Dr. Thomas J. Lynch Jr. will become Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s new president and director, the organization announced today. Lynch, a well-known cancer leader with expertise in solid tumor research, precision medicine and immuno-oncology, starts at Fred Hutch in February 2020. Lynch has been a nationally recognized leader in academic medicine for more than three decades. He has served…
TwinStrand Biosciences, a Seattle startup developing next-generation DNA sequencing technology that promises to lead to early cancer detection, rapid identification of carcinogens and other breakthroughs, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Madrona Venture Group. The company, a University of Washington spinout, says its DNA sequencing method, known as Duplex Sequencing, uses cloud technologies and advanced…
What’s to come in science in 2020? While scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are not fortune tellers (alas), they do have their eyes on the leading edge of research. From cancer therapies to fundamental science to public health, Fred Hutch scientists overcame their natural reluctance in the realm of predictions in order to share a few about the…
The decade ahead will be filled with change for the health care industry. Here is a look at what experts see as the biggest innovations and alterations in the Puget Sound region. Gene editing Gene editing using CRISPR has already made it into human trials, but researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are using the technology to create tailored antibodies…
In 2000, Drs. Lee Hood, Ruedi Aebersold and Alan Aderem created ISB as the first-ever institute dedicated to systems biology. For the past two decades, our scientists have been on the ground floor on many important research areas — aging and wellness, computational biology, brain diseases, and many chronic and infectious diseases, to name a few. Furthermore, ISB has improved…
The University of Washington recently launched a science technology master’s degree that has quickly gained traction with undergraduates looking to get careers in research and technology. Though the application deadline is still more than a month out, the University of Washington’s continuing education and professional development branch Continuum College has offered 22 students a slot in its master of science in applied…
Dr. Raphael Gottardo is the scientific director at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, an organisation which looks for new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Dr. Gottardo has a PhD in statistics, focusing on the overlap between biology, statistics and computational skills. This has put him in good stead for his role at…
In the wake of recent disappointments over clinical trials targeting amyloid plaque build-up in Alzheimer’s disease, researchers are focusing more attention on misfolded tau protein, another culprit in brain diseases that cause dementia. New research published in Science Translational Medicine finds that targeting abnormal tau through the suppression of a gene called MSUT2 (mammalian suppressor of tauopathy 2) shows promise. Tau, like amyloid protein, is…
Research is beginning at Virginia Mason that will assess the accuracy of a breath test for detecting esophageal cancer, one of the fastest growing and deadliest cancers in the United States. The project, supported by a grant from the Salgi Esophageal Cancer Research Foundation, is led by Donald Low, MD, who specializes in esophageal and thoracic surgery, along with George Hanna, PhD, of St.…
A new survey of the activity of nearly 60,000 neurons in the mouse visual system reveals how far we have to go to understand how the brain computes. Published today in the international journal Nature Neuroscience, the analysis led by researchers at the Allen Institute reveals that more than 90% of neurons in the visual cortex, the part of the brain that…