You may not have heard of cytomegalovirus, but the two of you have likely met. In fact, odds are it’s dozing inside you right now. Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, infects at least half of all adults worldwide. Most are unaware they’re infected because their healthy immune system keeps it in check. The virus slips into dormancy, becoming a passive and lifelong…
Mitochondria play a prominent role in mechanosensory hair cell damage and death. Although hair cells are thought to be energetically demanding cells, how mitochondria respond to these demands and how this might relate to cell death is largely unexplored. Using genetically encoded indicators, we found mitochondrial calcium flux and oxidation are regulated by mechanotransduction and demonstrate that hair cell activity…
Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) is pleased to announce the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors: Kirk Nelson and Robert Williams, PhD. Their terms of service are effective this month. Mr. Nelson is Chief Executive Officer and President of AAA Washington and previously served as Washington President of Qwest. As former chair of the…
Jonathan L. Wright, MD, MS, FACS, medical director, Urology Clinic, University of Washington Medical Center, affiliate investigator, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses the role of immunotherapy in the treatment of patients with bladder cancer. Over the past few years, immunotherapy has made a significant impact in the treatment of upper tract urothelial and bladder cancers.…
The US state of Washington, in the Pacific Northwest, was once the epicentre of the information-technology world, thanks to Microsoft and its founder, Seattle-born Bill Gates — until the dotcom boom sent investors down the coast to Silicon Valley. Now, Gates and other high-profile Microsoft alumni, along with other wealthy donors, are elevating the state as a major player in…
James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning DNA scientist who lost his job in 2007 for expressing racist views, was stripped of several honorary titles Friday by the New York lab he once headed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory said it was reacting to Watson’s remarks in a television documentary aired earlier this month. In the film, Watson said his views about intelligence…
Dr. Kristin Anderson, a postdoctoral research fellow in Dr. Philip Greenberg’s lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has received the Ann and Sol Schreiber Mentored Investigator Award of $75,000 for one year from the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. The funding will support Anderson’s research in developing strategies to improve the ability of the immune system’s T cells to kill ovarian cancer. Anderson…
A research team led by Jessica A. Hamerman, PhD, at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI), has discovered a unique type of cell and its association with a life-threatening complication of viral and autoimmune diseases. The team’s discovery, published in the journal Science, could lead to new treatments for a deadly form of inflammation in children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis…
Nearly two years after he took office, US President Donald Trump has a White House science adviser in place. The Senate confirmed meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier for the job in a voice vote on 2 January. Droegemeier, an expert in extreme weather, will lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is the first non-physicist to head the…
Scientists at UW Medicine’s Institute for Protein Design have created a new protein that mimics the action of a key immune regulatory protein, interleukin 2 (IL-2). IL-2 is a potent anticancer drug and an effective treatment for autoimmune disease, but its toxic side effects have limited its clinical usefulness. In a paper in the Jan. 10 issue of the journal Nature, the researchers report using…
