Why Blue is the World’s Favorite Color
Karen Schloss talks about the psychology behind color preferences in an interview for Artsy.
Stories
UW-Madison to be Partner in Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies
The National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $20 million to a consortium of universities to support a new engineering research center that will develop transformative tools and technologies for the consistent, scalable, and low-cost production of high-quality living therapeutic cells. Several WID investigators are collaborators on the project.
WID Launches a New Web Experience
The work being done at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery does not end in the lab or with research publications, and it goes beyond the science and engineering that happens in the Discovery Building every day. WID is more than a collection of researchers — it is a collaborative community …
App Helps Farmers Make the Most of their Corn Harvest
A new tool developed at UW-Madison could save farmers time and money during the fall feed-corn harvest and make for more content, productive cows year-round.
Interdisciplinary Faculty Build Data Science Future in New Institute Based at WID
The new institute, housed at UW–Madison’s Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID), will play a key role in the future of data science, developing fundamental techniques for handling increasingly massive data sets in shorter times.
Photoreceptor Scaffold for In Vitro Modeling and Transplantation Therapy
Zhenqiang Ma, Yei Hwan Jung, Michael Phillips, David Gamm, and Shaoqin (Sarah) Gong have developed microstructured scaffold systems that can guide the growth of photoreceptor cells and mimic polarized outer retinal tissue.
Q & A: New WID Director Jo Handelsman on Returning to UW, Leading Institute
Handelsman talks about the global challenges the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery is addressing, where the interdisciplinary research institute has been in its first seven years, and what its future looks like.
The “Icing” on the DNA
Xuehua Zhong recently received an outstanding investigator award from NIH via the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) mechanism to support her research. She talked about how she uses plants to study epigenetics in an interview with Grow magazine.
Connecting the Dots: a New Method to Understand Cell Type Transitions
Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) researchers Rupa Sridharan and Sushmita Roy are combining their expertise in regenerative biology and computational biology to better understand how cells transition from one type to another through gene regulation.
Jo Handelsman Named Vilas Research Professor
Handelsman is one of 34 faculty honored with Vilas professorships supported by the estate of professor, Senator, and Regent William F. Vilas.
Machine Learning Can Detect a Genetic Disorder from Speech Recordings
Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence by which algorithms are “trained” to analyze new information using existing data. Researchers are using it to identify individuals with a genetic condition known as fragile X premutation.
Inference and Evolutionary Analysis of Genome-Scale Regulatory Networks in Large Phylogenies
In a paper in Cell Systems, Sushmita Roy and colleagues develop a probabilistic graphical model-based method, multi-species regulatory network learning that uses a phylogenetic framework to infer regulatory networks in multiple species simultaneously.
Researchers Wield New Technology to Preserve Old Places and Cultural Heritage
Systems programmer Ross Tredinnick led an effort to create a 3D virtual replica of the Norway Building near Mount Horeb, WI before its disassembly in 2015. Visitors to the new Driftless Historium can experience it starting June 3.
Grant Funds Creation of Spinal Tissue from Scratch in UW-Madison Lab
WKOW Channel 27 highlights Randolph Ashton’s NSF grant to create blank model for spinal cells.
Moving On and Moving Up!
Before our valued colleagues ride into the sunset, we wish them a fond farewell and congratulations on their accomplishments.
Catching up: UW-Madison, Sheriff’s Office team up to study 3-D crime-scene tools
Kevin Ponto, a Principal Investigator in the Living Environments Lab is partnering with the Dane County Sheriff’s Office on a two-year, federally funded study to measure the effectiveness of virtual reality tools and 3-D-capture technology on crime scene investigations.
Highly Foamed Plastic Parts Are Stronger and Cheaper to Produce
Lih-Sheng (Tom) Turng and Xiaofei Sun have developed a new method of fabricating highly foamed, injection-molded plastic parts.
You may also like … Algorithms that improve drug discovery
WID researchers Stephen Wright and Robert Nowak are part of a UW2020: WARF Discovery Initiative project to create machine learning tools that dramatically reduce the time and cost associated with screening compounds for therapeutic relevance.
Phenotypic variability and community interactions of germinating Streptomyces spores
Systems Biology researcher Kalin Vetsigian and graduate student Ye Xu recently published findings in Nature’s Scientific Reports about the stochasticity of growth within Streptomycetes spore communities.
WID Alumnus Wright Gets His Feet Wet in New Role
Erik Wright, an alumnus of WID’s System’s Biology theme, is getting his feet wet as a new faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh. He wrote about his career and vision in Science.
Experiments Test How Easy Life Itself Might Be
WID scientists are combining theory with experiment to try to understand how life could arise from lifelike chemical reactions under the right conditions.
Immersed in the Ethics of Virtual Reality
The Living Environments Laboratory will host the Ethics in Investigational & Interventional Uses of Virtual Reality (e3iVR) conference beginning with public talks on the afternoon of April 26. More information and registration are at go.wisc.edu/e3iVR.
Tools for Discovery: Carla Michini
Tools for Discovery is a regular profile series that inspects the computer programs, gadgets, and methods behind WID’s ideas and discoveries.
Parsley and other plants lend form to human stem cell scaffolds
Writing March 20 in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, WID Fellow William Murphy describes the use of a variety of plants to create an efficient, inexpensive and scalable technology for making tiny structures that could one day be used to repair muscle, organs and bone using stem cells.
UW bracketology expert surprised by Badgers 8th seed
Laura Albert, WID optimization fellow and Associate Professor in Systems and Industrial Engineering speaks to WKOW about March Madness tournament rankings.