Seattle, one of the world leaders in hepatitis C research and treatment, will be hosting a landmark conference on hepatitis C Sept. 8-12 involving 800 people, including the discoverer of the virus affecting more people than HIV.
News releases
Fewer seniors but more children are poor since the War on Poverty began more than 40 years ago. Also, despite persistent efforts in both the public and private sectors, poverty rates in the U.S. have remained stubbornly the same since the mid-1960s.

Caffeine guards against certain skin cancers at the molecular level, according to a study appearing online August 15, 2011, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Parents of a child with an autism spectrum disorder face a 19 percent chance of having additional children diagnosed with the disorder, according to a new study co-authored by the UW Autism Center.

A UW biologist is among scientists who for the first time have been able to study interactions between individual sperm and eggs of red abalone in conditions similar to its ocean surroundings, work that could have implications for improving fertilization in humans.

On July 1, the 30-year average temperatures used to determine “normal” changed, dropping the decade of the 1970s and adding the decade of 2001 through 2010. As a result, normal temperatures are now a bit warmer.
University of Washington professors in law, political science, communication and international studies are available to discuss issues related to the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 disaster.

The University of Illinois today announced the appointment of Phyllis M. Wise, provost and executive vice president at the University of Washington, as its next vice president of the university and chancellor at Urbana-Champaign.
On the 20-year anniversary of the World Wide Web, computer scientist Oren Etzioni has written a two-page commentary in the journal Nature that calls on the international academic and business communities to take a bolder approach when designing how people find information online.
UW Medicine health system is proud to be included as a leader in the Healthcare Equality Index 2011, an annual report published by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Computer scientists have created a way to take images from the web or personal photos collections and in seconds create an animation of a persons face. The tool can make a face appear to age over time, or gradually change the expression from a smile to a frown.

A University of Washington researcher has found that, at least by one measure, this spring was the coldest on record for the state and that Seattle’s last two springs have been the cloudiest since cloud-cover records started 50 years ago.
When it comes to rearing children, just about any parent will say that what works with one kid might not work with another. But which parenting styles work best with which kids? A study by UW psychologists provides advice about tailoring parenting to childrens personalities.

A new survey of life trajectories of 150 undocumented young adults raised and educated in America shows that they end up with the same labor jobs as their parents, working in construction, restaurants, cleaning and childcare services.

Nitric oxide, which is naturally produced in the nose and gut, disrupts the energy sources of many types of bacteria. Learning how it does this may lead to new antimicrobials or ways to promote the body’s own defenses against infection.

Submarine cables for the nations first regional cabled ocean observatory, a project led by the University of Washington, made landfall last week on the Oregon coast.

A new study from researchers at the University of Washington concludes that parental military deployment is associated with impaired well-being among adolescents, especially adolescent boys.

Microbiologists have uncovered a sneaky trick by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa to oust rivals. It deploys a toxin delivery machine to breach cell walls of competitors without hurting itself. Its means of attack helps it survive in the outside environment and may even help it cause infection.

Hospitals in the UW Medicine system placed highly in the latest U.S. News rankings, as did specific patient-care specialties.
A new study of female engineering students perceived challenges finds significant differences between black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian-American and white women. The findings could help institutions better attract and retain particular underrepresented student populations.

A one-dose method for delivering gene therapy into an arterial wall in rabbits effectively protects the artery from developing atherosclerosis despite ongoing high blood cholesterol. In the future, researchers hope to test whether this gene-delivery method works in heart bypass grafts.

The National Science Foundation today announced an $18.5 million grant to establish an Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering based at the UW. The interdisciplinary center will combine neuroscience and robotics to develop new rehabilitation technologies.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow, so forests have long been proposed as a way to offset climate change. But rather than just letting the forest sit there for a hundred or more years, the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere could be quadrupled in 100 years by harvesting regularly and using the wood in place of fossil-fuel intensive steel and concrete.

Sodium channels are pores in the membranes of excitable cells – such as brain nerve cells or beating heart cells – that emit electrical signals. Researchers have obtained a high-resolution crystal structure showing all the atoms of this complex protein molecule and how they relate in three-dimensions.

A new system to send electricity over short distances has been shown to reliably power a mechanical heart pump. The system could free patients from being tethered to a battery or external power source, lowering their chance of infection and improving their quality of life.

A forest resources professor whos an expert on invasive species and rare plants became director of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens July 1.

Kelsey Knowles, a masters degree candidate in the Evans School of Public Affairs, has been appointed as the University of Washingtons student regent by Gov. Chris Gregoire. The appointment is for one year.

A study by University of Washington psychologists shows some people continue to drink heavily because of perceived positive effects, suggesting a new direction for programs targeting binge drinking.

The teens will spend a week in July at the UW exploring the nursing profession and what it takes to become a nurse. The camp is made possible by donations from UW School of Nursing faculty, staff and students, and from local community groups and businesses.
A new survey shows that Seattle residents who know or recognize a police officer in their neighborhood and have participated in a block watch or similar program are more likely to regard police positively. And its especially true about people of color.

Brief, voluntary conversations with a health educator led to up to a 20 percent decrease in marijuana use for teenagers who frequently used the drug.

New research suggests that, in the Athabasca Oil Sands in northern Alberta, human activity related to oil production and the timber industry could be more important than wolves in the decline of the caribou population.

Better glucose, lipid and blood pressure control in the diabetic population over the past 20 years has not reduced the prevalence of diabetic kidney disease in the United States.

A recent report shows that building information modeling is challenging and changing the construction industry, including the ways mechanical contractors organize teams and technology.

New research shows that in some structured communities, organisms increase their chances of survival if they evolve some level of restraint that allows competitors to survive as well, a sort of “survival of the weakest.”
New research lends support to recent studies that suggest abrupt climate change is the result of alterations in ocean circulation uniquely associated with ice ages, not from atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Keiko Torii, professor of biology, is among 15 of the “nations most innovative plant scientists” selected to share $75 million for fundamental plant science research.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s most current county-level analysis of life expectancy in America finds large disparities nationwide. Women fare worse than men, and people in Appalachia, the Deep South, and Northern Texas live the shortest lives.

The law firm Perkins Coie has presented its $20,000 “Award for Discovery” to Deok-Ho Kim, UW assistant professor of bioengineering and a regenerative medicine researcher. Kim works on pre-conditioning stem cells to try to create longer-surviving patches for heart muscle repair.
The chief executive officers of UW Medicine and Valley Medical Center have announced the formation of a strategic alliance in which Valley Medical Center, Public Hospital District #1 of King County, will join UW Medicine effective July 1, 2011.