Category: Research

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – University of California, San Francisco, has agreed to deposit its federally approved stem cell lines in the national stem cell bank at University of Wisconsin-Madison, the bank announced this week.
The addition of the two California lines will give the bank 13 of the 21 cell lines available for federal funding from the National Institutes of Health, leaders of the bank said.

MADISON ââ?¬â?? The University Research Park on this cityââ?¬â?¢s west side is a major force in not only local commerce, but a player in the regional marketplace.

The University Research Park, already one of the shining jewels in the state’s economic development crown ? the University of Wisconsin ? is only growing in its impact on the state. A new study out this week shows the park now contributing more than 680-Million dollars to the state’s economy each year, supporting 91 hundred jobs and generating 46 Million dollars in annual state and local tax revenue.

The WiCell Research Institute, announced the addition of two new stem cell lines Tuesday, in an effort to bring all 22 National Institutes of Health-approved stem cell lines into one internationally accessible database.

As part of its initiative to house all 21 federally approved human embryonic stem-cell lines, the National Stem Cell Bank at the WiCell Research Institute in Madison added two stem-cell lines Tuesday from the University of California-San Francisco, bringing its total to 13.

Madison, Wis. – Almost everybody knows the University of Wisconsin-Madison stimulates the local economy by generating high-tech spin-off companies. But a new study has produced figures to back that assertion.

Dr. Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at UW-Madison and director of the university’s Lab for Affective Neuroscience, pioneered some of the world’s first research on meditation and its affect on the brain. With meditation, says Davidson, a person can train his or her mind to improve attention and regulate emotions; it can also improve a person’s level of happiness and well-being.

Higher vitamin D intake has been associated with a significantly reduced risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a study released last week. Lead author of the study is Halcyon Skinner, an assistant professor of population health at the University of Wisconsin.

The Trace Research and Development Center in UW-Madison’s College of Engineering has pioneered the creation of products with ease-of-use features using universal design. Trace Center director Gregg Vanderheiden said technology designed just for the disabled is missing the point.

Oil giant British Petroleum – Amoco wants to pour half a billion dollars into researching alternative fuel sources over the next decade…and they may do it in our own backyard.Ã?  27 News has uncovered that a BP-Amoco executive visited UW’s campus Monday, as part of a fact-finding mission.Ã?  That representative visited the Engineering and Ag and Life Sciences departments, to evaluate the potential for the university to partner with BP-Amoco for what will be called the “Energy Bioscience Institute.”Ã?  It’s a research facility that will focus on alternative and renewable transportation fuels.

Q: Why is there such variation in the sound of thunder, from the sharp crack to long rumblings?
A: The energy released by lightning — which can get as hot as 50,000 degrees — rapidly heats up surrounding air molecules, which expand faster than the speed of sound and create a shock wave that sounds like an explosion, said Thomas Achtor, a researcher with the Space Science and Engineering Center.

Researchers are exploring whether vitamin D might prevent pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest malignancies. The study’s main author is Halcyon Skinner of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

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.

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 â��� 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.