Category: Research

A Start on Research Cloning
Hats off to Harvard and the University of California at San Francisco for undertaking stem cell research that the Bush administration is trying to discourage and political leaders in Washington seem unwilling to support. Both institutions have started programs to clone human embryos and extract stem cells from them, thus creating stem cell lines tailor-made to study specific diseases. Their bold moves, made after intense soul-searching over the ethical and scientific issues, should help to revive a promising field of research � known as therapeutic or research cloning � that had been staggered by a scandal in South Korea.

David Strom struggles with a cruel irony of diabetes that happens when neuropathy leaves his hands partially limp, but with enough life in them to feel extreme pain.

“At night it feels like someone is breaking my fingers,” said Strom, 35, an Appleton man who was first diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at 8.

Milwaukee, Wis. – MatriLab, a Madison-based start-up that is developing technologies for the $6 billion worldwide wound care market, has won the 2006 Governor’s Business Plan Contest.

Photographers on Tuesday shared intimate images they captured of Madison’s South Side. At the Boys and Girls Club, 2001 Taft St., they presented a slideshow of neighborhood shots to a UW-Madison research team.

The photographers were uniquely qualified for the assignment: They are the neighborhood’s children.

Her name is Hsuan-Yun Pi, an incredibly knowledgeable doctoral student in the ever-evolving digital video communications field. Her recent visits to the St. Croix Reservation at Hertel and the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCOOCC) in Hayward gave the students and community members there hands-on practice with the latest equipment and spurred digitally preserving the two tribes� history, activities and events.

Her trip to Indian Country had been arranged by Susan Gooding, a Native American Studies adjunct professor at LCO College and doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago. The project was funded by Richard Barrows, dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

(UNDATED) Those who have a stake in stem cell research will gather in California this weekend. Scientists will sit alongside patient advocates as they listen to keynote speakers. One of them will be Wisconsin�s Governor; Jim Doyle has actively recruited biomedical companies to the state and vetoed legislation that some feared might inhibit stem cell research.

A UW-Madison professor will be the liaison between U.S. plasma and fusion science researchers and a group that is building the U.S. share of ITER, an international experiment that aims to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power, which one day could be an abundant, economical and environmentally benign energy source, the UW announced.

On May 24, the seven international ITER participants initialed an agreement to construct the experiment. The U.S. Department of Energy and its ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Project Office recently named UW engineering physics Professor Raymond Fonck chief scientist for the U.S. portion of the project.

Scientists at Harvard and Children’s Hospital Boston announced Tuesday they have the green light to clone human embryos that could generate stem cell lines for specific diseases.The researchers join a small cadre of scientists worldwide attempting to do what a South Korean scientist claimed to have done, only to have his work unravel when it was exposed as a fraud.

(CBS News) MADISON, WI Researchers Here In Wisconsin.. Are Testing An Experimental Medicine.. That Could Change The Way Allergies Are Treated.

They’re Oral Allergy Shots.. Called Sublingual Immunotherapy.. Or Slit.. And Doctors At UW-Madison Are Studying It.

The Native American perspective of the night sky isn’t widely known in the astronomy community, largely because so few Indians choose science as a career. But some Wisconsin professors are out to change that, by associating modern science with tribal traditions. (Audio.)

When Christopher Contag moved into his office at the James H. Clark Center at Stanford University, he wanted to show it off to his kids.
or Discovery. And it kind of does.

Set within a cavernous space, the office is entirely prefab: The walls are constructed of rectangular pieces of fluted glass fitted to make a very large box. The ceiling is enclosed by large glass panels. Light fixtures hang from steel girders that crisscross the ceiling.

After you’ve buckled your seat belt and made sure your tray table is in the upright and locked position, you can feel pretty certain that for the most part your flight will be humdrum.

Nevertheless, there are atmospheric conditions that can make aviation hazardous – thunderstorms and volcanic ash are two. And researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and elsewhere are working to improve knowledge of these potentially flight-interrupting events by using data from weather satellites.

The effort is an innovative one, said Wayne Feltz, a scientist at the UW-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center, which leads the Wisconsin effort, because it is designed to make satellite data routine and automated in aviation.

Traditional science has flourished for centuries in traditional university buildings, where walls and doors separate the spaces – and the scientists who inhabit them – into offices and labs, departments and disciplines.

In the last decade, however, researchers have begun investigating questions that demand a more collaborative, open environment. Creating that environment is the goal of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, a planned $150 million research facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

An investigation into the work of Elizabeth Goodwin, a former associate professor of genetics and medical genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has found “several publications in which at least one figure was questionable,” according to William Mellon, the university’s associate dean for research policy, who commissioned the probe late last year.

After you’ve buckled your seat belt and made sure your tray table is in the upright and locked position, you can feel pretty certain that for the most part your flight will be humdrum.

Nevertheless, there are atmospheric conditions that can make aviation hazardous – thunderstorms and volcanic ash are two. And researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and elsewhere are working to improve knowledge of these potentially flight-interrupting events by using data from weather satellites.

