Skip to main content

Category: Research

Team spirit

The Week

In Hyderabad, Bharat Biotech is collaborating with virologists at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison and vaccine company FluGen on a “unique intranasal vaccine” called CoroFlu.

Two weeks after election, COVID-19 cases have not spiked in Wisconsin but experts urge caution about conclusions

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: “It’s tempting to attribute that higher-than-expected number of cases to the election, but I think we have to be cautious,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, a former CDC epidemiologist and director of the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s virtually impossible to know whether that relationship is cause and effect.”

Oguzhan Alagoz, a professor of industrial engineering and infectious disease modeling expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he expected to see a spike in cases. But data from Milwaukee and Madison, he said, have shown only modest increases in coronavirus cases.

Deep learning takes on tumours

Nature

Sharing bioimaging data sets and deep-learning models will also be a priority for the Center for Open Bioimage Analysis, an effort funded by the US government and led by Carpenter and Kevin Eliceiri, a bioengineer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

State details back-to-work plan

Wisconsin Examiner

In fact, DHS data shows that the number of infections has been rising by about 150 to 190 cases per day, doubling about every two weeks, according to calculations posted by professor Brian Yandell, interim director of the American Family Insurance Data Science Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As of Monday afternoon, DHS reported 4,449 people with positive tests for the infection, including 230 people who have died.

“We Exist Within a Colossal Sphere” –The Void that Harbors the Milky Way (Weekend Feature)

The Daily Galaxy

n a 2013 observational study of the large-scale structure of the universe, University of Wisconsin-Madison astronomers Amy Barger and Ryan Keenan showed that our galaxy, in the context of the large-scale structure of the universe, resides in an enormous void—a region of space containing far fewer galaxies, stars and planets than expected. The structure of the cosmos is Swiss cheese-like in the sense that it is composed of “normal matter” in the form of voids and filaments.

Pandemic carves gaps in long-term field projects

Science

Philip Townsend, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has been working to turn those measurements into easy-to-use maps. He’d planned to groundtruth his efforts by collecting leaves this season. But this spring, there will be both airborne measurements and leaf collection are on hold.

How need for speed is driving vaccine hunt

Times of India

Among Indian companies, Bharat Biotech Ltd is reportedly partnering with University of Wisconsin-Madison and US-based FluGen to develop a vaccine while Zydus Cadila and Serum Institute, too, are working for a vaccine

How lab animals are helping scientists fight Covid-19

Quartz

“We still need to understand how the virus behaves in different species, and which questions are best answered by which species,” said Dave O’Connor, a pathologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is leading some of the first research in the US on Covid-19 in monkeys. Here are a few playing a primary role in current research.

COVID-19: Is India equipped to carry out clinical trials on vaccines?

Down to Earth Magazine

“Bharat Biotech had approached us for preclinical studies but we did not have the animals,” says Pothani. Now these are being carried out in University of Wisconsin-Madison. The same is true for the vaccine developed by Serum Institute of India and Codagenix, Inc. is also being tested in the USA. Pothani reveals that the institute has requested the secretary to import the animals to ensure future studies.

The Mysterious Demise of Freshwater Mussels

Undark

On the case is the somewhat facetiously named Unionid Mussel Strike Force, a collaboration of two researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a half-dozen other scientists from a handful of federal agencies around the country. But in addition to trying to solve a mystery, the Strike Force is struggling against another obstacle long familiar to mussel specialists: apathy.

Bharat Biotech: Hope to get nasal vaccine against Covid-19 into market in 12-18 months: Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech

Times of India

Q When did you start work on a new vaccine and what is the status of the research?

A. We began work on the new vaccine, CoroFlu, in February this year. CoroFlu builds on cutting-edge technology from an influenza vaccine already being developed by US company FluGen, and based on research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (UWM). Because CoroFlu is based on a flu vaccine, our team hopes to protect patients from both the flu virus and the novel coronavirus at the same time.

Milky Way may have 100 faint satellite galaxies

Tech Explorist

An effort led by the others in the DES team, including former KIPAC students Alex Drlica-Wagner, a Wilson Fellow at Fermilab and an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, and Keith Bechtol, an associate professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and their collaborators produced the crucial final step: a model of which satellite galaxies are most likely to be seen by current surveys, given where they are in the sky as well as their brightness, size, and distance.

Labs throughout Wisconsin could significantly increase COVID-19 testing — if they could get the needed chemicals

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

UW Health has an automated instrument capable of processing about 1,200 COVID-19 tests a day, or roughly four times the number that its lab now typically does.

The instrument has yet to be used for a single COVID-19 test.

UW Health’s lab, like others throughout the state, has been unable to get the chemicals, or reagents, needed to process specimens on the instrument.

Clinical trial to begin using plasma from coronavirus survivors to protect those exposed, treat people who are already sick

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: The University of Wisconsin-Madison joined the project last weekend and is expected to host one of the clinical trials.

The work in Madison will be led by William Hartman, UW Health assistant professor of anesthesiology. Hartman said Madison will be one of the clinical trial sites, though he could not say how many patients will participate.

“I think we can be very hopeful in that it has exhibited success with previous coronaviruses including SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome),” Hartman said, referring to the use of survivor plasma.

Map Reveals Hidden U.S. Hotspots of Coronavirus Infection

Scientific American

The mapping team initially used data from a crowd-sourced tracker of county-level cases and validated them with estimates from state health departments. The researchers have since incorporated data from several other sources, and they are partnering with their colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to authenticate that information.

Mathematics as a Team Sport

Quanta Magazine

Autumn, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has dyed-blond bangs and traces of a Carolina twang. I knew her name from a widely circulated interview she gave a few years ago on being a trans woman in mathematics. Yair, of Yale University, is a recent empty nester with a graying beard and a gentle bearing.

UW research receiving $1.5M grant for COVID-19

NBC-15

Researchers and community organizations responding to the COVID-19 pandemic will be receiving funding from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, according to a release on Tuesday morning.

Exact Sciences, Promega, UW Health and more partner with state to expand COVID-19 testing

Wisconsin State Journal

According to a statement from Gov. Tony Evers’ office, Fitchburg-based Promega, Madison-based Exact Sciences and UW Health, and Marshfield-based Marshfield Health Clinic System will work with the laboratory network to share knowledge, resources and technology to boost the state’s ability to test patients for the virus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.

Engineers Made a DIY Face Shield. Now, It’s Helping Doctors

WIRED

Early last week, Lennon Rodgers, director of the Engineering Design Innovation Lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison, got an urgent email from the university’s hospital. Could his lab make 1,000 face shields to protect staff testing and treating Covid-19 patients? The hospital’s usual suppliers were out of stock, due to the spike in demand prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.