Archived news stories

• Professor wins inaugural Schuster Prize May 8, 2008 Timothy Kamp, a professor of medicine and physiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, has been awarded the inaugural Schuster Prize for excellence in advancing cardiovascular medicine at the school.
• Invitrogen, WARF sign license agreement for human embryonic stem cells May 8, 2008 Invitrogen Corp. and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation announced today (May 8) that they have signed a license for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) patents for the development of research tools.
• Time Magazine names James Thomson one of “World’s Most Influential People” May 2, 2008 Stem cell scientist James Thomson has been named one of Time magazine's "World's Most Influential People," with Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University. Last year, they each discovered a way to give human skin cells many of the characteristics of embryonic stem cells, an advance that avoids the destruction of embryos.
• Stem cell pioneer Thomson elected to National Academy of Sciences April 29, 2008 Pioneering University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell scientist James Thomson was elected today (April 29) to the National Academy of Sciences.
• Leading scientists to highlight annual stem cell research symposium April 11, 2008 A cadre of North America's leading stem cell scientists will land in Madison April 16 for the third annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium.
• Erik Forsberg appointed executive director of WiCell Research Institute April 9, 2008 Erik Forsberg has been named to the newly created position of executive director of the WiCell Research Institute. In this position, Forsberg will direct all operations of the private, non-profit institute, a supporting organization of the University of Wisconsin-Madison that provides core services to UW-Madison stem cell researchers and operates the National Stem Cell Bank.
• Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation chair to speak at Stem Cell Summit April 2, 2008 Peter D. Kiernan, III, chair of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, will provide the keynote address at the World Stem Cell Summit Sept. 22-23, 2008, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.
• For stem cell scientist James Thomson, discovery trumps fame March 24, 2008 The UW scientist who first brought stem cells into the scientific spotlight — a discovery that sparked a volatile debate of political and medical ethics — doesn’t seek fame for himself. So when you are the go-to guy for everybody who wants access to James Thomson, a man who’d much rather be in the lab than in the media’s glare, you learn to say no more often than you’d like.
• Stem cell summit to convene in Madison March 12, 2008 Researchers, business representatives, philanthropists, bioethicists and educators from around the world will be invited to Madison for the World Stem Cell Summit at the Alliant Energy Center on Sept. 22-23, 2008.
• California company licenses WARF stem cell technology Jan. 9, 2008 BioTime, Inc. (OTCBB: BTIM) has signed a licensing agreement with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) for 173 patents and patent applications relating to human embryonic stem cell technology created by James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• Stem cells show power to predict disease, drug toxicity Dec. 6, 2007 For the first time, scientists have used human embryonic stem cells to predict the toxic effects of drugs and provide chemical clues to diagnosing disease.
• Reprogramming the debate: stem-cell finding alters ethical controversy Nov. 20, 2007 When University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers succeeded in reprogramming skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, they also began to redefine the political and ethical dynamics of the stem-cell debate, a leading bioethicist says.
• UW-Madison scientists guide human skin cells to embryonic state Nov. 20, 2007 In a paper to be published Nov. 22 in the online edition of the journal Science, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers reports the genetic reprogramming of human skin cells to create cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.
• $7.2 million grant to aid search for ALS stem cell therapy Sept. 20, 2007 With the help of a $7.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers will explore the potential of stem cells and natural growth factors to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
• National Stem Cell Bank announces addition of new cell lines Sept. 7, 2007 The National Stem Cell Bank has announced that it has received select human embryonic stem cell lines from Novocell, a leading stem cell engineering company based in San Diego. With the addition of the new lines, the National Stem Cell Bank will have on deposit 14 of the 21 cell lines listed on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) federal registry.
• Stem cell therapy rescues motor neurons in ALS model Aug. 1, 2007 In a study that demonstrates the promise of cell-based therapies for diseases that have proved intractable to modern medicine, a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has shown it is possible to rescue the dying neurons characteristic of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neuromuscular disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
• UW establishes stem cell and regenerative medicine center May 17, 2007 In an effort to strengthen and sustain its leadership in the companion fields of stem cell research and regenerative medicine, the University of Wisconsin-Madison will establish a new Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center.
