ananda Chakrabarty is modest about the role he played in sparking the American biotechnology industry, but others are willing to do the boasting for him.
Chakrabarty, the first person to successfully patent life forms, visited Wisconsin this week to lecture students enrolled in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s biotechnology program. Asked if he understood the full impact of securing the legal right to patent genetically engineered Psuedomonas – engineered living organisms – Chakrabarty downplayed his contribution.
Two announcements this week bode well for the Dane County and Wisconsin biotech communities.
One is the news that an Illinois life sciences company will be moving to Madison. The other is that a fledgling venture capital fund ââ?¬â?? backed by
Boston financiers – will be investing in startup life sciences and information technology companies in Wisconsin and other Midwestern states.
Q: Is it safe to reuse plastic water bottles? I heard somewhere that the plastic can break down and chemicals can leach into the water.
A: “It’s not a good idea,” said William Sonzogni, a UW- Madison environmental chemist.
Wisconsin ought to put its money for embryonic stem cell research where it has the best chance of curing disease.
That means supporting existing, ethical and proven research at UW-Madison. It also means pushing President Bush to loosen unnecessary restrictions on the creation and use of new stem cell lines.
Mark Green is calling for an additional $25 million state investment in embryonic stem cell research. On the surface, thats commendable for a public official whose record has been steadfastly opposed to the use of any additional taxpayer dollars for this promising research.
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Unfortunately, there are strings. And as well-intentioned as the congressman may be, his idea may compromise the cutting-edge embryonic stem cell research already taking place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a quest to find ways of conducting this research without harming embryos.
Is Dane County really becoming nationally known as a hotbed for biotechnology, with the potential to generate jobs and income for Wisconsin as well as medical advancements for mankind?
Are the millions of dollars of state investment in biological sciences at UW-Madison really paying off?
Is there really economic development potential in a Madison-to-Milwaukee-to-Chicago triangle of regional cooperation?
Wisconsin policymakers should take note: This week produced more evidence that the answers to those three questions are yes, yes and yes.
Video games involving multiple players serve as informal gathering places akin to old-time pubs and coffee shops, and can thereby boost players’ social connections, researchers argue in a new study.
In their report, Constance Steinkuehler of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dmitri Williams of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign question the perception that kids who play computer games are isolating themselves, at least when they are playing so-called massively multiplayer online games (MMOs).
Gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., announced a plan Tuesday to directly invest $25 million into new stem-cell research that does not destroy the embryo.
Seeking to blunt criticism he would stand in the way of groundbreaking science, Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green on Tuesday proposed spending $25 million in state money on embryonic stem-cell research that doesn’t harm embryos.
Green even took a page from the playbook of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, making the announcement in Hartland flanked by families affected by juvenile diabetes, one of the diseases stem-cell research holds promise to treat. Doyle has made championing the science a centerpiece of his campaign.
Republican gubernatorial challenger Mark Green called Tuesday for spending $25 million over four years on research that seeks to replicate embryonic stem cells – seen as the key to treating a long list of diseases – without destroying the embryo.
Jennifer Delahanty said it seemed normal to her as she grew up in Eau Claire to hear sayings such as, “Do you want to come with?” and “Come here once.”
“You’re not aware the way you talk is different,” said the University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student in German social linguistics. “But when I came to Madison and had contact with students from other parts of the country, I realized that it was.”
UW-Madison researchers have found a new way to tap the natural sugars of plants and bacteria in the search for new drugs to treat cancer and infectious diseases.
Scientists look to bacteria for energy source
With energy prices near all-time highs, teams of researchers across the world are looking for other sources of power. One such team is located here at UW-Madison, where scientists from several disciplines have been working together to help alleviate our global energy crisis.
The economy in Wisconsin is doing better than the workers.”The State of Working Wisconsin 2006,” a report by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that the state’s economy is growing, but the benefits of that growth are not widely shared.
MILWAUKEE – Jennifer Delahanty said it seemed normal to her as she grew up in Eau Claire, Wis., to hear sayings such as, “Do you want to come with?” and “Come here once.”
“You’re not aware the way you talk is different,” said the University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student in German social linguistics. “But when I came to Madison and had contact with students from other parts of the country, I realized that it was.”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is facing a hit to its pocketbook and brainpower after a researcher announced that he is leaving because of the state’s refusal to provide domestic partner benefits.
On my lab bench is a dish containing what are perhaps the world’s most famous cells.
Derived eight years ago by Wisconsin developmental biologist James Thomson, in whose lab I work, the human embryonic stem cells in front of me are happy, dividing with ease in their cocktail of nutrients and growth factors.
Cared for properly, these cells will divide in culture endlessly. They are the Energizer Bunnies of cells. They never stop dividing. A column by Tenneille Ludwig, a stem cell scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an affiliate of the WiCell Research Institute.
A column by Elizabeth L.R. Donley, executive director of the WiCell research Institute, says Wisconsin and WiCell are important parts of a worldwide effort. We should, and do, applaud those around the globe who have joined together to expand the boundaries of human knowledge.
It is also appropriate for those of us in Wisconsin to take more than a little pride in the essential contributions of our scientists, entrepreneurs, business and financial leaders and policy-makers to this amazing global undertaking. On behalf of all those hard at work in their laboratories, hospitals, clinics and research centers, thank you.
Mathematics has solved problems in nature for centuries.
The ancient Egyptians used geometry to survey their landscape. Isaac Newton developed calculus while describing planetary motion.
