Stories about discoveries, advancements, and forward-thinking ideas from WID’s research areas, hubs, and key collaborators.
By combing the ocean for antimicrobials, scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have discovered a new antifungal compound that efficiently targets multi-drug-resistant strains of deadly fungi without toxic side effects in mice. WID postdoc Marc Chevrette is part of the team that published the finding in Science.
WID’s Kris Saha was among UW–Madison researchers who have published a proof-of-concept method to correct an inherited form of macular degeneration that causes blindness, and that is currently untreatable.
A team of UW-Madison researchers led by Discovery Fellow Wendy Crone has created a powerful tool to help assess what experimental factors help to produce stem cell-generated cardiomyocytes that behave like adult heart cells.
University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers led by WID’s Shaoqin “Sarah” Gong have developed a nanoparticle that could safely carry a variety of payloads into targeted cells, giving researchers a versatile, nonviral option for delivering drugs, gene-editing tools, DNA and more.
John Yin is working to find out whether “junk” particles produced by mouse viruses exist in human coronaviruses, and whether they may be the key to understanding how the viruses spread and interact with host cells.
WID’s John Yin, who uses experimental and computational methods to understand how viruses spread, is working on several projects that could have a direct bearing on COVID-19.
Discovery Fellow Jim Luedtke, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializes in stochastic and integer optimization, a natural fit for power systems.
WID researchers have developed a computational tool that can accurately predict the three-dimensional interactions between regions of human chromosomes.
Discovery Fellow David Baum leads a team that has cultivated lifelike chemical reactions while pioneering a new strategy for studying the origin of life.
Xuehua Zhong’s close study of an ordinary plant’s cellular mechanisms could lead to big advances in agriculture and medicine. Zhong is featured in Grow magazine.
An interdisciplinary pair of WID researchers has developed a new nanocapsule delivery method for delivering the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool. The new system could be used for many types of gene therapies.
Discover Fellow Andreas Velten and collaborators, drawing on the lessons of classical optics, have shown that it is possible to image complex hidden scenes using a projected “virtual camera” to see around barriers.
WID researchers used a collaborative combination of computational and wet lab experimental techniques to find a connection between a transcription factor and a neurodevelopment gene.
WID researchers Randolph Ashton and Tom Turng partnered on a project to create hydrogel molds that will allow them to more precisely control the three-dimensional structures of organoids.
A team of researchers at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery are combining computational and laboratory methods to more efficiently reprogram differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Their work was published in Cell Reports on May 7, 2019.
WID Director Jo Handelsman and biochemistry professor Ophelia Venturelli are part of a multi-university interdisciplinary team awarded a grant to study information transmission in microbial communities and how biological networks communicate.
WID’s Tom Turng envisions a future in which surgeons can order mass-produced artificial blood vessels that arrive ready to use in bypass surgeries.
A growing understanding of microbial communities and their influence on human health or crop productivity has led to the dream of changing these communities to produce benefits. New research at WID addresses this head-on.
WID’s John Yin and colleagues have described initial steps toward achieving chemistries that encode information in a variety of conditions that might mimic the environment of prehistoric Earth.
A paper published in eLife this week by an interdisciplinary team at WID describes new methods for reproducibly manufacturing brain and spinal cord organoids with strict control over morphogenic and developmental processes.
Writing in Nature Ecology & Evolution, WID’s Seyfullah Kotil and Kalin Vetsigian uncover an assembly mechanism that can lead to the spontaneous formation of microbial communities.
A new approach to climate data analysis hopes to improve regional forecasts.
An international team of researchers including WID scientists has discovered new mechanisms to regulate the activity of a gene essential in metabolism, with implications for pathologies related to alterations in glucose levels in the body, such as diabetes or metastasis in some types of cancer.
With Wisconsin’s short growing seasons, reducing a plant’s life cycle and completing the season earlier “could be very important for many crops.”
A team of researchers is developing a new approach for maintaining open blood vessels in the wake of surgeries such as angioplasties or bypasses.
