By the time a tumor is detected, it’s riddled with mutations — but which are driving its development and progression, and which are merely along for the ride? That’s the question that scientists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center can now answer, thanks to their new method to screen breast cancer-associated mutations for their functional consequences. Previous attempts to distinguish…
Reading science headlines may cause cancer. Not really. But reading headlines alone — particularly misleading or mendacious ones that distort scientific findings — can cause real harm. “There is definitely fallout from misunderstanding science,” said Dr. Ruth Etzioni, a biostatistician with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “Policymakers who have to evaluate the evidence and find the truth in all of this noise…
A new study released today in the Journal of Virology gives insights into how the HIV-1 virus, which often persists in the body despite antiretroviral treatment, reemerges when treatment stops. More importantly, the study also gives clues on how to stop this reemergence from occurring. “We wanted to answer the question ‘How does HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, bounce back when treatment is…
As health authorities isolate the sick, set up quarantines and close borders, early efforts to stop a coronavirus pandemic are also trying something completely different: “open science.” The COVID-19 outbreak that began in Wuhan, China, has become an important test case for the risks and benefits of open science — a movement long-simmering within the global research community. By calling for rapid,…
Though Genette Hofmann is still using her brain, last month she donated a bit of it — to science. Hofmann needed the surgery — her Seattle surgeon was looking deep into her brain, where he found the trigger for the epileptic seizures that had disrupted her life for 30 years. But to get there, he teased out a bit of…
Meet cell 485105.03.02.01. This cell started its life in a mouse brain, one of millions of other excitatory neurons, the broad class of cells whose job it is to activate other neurons. After months of research by multiple specialized teams, each investigating different attributes of the cell, its data — along with data from thousands of other mouse and human…
Dr. Tina Lockwood, Ph.D., is the definition of accomplished in her field, which puts her at the leading edge of research focused on precision medicine and the genetics of human disease. Lockwood is an associate professor at the University of Washington, where she serves as the director of the Genetics and Solid Tumor Diagnostics Laboratory in the Department of Laboratory…
For more than a century, the human fingerprint has been a symbol of individual identity, a plot device for mystery writers and moviemakers, and a tool for criminal investigators hoping to prove that only one person out of several billion could be the culprit. Dr. Pamela Becker is at the center of a collaborative effort to extend the lives of…
A team of chemical engineers has developed a new way to produce medicines and chemicals on demand and preserve them using portable “biofactories” embedded in water-based gels called hydrogels. The approach could help people in remote villages or on military missions, where the absence of pharmacies, doctor’s offices or even basic refrigeration makes it hard to access critical medicines, daily…
When it comes to developing a protein cage-based therapeutic vaccine, Rose Fields, a senior majoring in biochemistry, works in uncharted and high-impact territory. Fields became involved in this particular project through her previous work at the Institute for Protein Design where she started her research career during her freshman year. Fields described her research as being at the intersection of…