Many of the recent challenges in applied mathematics are coming from biology.
“The most interesting math objects are the ones that come from nature. This used to mean physics exclusively; now it means physics and biology,” said Gheorghe Craciun, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Madison, Wis. – The WiCell Research Institute, the non-profit host of the National Stem Cell Bank controlling all 21 federally funded stem cell lines in the U.S., has selected Beth Donley as its new executive director.
Philadelphia – The California biotech company that grabbed headlines last week for sparing human embryos while creating precious stem cells in fact destroyed all 16 embryos used in the experiments.
A spot on Uranus
No, it’s not some astronomer’s idea of a rude joke: Rather, the Hubble Space Telescope has captured a rare view of one of Uranus’ satellites, Ariel, floating over the planet and casting a shadow on the cloud tops.
Maybe it’s not hopeless after all. Maybe Americans will wake up in time to help reverse global warming and, in the process, help rescue the planet.
At least, that’s what some are suggesting after Pat Robertson, of all people, recently announced that he’s a global warming convert.
(UW-Madison environmental sciences professor Cal DeWitt is quoted.)
A strange lot, these new-style Republicans who run the Wisconsin Legislature.
Last week when Rob Carpick, one of the UW-Madison’s stars who has brought more than $3.4 million in research grants to the university, announced he was leaving because of the state’s refusal to offer health insurance for his domestic partner, the co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, Rep. Dean Kaufert, proclaimed there is nothing to worry about.
…this breed of Wisconsin legislator has never been able to come to grips with just how much of an economic engine the University of Wisconsin is for our state.
Thirty years ago, Nick Seay moved here – to a city he had never seen – and joined a handful of patent lawyers working in this relatively small university town.
Today, Seay is one of more than 80 registered patent lawyers in Madison and is a key player in the commercialization of embryonic stem cells, one of the most cutting-edge scientific technologies on the globe.
It was Seay who wrote the potentially lucrative patents that were filed after University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist James Thomson in 1998 became the first person to isolate human embryonic stem cells.
Minnesota Research chief Tim Mulcahy works hard to create partnerships between the University of Minnesota and cutting-edge companies in the state.
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin is playing a role in trying to prevent another tragedy like Hurricane Katrina.
On Aug. 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina rocked the gulf coast. In the days and weeks that followed 1,464 people died.
A UW professor said without preparedness that number might have even been higher.
Q: Why do scientists think birds descended from dinosaurs?
A: The “overwhelming majority” of specialists in ancient life think birds descended from dinosaurs, says Richard Slaughter, director of the UW-Madison Geology Museum.
Madison, Wis. – The United States Catholic Bishops did not waver, and after some initial signs of hesitation, neither did the White House.
Wisconsin Right to Life, however, is not yet prepared to rule out a new method of deriving stem cells from human embryos that does not destroy embryos, and gubernatorial candidate Mark Green believes it’s a promising development.
When you think about economic development, a medical school is probably not the first thing that crosses the mind. But consider the lucrative economic spinoff in Dane County from the cutting-edge research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s medical school.
Scientists have for the first time grown colonies of prized human embryonic stem cells using a technique that does not require the destruction of embryos, an advance that could significantly reshape the ethical and political debates that have long entangled the research.
Evolutionary biology has vanished from the list of acceptable fields of study for recipients of a federal education grant for low-income college students.
Biologists have developed a technique for establishing colonies of human embryonic stem cells from an early human embryo without destroying it. This method, if confirmed in other laboratories, would seem to remove the principal objection to the research.
A Dane County Judge will likely decide in late October whether a Regent Street bicycle shop owner illegally backed out of an agreement to sell a building for a primate cruelty exhibition center.
Massachusetts scientists announced yesterday that they have created the first human embryonic stem cells using a technique that does not require the destruction of an embryo — an advance they said could end the bitter political standoff over stem-cell research.
Researchers report today that they have found a way to create human stem cells from a single cell ââ?¬â? without harming embryos. But this discovery may not eliminate the concerns of those who have opposed stem cell research.
Biologists have developed a technique for establishing colonies of human embryonic stem cells from an early human embryo without destroying it. This method, if confirmed in other laboratories, would seem to remove the principal objection to the research.
Madison, Wis. – The next generation of high-performance wireless communication devices could rely on crystals, according to engineering researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The constant calls, the people frightening his children, and the demonstrations in front of his home apparently became a little too much.
Dario Ringach, an associate neurobiology professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, decided this month to give up his research on primates because of pressure put on him, his neighborhood, and his family by the UCLA Primate Freedom Project, which seeks to stop research that harms animals.
In Madison, important research is looking at the impact of nicotine on adolescent rats, which may show why some young human smokers become addicted quickly.
Also funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, studies by Charles Landry, an assistant professor in psychiatry at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, have shown that brains of young rats show a dramatic response to an injection of nicotine equivalent to two or three cigarettes. Adult rats do not show the same response.
Q: Why does it seem women like chocolate so much more than men?
A: Chocolate does affect women differently than men, says Anthony Auger, an assistant professor of psychology at UW-Madison.
Auger, who studies sex differences in the brain, agrees that women have a stronger craving for chocolate. This distinction can be found as far down the evolutionary ladder as rats, where females also have a stronger chocolate craving.
Madison, Wis. – The next generation of high-performance wireless communication devices could rely on crystals, according to engineering researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
