The very early days of growth, long before we are born, are a time of incredible development. In a relatively short period of time, we and other mammals create our bodies’ dozens of different organs from a few thin layers of cells. In mice, that period is only four days long. In humans, it’s complete before the end of the…
Good Therapeutics, a new Seattle biotech startup that aims to develop protein drugs that act only when needed, raised $11 million in an equity round, according to a new SEC filing. The secretive startup is trying to “make safer, more effective drugs that act only when and where they are needed, limiting systemic toxicity without reducing therapeutic efficacy,” according to its…
Most cancer clinical trials don’t meet their enrollment targets and it has been previously thought that patient reluctance was behind this. Now a new study published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, led by researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle challenges that by suggesting that other factors are primarily responsible. “Patients are often fearful of…
Anti-HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) have revealed vaccine targets on the virus’s envelope (Env) protein and are themselves promising immunotherapies. The efficacy of bnAb-based therapies and vaccines depends in part on how readily the virus can escape neutralization. Although structural studies can define contacts between bnAbs and Env, only functional studies can define mutations that confer escape. Here, we mapped…
If you slip on a virtual reality headset to play the Allen Institute for Cell Science’s latest app, you’ll find yourself inside a simulated, circular room with targets on the walls all around you. Several 3D, watermelon-sized human cells fall from the sky and land at your feet, jostling gently to find their place on the ground. In the VR…
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center investigator Dr. Harmit Malikhas been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, an honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology. Malik, a member of the Hutch’s Basic Sciences Division and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, was one of 109 fellows elected this year. Annual fellow selection is a highly selective, peer-reviewed process that is…
According to a new study published recently in JAMA, many patients eschew using the safest antibiotic in the mistaken belief they are allergic to an entire class of antibiotics, including penicillins. Instead, they often rely on pricier drugs, which are associated with higher rates of complications and treatment failure. Or the patient is blasted with a broad-spectrum antibiotic which can increase the…
That is how ISB microbiome researcher Dr. Sean Gibbons kicked off a recent Facebook Live Q&A. Gibbons, who joined ISB as Washington Research Foundation Distinguished Investigator and assistant professor in June 2018 and who runs the Gibbons Lab, explained the nascent field of microbiome research. “We’ve only really come to appreciate (the human microbiome) in the last couple of decades,” Gibbons said. “My lab…
CRISPR gene editing could let us hack the immune system to give lasting protection against HIV and other infections. Experiments in mice suggest that the technique could be used to give people immunity from a range of viruses for which there are no effective vaccines. Justin Taylor, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, and colleagues used the…
Our lab in the Department of Pathology at UW is interested in how cells deal with "genetic entropy", defined as the progressive accumulation of mutations. This can occur during aging or during prolonged expression of a "mutator phenotype". Mutator phenotypes commonly arise in cancers due to mutations that compromise the fidelity of DNA replication or DNA repair. While mutators initially enjoy a more rapid evolution, they run up against a progressive loss of fitness due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations....
