A wiggly cylinder of protein, hydrogel, and human cells, about the size of a wristwatch battery, could one day serve as a building block for synthetic tissues. The implications could be big for biological research and even organ transplants, according to a recent study that reported the creation of the gelatinous cylinder. The work brings researchers a step closer to fabricating tissues…
A team of scientists who were trying to identify neurons that drive instinctive behaviors in mice uncovered something surprising on the way: brain cell types that exist only in female or male animals. Other researchers have previously found genes that are switched on, or expressed, exclusively in male or female brains, but this is the first demonstration of sex-specific neuron…
Squids, octopuses, cuttlefish, amphibians, and chameleon lizards are among the animals that can change the color of their skin in a blink of an eye. They have photoreceptors in their skin that operate independently of their brain. The photoreceptors are part of a family of proteins known as opsins. Mammals have opsins, too. They are the most abundant proteins in the…
Christof Koch was finishing his PhD on theoretical brain modelling in 1982 when he received a worrying telegram from his adviser, Tomaso Poggio. Poggio, who had relocated to the United States from what was then West Germany the previous year, warned Koch, who was planning to join him, that he might struggle to find a US position. After getting his…
A new, interdisciplinary muscle research center is celebrating its opening at its main location at UW Medicine South Lake Union. With collaborating labs across the University of Washington campus and at other Seattle-area institutions and beyond, the Center for Translational Muscle Research will encompass a myriad of muscle science and disease investigations. Studies will range from the basics of muscle-related…
The Allen Institute today released its first — and the world’s largest — dataset of electrical brain activity gathered using Neuropixels, a new high-resolution silicon probe that can read out activity from hundreds of neurons simultaneously. These data capture billions of lightning-fast spikes of electrical communication sparked from nearly 100,000 neurons as laboratory mice see and respond to images and…
Inside a lab on the ground floor of Seattle Children’s new research facility, kids will work alongside scientists to get a hands-on approach to medical research. The Science Discovery Lab was designed specifically to host middle and high school students, giving them access to authentic equipment. It’s embedded in Building Cure and kids are taught procedures and practices used by scientists in other parts…
Seattle Children’s today announced the opening of Building Cure™, a new 540,000 square-foot pediatric research facility located at Stewart Street and Terry Avenue in downtown Seattle’s biotech corridor. Building Cure is the latest step in Seattle Children’s quest to revolutionize pediatric medicine and improve the lives of children worldwide. As one of the nation’s top five pediatric research centers, Seattle Children’s…
A new program delving into how viruses and bacteria attack the fetus, and how the body fights back, has been created at UW Medicine. The research program was made possible after two UW Medicine researchers received almost $19 million in National Institutes of Health grants over the past several months. The funding has launched a Program on Maternal-Fetal Health within…
Seattle Children’s will embark on a groundbreaking clinical trial that will potentially transform treatment methods for children with relapsed acute pediatric leukemia. In collaboration with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), Dr. Todd Cooper, an oncologist and director of the Seattle Children’s High-Risk Leukemia Program, is part of a team leading the effort to launch a global precision medicine master clinical trial called…