UW News


May 5, 2023

UW immunologist, mathematician among newly elected National Academy of Sciences members

Two University of Washington faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for 2023: Philip Greenberg, professor of medicine and of immunology at the UW, as well as the Rona Jaffe Foundation Endowed Chair at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and head of the Program in Immunology in its Clinical Research Division; and Gunther Uhlmann, the Robert R. and Elaine F. Phelps Endowed Professor in Mathematics at the UW.


May 6, 2022

Four UW researchers elected to the National Academy of Sciences for 2022

Four faculty members at the University of Washington have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for 2022: Elizabeth Buffalo, professor and chair of physiology and biophysics; Joseph Mougous, professor of microbiology; Dr. Jay Shendure, professor of genome sciences; and James Truman, professor emeritus of biology.


April 29, 2021

6 UW-affiliated researchers elected to the National Academy of Sciences

The view of Mount Rainier from the UW campus in Seattle

Five faculty members and one affiliate professor at the University of Washington are among 120 new members and 30 international members elected to the National Academy of Sciences: Anna Karlin, professor of computer science and engineering; Rachel Klevit, professor of biochemistry; Randall LeVeque, professor emeritus of applied mathematics; Julie Theriot, professor of biology; Rachel Wong, professor of biological structure; and Julie Overbaugh, professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a UW affiliate professor of microbiology.


December 28, 2020

In pandemic milestone, UW brings COVID-19 vaccines to frontline health care workers

The first scheduled to receive vaccinations were frontline personnel working with COVID-19 patients. In addition to patient-care staff in intensive care units, COVID acute care floors and emergency departments, the immediate list also included environmental services staff, as well as emergency medical responders in the community. Next in line are nursing home residents and their caregivers.


October 6, 2017

3 UW researchers chosen for NIH High-Risk, High-Rewards program

Joshua Vaughan, Daniel Chiu and Jakob von Moltke

Three University of Washington faculty members are among those honored with an NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Research grant, which fund exceptionally creative scientists proposing to use highly innovative approaches to tackle major challenges in biomedical research.


November 5, 2014

UW Ebola preparedness plans reflect changing situation

Ebola

Well-informed precautions are being taken to protect the UW community and the public.


September 16, 2014

Health Sciences Digest: Wearable Artificial Kidney, worker wellness, chromosome sort safeguard

Wearable Artificial Kidney

Health Sciences Digest: Wearable Artificial Kidney safety testing to begin, low-wage workers value employer wellness initiatives, cells simply avoid chromosome errors


September 3, 2014

Health Sciences News Digest

Pharmacy teaching Ebola

Latest news from the UW Health Sciences: Comparative genomes, open notes, teaching Ebola, depression in women


August 26, 2014

Health Digest: Ebola outbreak, HIV persistence, kids’ sleep routines

Ebola virus

UW Health Sciences News Digest: Ebola outbreak, HIV persistence, back-to-school sleep routines


July 29, 2014

Health Sciences News Digest 7.29.2014

brain isocortex

News from the UW Health Sciences: Alzheimer’s impact on our aging population, hunger cues, trauma treatment study, avoiding burnout, training new neuroscientists, an AIDS-free generation


June 18, 2014

Health Sciences News Digest

News from the UW Health Sciences: Muscular dystrophy research center, UW Medicine part of a care network for Boeing employees, and a Q&A with Aaron Katz, a UW expert on health systems and policy.


June 12, 2014

Health Sciences News Digest

Seafaring Neolithics

News from the UW Health Sciences: Seafaring Neolithic people, communal bike programs, and high-utilizer patients


June 3, 2014

UW Health Digest

catamaran boating

Recent UW health sciences news: E-health in small practices, summer safety, stopping farm worker assaults


May 20, 2014

Health Sciences Digest: Alcoholism in homeless, medical phone apps, aging with chronic disability

Pensive man at bar

Designing medical apps for your phone, treating alcohol-dependent homeless individuals, and enhancing wellness in older disabled adults are some of the developments at the UW Health Sciences and UW Medicine


May 13, 2014

Health Digest: Cutbacks jeopardize newborns, safe water, MERS facts

WIC food program

The costly effects of cutbacks on maternal/child services, assuring a pure water supply, and what you need to know about Middle East respiratory syndrome.


May 6, 2014

Health sciences digest: Drug pricing uproar, antioxidant dangers

The latest news from the UW Health Sciences and UW Medicine:   What price for a cure? The economics of drug pricing The uproar against the $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, generic name sofosbuvir, may signal a turning point in drug pricing in the United States.  Purchasers appear to be pushing back and saying, “No.”…


March 21, 2014

Match Day, when medical student futures are decided

Match Day 2014 Anticipation

The official announcement of the results of the National Residency Matching Program is an annual rite of passage for UW medical students and their peers across the United States. The wait is over.


February 10, 2014

Newly found tactics in offense-defense struggle with hepatitis C virus

Ram Savan lab window

People who are genetically equipped to stop hepatitis C viruses from turning off a type of interferon generally have a robust antiviral response. Findings on the mechanisms governing this ability suggest new avenues for treatment research.


January 29, 2014

Neanderthal lineages excavated from modern human genomes

Neanderthal Child

A fossil-free method of sequencing archaic DNA may provide insight into human evolution.


