The latest news from the UW

The function of proteins – the workhorses of our bodies – depends on how those proteins are physically folded. Researchers around the world are examining the countless complex structures of proteins and their functions to learn more about therapies for the human body. Protein folding has been compared in complexity to the folding of delicate origami.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) today, May 1, announced the election of its new members. Among those newly elected to NAS are Dr. Mark T. Groudine, director of the Basic Science Division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington (UW) professor of radiation oncology, and Dr. Philip P. Green, professor of molecular biotechnology and adjunct professor of computer sciences. The election was held during the 138th annual meeting of the NAS. Membership in the NAS is considered to be among the highest honors accorded to an American scientist or engineer.

The Friends of the University of Washington Libraries are sponsoring an event, “Passion and Prose: The Art of Book Collecting,” from 2 to 4:30 p.m. June 2 at the Odegaard Undergraduate Library, Room 220.

In a new book called “The Myth of Monogamy,” a husband-wife scientific team contends that monogamy among animals, and humans in particular, may be the exception rather than the rule.

Scientists trying to replicate conditions that existed in the first microsecond after the Big Bang have discovered that gold ions ramming each other at nearly the speed of light produce a surprisingly powerful but unexpectedly brief explosion.

An exhausted, yet exhilarated, Brian Curless recently returned from Florence, Italy, where he spent two months working as many as 20 hours a day on the first phase of an ambitious effort to create virtual replicas of Michelangelo’s sculptures.

This year’s University of Washington Business Plan Competition, continuing through May 14, is no longer dominated by Internet company ideas as in years past.

Most of what you think you know about cells may be wrong.

Scientists know that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide have risen sharply in recent years, but a study released today in Paris reports a surprising and dramatic increase in the most important greenhouse gas — water vapor — during the last half-century.

American students abroad, as the stereotype goes, soak up atmosphere and dig into local cuisine.

Jeri Wait, president of global markets and co-founder of the telecommunications company edge2net, has been appointed to the University of Washington Business School’s International Business Advisory Council.

The United States seriously lags behind England and Germany when it comes to computer-driven climate research, and a University of Washington scientist says it is time to take dramatic steps toward leadership in the field.

More than 3,000 schoolchildren, their teachers and parents, and University of Washington engineering faculty, will attend the open house.

The University of Washington Business School MBA Challenge for Charity team is gearing up to defend its title against the west coast’s top business graduate schools. And after raising $90,000 for Washington Special Olympics and the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County charity, they are the UW off to a successful start for the philanthropic competition.

The University of Washington and the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have formed the Joint Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology to study an area of science that holds the promise to dramatically change the way we live in the new century.

Scientists at the University of Washington have been analyzing data since the Feb. 28 Nisqually earthquake that shook both structures and nerves in the Puget Sound region, and have some conclusions to present this week at a national conference. They also have a mystery or two.

Unlike normally developing and mentally retarded children, autistic 3- and 4-year-olds do not react to a picture of their mother but do react when they see a picture of a familiar toy, a University of Washington psychologist has found.

Online auctions have soared to immense popularity, enticing more than 35 million armchair bidders, but four out of 10 of those buyers report having had problems with a transaction.

Dr. Albert J. Berger, professor of physiology and biophysics, has been named associate dean of research and graduate education at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine.

William H. Gray, III, president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), will speak at the University of Washington Commencement exercises June 9 at Husky Stadium.

Solomon Trujillo, a leader in launching wireless sensor networks, will speak tomorrow at the University of Washington Business School Dean’s Lecture.

Graduates of University of Washington Medical Center’s Prematurity Prevention Program participating in March of Dimes WalkAmerica on Saturday, April 28 will meet at the finish line in Husky Stadium to start a celebration at 10 a.m. They’ll join more program participants for a gathering in the UWMC Plaza Café starting at 11 a.m. The reunion brings together mothers who worked on preventing the early births of their babies and clinical staff members to celebrate the children’s health and compare notes.

Third annual University of Washington astronomy department open house

Joseph Duncan, who has held top management positions at Oracle Corp. and Borland International, has joined the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Cell Systems Initiative (CSI) as chief of operations and information technology.

Michelle Habell-Pallan, a University of Washington assistant professor of American ethnic studies, has been awarded a career enhancement fellowship by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Puget Sound area children in the fifth and sixth grades who love to read are being sought as volunteers by University of Washington researchers trying to help other children with learning disabilities improve their reading and language skills.

The University of Washington is No. 1 among primary-care medical schools and nursing schools in the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings of graduate programs and professional schools.

For the eighth consecutive year, the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine has ranked as the nation’s top primary-care medical school in U.S. News & World Report’s annual survey of graduate and professional schools.

With the Census Bureau reporting two-thirds growth in the number of Hispanic-owned business in Washington state, a University of Washington and Heritage College student project plans to provide such businesses in the Yakima Valley with desperately needed support.

With the Census Bureau reporting two-thirds growth in the number of Hispanic-owned business in Washington state, a University of Washington and Heritage College student project plans to provide such businesses in the Yakima Valley with desperately needed support.

Dr. Paul G. Ramsey, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the University of Washington School of Medicine, announced today the appointment of Kathleen Sellick as executive director of University of Washington Medical Center.

Sarah Bernhardt strides across the pages of Susan Glenn’s book like a colossus.

The Fourth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, to be held noon to 5 p.m. Friday, May 4 in Mary Gates Hall, features the work of 260 undergraduates, in fields ranging from art to zoology.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing a $393,435 grant to the Tribal Connections project co-sponsored by the University of Washington and the National Library of Medicine. The collaboration will open access to electronic health information resources for Southwest Native American tribes.

Aided by a 56-foot-long photo montage, the energy of adolescents and the expertise of volunteer architects, the University of Washington this week will try to find a better way to help a neighborhood envision its future.

University of Washington researchers are on a scientific genealogical hunt and are looking for 500 first- through ninth-grade boys and girls in the Puget Sound area who are having problems reading or with spelling and handwriting.

This is the third of a series of releases about Comet Hale-Bopp, which is now at its brightest.

Dr. Roy C. Page of the University of Washington School of Dentistry has been named recipient of the AADR Distinguished Scientist Award, presented every three to six years by the American Association for Dental Research (AADR).

The University of Washington’s fourth Distinguished Professor in Dentistry Symposium, “Dentistry’s Future: Broadening the Impact on Patient Health and Dental Practice,” will be held Thursday and Friday, May 24 and 25, at the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel in Seattle.

Tour one of the nation’s most sophisticated oceanographic vessels, learn more about deep-sea vents where superheated water billows out of the seafloor feeding whole communities of unusual microorganisms and learn about the latest University of Washington efforts to explore the world’s oceans at an open house the last weekend of March.