UW-Madison launches Microbiome Initiative

We are not alone. Each of us carries a wide array of microbial species that outnumber our cells by ten-fold. Recent studies have shown that the complement of microorganisms, the microbiome, is an important determinant of human health and disease. The microbiomes of other animals, plants, soil, bodies of water, and the atmosphere play similarly important roles.

Our understanding of the diversity and roles of these microbiomes is limited, a fact that led the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to launch the National Microbiome Initiative (NMI) last year. Stakeholders, including UW-Madison, have responded with new commitments to develop a comprehensive understanding of microbiomes across all ecosystems.

UW-Madison’s Microbiome Initiative comes with $1 million in grant funding administered by the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education to support interdisciplinary research, infrastructure, and research community enhancements related to the microbiome.

To read the full press release go here.

New gene editing tool drives stem cell services and discovery

At just two-and-a-half years old, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Human Stem Cell Gene Editing Service is already contemplating expansion. The increased demand has tracked the growth of research projects on campus using a new gene editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9

Celebrating the anniversary of the first general purpose astronomical observatory in space

In December 1968 — 50 years ago this month — the world’s first autonomous space-based astronomical observatory, OAO-2, helped set the stage for a new era of astronomy. Its payload included seven telescopes from UW–Madison.

Five questions with Su-Chun Zhang, forger of brain cells

Su-Chun Zhang, a Waisman Center researcher and UW School of Medicine and Public Health professor of neurology and neuroscience, was the first in the world to craft human brain cells from human embryonic stem (ES) cells, and later from the related induced pluripotent (iPS) cells. In light of the 20th anniversary of James Thomson’s derivation of human ES cells, we had some questions for a founder of stem cell neuroscience.