January 13, 2014

Cognitive training shows some lasting effects in healthy older adults

elderly man teaches chess

The national, decade-long ACTIVE study showed that cognitive training can help the elderly maintain certain thinking and reasoning skills useful in everyday life.


December 26, 2013

Psychiatry’s Jeremy J. Clark receives Presidential Early Career Award

Jeremy Clark

Clark was recognized for his work in the neurobiology of motivated behavior. His award will support investigations of how alcohol exposure during the teen years might lead to chronic alcoholism in adults.


December 19, 2013

TB bacteria mask their identity to intrude into deeper regions of lungs

TB in lower lungs

Cell surface lipids hide molecular patterns that infection-killing cells might recognize as dangerous.


November 24, 2013

How living cells solved a needle in a haystack problem to generate electrical signals

Advanced Light Source

Filtered from a vast sodium sea, more than 1 million calcium ions per second gush through our cells’ pores to generate charges


November 14, 2013

FDA-approved immune-modulating drug unexpectedly benefits mice with fatal mitochondrial defect

Leigh mouse and normal mouse

Rapamycin, an anti-rejection drug for organ transplant patients, has now been shown to increases survival in and delayed symptoms of Leigh’s syndrome. The drug appears to cause a metabolic switch that bypasses the mitochondrial deficiency.


November 7, 2013

Cost-effective method accurately orders DNA sequencing along entire chromosomes

human chromosomes

The method may help overcome a major obstacle that has delayed progress in designing rapid, low-cost — but still accurate — ways to assemble genomes from scratch. It also may validate certain types of chromosomal abnormalities in cancer.


October 30, 2013

Institute of Medicine issues report today on youth concussions

UW injury expert Dr. Fred Rivara was vice chair of the committee. Its report recommends actions to reduce the occurrence and consequences of youth concussions in sports and in the military, and stresses the need to better understand their nature and treatment.


October 28, 2013

UW work contributes to largest international study of Alzheimer’s genes

damaged brain cell Alzheimer's

Eleven regions of the human genome have been newly discovered to influence the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The UW was one of 145 academic centers worldwide participating in this research, which involved analyzing genes from more than 74,000 people.


October 21, 2013

Three UW faculty members elected to Institute of Medicine

NAS building

Blood disease specialist Dr. Janis Abkowitz and drug safety expert Dr, Bruce Psaty today were named new members of the prestigious Institute of Medicine, an honorary and national advisory group.


October 3, 2013

My HeartMap Seattle Challenge enlists the public to locate city’s life-saving devices

AED at aiport

If you witness a heart attack, would you know where the nearest AED is? A Seattle contest will help pre-hospital emergency care leaders locate the city’s automatic external defibrillators, which can help restore normal heart rhythms and coach in CPR.


October 1, 2013

Estrogen pills for menopause symptoms vary in blood clot risk

Pills and a stethoscope.

A recent observational study comparing the safety of estradiol and conjugated equine estrogen associated estradiol with a lower risk of leg vein and lung clots.


September 30, 2013

3 UW professors honored by NIH for innovative biomedical research

Drumheller Fountain and Gerberding Hall on the UW campus.

Three University of Washington faculty members are among those honored with a grant from the National Institutes of Health’s High Risk-High Reward program.


September 12, 2013

Initial positive results reported on vaccine to treat genital herpes

The vaccine is the first to significantly reduce the frequency of viral shedding — the surfacing of herpes virus on the genitals — and appears to activate T cell immune responses to the virus.


September 4, 2013

Pico-world dragnets: Computer-designed proteins recognize and bind small molecules

Protein design team

Computer-designed proteins that can recognize and interact with small biological molecules are now a reality. Scientists have succeeded in creating a protein molecule that can be programmed to unite with three different steroids.


August 1, 2013

Burnt sugar-derivative reduces muscle wasting in fly and mouse models of muscular dystrophy

A small fruit fly

A trace substance in caramelized sugar, when purified and given in appropriate doses, improves muscle regeneration in insect and animal models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.


July 16, 2013

UW Medicine hospitals rank highly in latest U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals

University of Washington Medical Center.

U.S. News publishes Best Hospitals to guide patients who need a high level of care because they face a difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age.


July 15, 2013

Ecological forces structure your body’s personal mix of microbes

Researchers hope to build a predictive model of the human microbiome to study what affects this massive biological system and to design ways to manipulate the microbiome to achieve desired clinical outcomes.


July 10, 2013

Functional genomics lab to predict potential AIDS vaccines efficacy and find protection markers

Michael Katze

Funded by the NIH at $15 million over five years, the lab will be a national resource to evaluate candidate vaccines from studies around the country.


July 9, 2013

Link between low vitamin D blood levels and heart disease varies by race

Hand with pills

Low vitamin D levels are linked to higher risk of heart disease in whites and Chinese, but not in blacks or Hispanics. The findings underscore the importance of designing medical research that includes a diverse ethnic and racial makeup of participants.


July 3, 2013

Great ape genetic diversity catalog frames primate evolution and future conservation

Belinga, a great ape

A model of great ape history during the past 15 million years has been fashioned through the study of genetic variation in a large panel of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.


June 20, 2013

U.S. Supreme Court decision to bar gene patents opens genetic test options

BROCA gene test

The U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision June 13 to bar the patenting of naturally occurring genes opens up important clinical testing options for a variety of diseases.



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