Lifelike Chemistry Created in Lab Search for Ways to Study Origin of Life
Discovery Fellow David Baum leads a team that has cultivated lifelike chemical reactions while pioneering a new strategy for studying the origin of life.
Featured Science
Stories about discoveries, advancements, and forward-thinking ideas from WID’s research areas, hubs, and key collaborators.
Deep in the Weeds
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.
Tiny Capsules Packed with Gene-Editing Tools Offer Alternative to Viral Delivery of Gene Therapy
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.
Lessons of Conventional Imaging Let Scientists See Around Corners
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.
Uncovering a Connection Between Regulators and Genes During Early Neurodevelopment
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.
New Technique Enables Versatile 3D Control Over Stem Cell-Derived Organoids
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.
Generating Stem Cells: a Path to Greater Efficiency
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.
UW–Madison Researchers Earn Army Research Office Grant to Study Microbial Communication
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.
Revolutionary Engineered Blood Vessels Behave Like the Real Thing
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.
THOR Wrangles Complex Microbiomes into a Model for Improving Them
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.
Could Yesterday’s Earth Contain Clues for Making Tomorrow’s Medicines?
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.
New Technology for Controlling Neural Tissue Manufacturing
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.
Fast Evolution Unlocks Forbidden Communities
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.
Using Data Science to Find the Next El Nino
A new approach to climate data analysis hopes to improve regional forecasts.
Scientists Discovered How PCK1 Gene Is Involved In Diabetes and Metastasis in Some Types of Cancer
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.
Combining On and Off Switches, One Protein Can Control Flowering in Plants
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 Stent-Free Future for Common Cardiovascular Ailments
A team of researchers is developing a new approach for maintaining open blood vessels in the wake of surgeries such as angioplasties or bypasses.
How Mutations in Cell DNA Can Lead to Cancer
Peter Lewis and his research group at WID study how mutations in DNA-organizing histone proteins lead to cancer development.
Air Force-Backed Center to Make Machine Learning More Independent, Predictable, Secure
Much remains mysterious in the realm of machine learning. The next generation of machine learning algorithms is expected to not only bolster national defense capabilities, but also benefit civilians.
Kinetic Modeling of Virus Growth in Cells
A new paper in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews describes how the steps of virus reproduction contribute to timing and productivity of cell infection.
Applying Control Theory to Algorithm Design Earns Laurent Lessard an NSF CAREER Award
Laurent Lessard is working to improve the algorithms and computer software that keep the modern world running smoothly.
When Communicating with Color, Balance Can Be a Path to Accuracy
Karen Schloss and Laurent Lessard are working on a method for matching colors to people’s expectations to send the right message — starting with the best colors for waste and recycling bins.
Small But Mighty: Nanoparticles Can Deliver More Types of Drugs, More Safely
WID researcher Shaoqin Sarah Gong is working to more safely deliver a variety of drugs to treat cancer, heart disease and even blindness.
Multifunctional Plant Enzymes Promote Protein Production
Newly characterized roles for plant histone deacetylases have implications for growth and development. The Zhong Lab explores the influence of the enzymes in both transcription and translation.
Building Better Tools for the Big Data Boom
WID researchers are engaging in fundamental mathematical and statistical research to support the development, testing, and fine-tuning of tools for the future, finding new ways to make sense of the mountains of data that are available in the 21st century and bringing into view important applications on the horizon.