Q: What’s the prognosis for solar power in the alternative energy market?
A: It looks bright. Solar power is available and, for certain uses, already economical, says William Beckman, director of the Solar Energy Laboratory at UW-Madison.

But is Wisconsin sunny enough?

“People ask that question no matter where they live, except maybe if they live in Phoenix,” says Beckman.

A lack of state support for stem cell research in the US has resulted in the country falling behind other nations in this area of science, a group of American politicians said today.

Fast food fiends hungry for a bargain should skip the super-sizing – those extra calories arenââ?¬â?¢t as cheap as they seem.
New research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered that as a person�s waistline expands, so do the bills.

University of Wisconsin-Madison investigators have accused a former genetics professor of distorting research findings in grant applications and her published papers.

Elizabeth B. Goodwin improperly relabeled charts and graphs in the applications for three grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health, investigators found. The investigators’ findings became public Wednesday.

Madison: An internal probe finds a UW scientist lied when applying for federal grants.

The scientist in question is Dr. Elizabeth Goodwinââ?¬â??a genetics researcher described by colleagues as ‘extremely talented.’

A genetics professor resigned in March after a UW committee investigated student claims that she won grants with incorrect scientific data.

Interim Dean of Research Irwin Goldman in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences said there was little chance of catching the errors before Goodwin won three grants totalling nearly two million dollars.

There is strong evidence that a University of Wisconsin-Madison geneticist committed “serious professional misconduct” in her research, wrote Chancellor John Wiley, adding that if she had not already resigned, dismissal proceedings would have warranted.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Goodwin, an associate professor with tenure, had $1.7 million in two grants from the National Institutes for Health to study the sexual habits of worms. There were “irregularities” in three grant applications, a three-member investigative panel wrote in a report dated April 26. She resigned March 1.

A UW-Madison genetics professor who resigned this year fabricated data in three grant applications – misconduct unearthed by graduate students whose careers suffered in the process – says a university investigative report released Wednesday.

Researchers at the UW have uncovered a new way to detect potential health problems in smokers.
Scientists are using helium to track respiratory organ movement.

Itââ?¬â?¢s smooth and spreadable ââ?¬â?? but itââ?¬â?¢s got researchers whipped up. How a Wisconsin lab is hacking the chemical code of cream cheese.

Fewer but larger doses of radiotherapy may be a safe and effective way to treat breast cancer, research suggests.

A team of UK and US researchers found giving 13 larger doses was as effective at preventing cancer from returning as the standard regime of 25 small doses.

The research was a collaboration between the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the Gloucestershire Oncology Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research and the University of Wisconsin.

Every time you super size your lunch at a fast food joint, it’s going to cost you a lot more than just additional calories, according to UW-Madison nutritional scientists.

RACINE ââ?¬â?Ã? Health advocates have preached for years about the effects which too much food and too much weight have on your health, and now a pair of Wisconsin researchers has calculated how that jumbo-sized restaurant ââ?¬Å?bargainââ?¬Â meal deflates your wallet while it inflates your stomach.

Whether it’s an order of French fries or a juicy steak, our portion sizes are becoming as large as our waistlines.It’s hard to resist, when many restaurants let you upsize your meal for mere pennies.

The words Gov. Jim Doyle used this week to defend state support for embryonic stem-cell research deserve to be repeated:
The research, the governor wrote, “holds the potential to save countless lives and bring thousands of jobs to our state.”

That powerful potential for good is why there should be no retreat from state funding and policies supporting stem-cell research at UW-Madison.

The Johns Hopkins University spent $1.375 billion for science, medical and engineering research in fiscal 2004, making it the top U.S. institution in research spending for the 26th year in a row, according to a National Science Foundation report. UW-Madison recorded $763 million in spending and ranked fourth. (Second item)

When I read that Gov. Doyle and the state’s Roman Catholic bishops were arguing over stem-cell research, my first thought was, “Do we really need this kind of a carnival side show?”

My second thought was “This is exactly the kind of debate we ought to be having about important moral issues in our society.”

A: That question is harder to answer than you might expect, says Frank Myers, professor emeritus of ophthalmology at UW-Madison, since the experiments necessary to pinpoint the cause would be unethical. You can’t hit people in the head to see why they see stars.

The safety of Tasers, the electric pistols that are widely used by police, is under new scrutiny after a study by a Wisconsin scientist showed that shocks from the guns cause the hearts of healthy pigs to stop beating.

Madison: New research shows it is possible for a Taser to kill a pig. Therefore, in rare cases a taser could kill a human.

Stunning findings in a UW Research study show tasers can kill pigs.

A controversial research project conducted by a UW- Madison professor showed that Tasers can kill pigs.
John Webster, a professor of biomedical engineering at UW- Madison, recently discovered that it’s possible for a Taser to cause ventricular fibrillation in pigs – a heart condition that will lead to death if not treated with electric defibrillation.