The UW’s Dr. Kelly Stevens, a professor of bioengineering, is leading a group of scientists and bioengineers from the UW, Rice University, and Duke University in an effort to 3D-print organs. Their findings were published on May 3 in Science Magazine. Though the technology to print usable organs is still far in the future, the group has been able to make significant…
In patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the rate of disease growth varies widely. In a new study from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Washington, scientists report that CLL growth is apt to follow one of three trajectories: relentlessly upward, steadily level or something in between. The…
To treat viral diseases that have no working vaccine, a group of researchers have engineered immune cells to spit out specific antibodies that can fight off a host of infections, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and HIV (Sci. Immunol. 2019, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aax0644). Engineering these immune cells, called B cells, has been no small feat, say scientists who spoke to C&EN. B cells…
What do you think about the institute? As an initiative, the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) is the bow wave of medical practice — I think it’s where healthcare is headed. Dr. Chuck Murry, the director and one of the lead investigators, seems tireless. He’s obviously a hugely talented scientist — a global force in cardiac regeneration…
Treatment options for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have been limited for most of Elisa Boden, MD’s career. Until a few years ago, she and her colleagues – including James Lord, MD, PhD, and Michael Chiorean, MD – have had only a few types of medications to treat IBD. And those drugs often failed to stop the immune attacks that trigger the…
When Arabella Smygov was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1 at 3 months old, the first recommendation Dr. Fawn Leigh, a neurologist at Seattle Children’s, gave her parents, Sarah and Vitaliy, was to wait on searching for information about SMA online. This is because up until a few years ago, SMA type 1 was a fatal diagnosis. Most of the information…
Chad Robins is a Cornell grad and Wharton School MBA who was working in real estate finance a decade ago when he was approached with a business idea by his brother, Harlan Robins, longtime head of the Computational Biology Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. As Chad Robins recalled on a panel discussion last year, “When he called me…
Space food is not the most appealing thing in the world. Sure, it’s nutritious and it’s exactly what your body needs for those months away from Earth, but astronauts would still benefit from growing their own vegetables — especially for longer missions to the Moon or Mars. It’s not the first time astronauts have considered growing vegetables in space —…
The Washington State Department of Commerce today announced $1 million in grants to The Washington Research Foundation, Greater Spokane Incorporated and Life Science Washington Institute to support small business development programs in the life sciences and health IT sector. The Washington Research Foundation was awarded $800,000 to establish a new Life Science Revolving Loan Fund (LSRLF) that will help early-stage Washington-based companies succeed and compete for growth…
The test is called the ZIKV Detect 2.0 IgM Capture ELISA and is made by Seattle-based InBios, which makes tests for other viruses such as West Nile and dengue, CBS News reported. Until now, the only FDA-approved tests for Zika were used to detect virus antibodies and were only for emergency use. Zika “continues to be a problem in many parts of…