• State seeds stem-cell company based on UW-Madison research May 14, 2007 Governor Jim Doyle today (May 14) gave a $1 million boost to a University of Wisconsin-Madison spin-off company during a visit to the campus lab that gave birth to its technology.
• Creator of Dolly the sheep to give public lecture in Madison May 9, 2007 Ian Wilmut, the famed Scottish biologist who created Dolly the cloned sheep, is coming to Madison and will give a public lecture on Thursday, May 17, at the Overture Center.
• Sixth annual bioethics forum to tackle medical applications of research April 9, 2007 The interface among molecular biology, medical applications, law, religion and ethics will be the focus of the sixth annual international Bioethics Forum, hosted by Promega Corp.'s BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute (BTCI) in Fitchburg.
• Second annual stem cell symposium to focus on heart tissue, blood diseases April 9, 2007 Several of the world's leading experts on the formation of blood and heart cells from stem cells, and clinical applications of stem cells in blood and heart diseases, will come together on Wednesday, April 18, for the second annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium.
• Stem cell therapy shows promise for rescuing deteriorating vision March 28, 2007 For the millions of Americans whose vision is slowly ebbing due to degenerative diseases of the eye, the lowly neural progenitor cell may be riding to the rescue.
• Scaling up stem cells: Project aims to churn out cells in quantity, quality March 28, 2007 For scientists, one of the charms of human embryonic stem cells is their ability to divide and replicate — as far as we know — forever in the culture dish. That defining trait, the ability to constantly make new cells, suggests it might be possible to generate a limitless supply for therapy, research and industrial applications such as high-throughput drug screens.
• UW launches study testing adult stem cells for heart damage repair March 12, 2007 The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is among the first medical centers in the country taking part in a novel clinical trial investigating if a subject's own stem cells can treat a form of severe coronary artery disease.
• Symposium to link stem cell research, public policy Feb. 22, 2007 Public policy issues related to human embryonic stem cell research will be the topic of a half-day symposium co-sponsored by the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the WiCell Research Institute on Friday, March 2.
• Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery seed grant winners named Feb. 21, 2007 The research program of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison gets underway today (Feb. 21), as officials announce the results of a campus-wide competition for the institutes' Discovery Seed Grants.
• Stem cells used to create critical brain barrier in lab Dec. 20, 2006 Using neural stem cells derived from the fetal brains of rats, a team of Wisconsin scientists has devised a rudimentary blood-brain barrier in the lab.
• Stem Cells 101: Meet Wisconsin’s research leaders Oct. 3, 2006 Southeastern Wisconsin residents will have a unique opportunity on Oct. 10 to hear about the promises and limitations of stem cell research directly from the Wisconsin professors and researchers working in the field.
• Intersection of business and research explored at CEO Summit Oct. 3, 2006 Three distinguished University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists will meet with corporate chief executives who graduated from the university to brief them on the business applications and marketability of their research on Saturday, Oct. 7.
• Architects chosen to design Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Sept. 20, 2006 Uihlein Wilson Architects of Milwaukee, together with Ballinger of Philadelphia, will design the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the Morgridge Institute for Research on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, officials announced today.
• National stem cell bank announces addition of new cell lines Sept. 19, 2006 The National Stem Cell Bank has expanded its offering of human embryonic stem cell lines to include cells from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), it announced today (Sept. 19). With the addition of the UCSF lines, the National Stem Cell Bank will soon have on deposit 13 of the 21 cell lines on the federal registry.
• Biochemist bags young scientist award May 18, 2006 A biochemist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of two recipients of the 2006 Shaw Scientist Award. Designed to help young scientists explore novel research directions, the $200,000 prize is annually awarded to Wisconsin researchers working in the fields of biochemistry, the biological sciences and cancer research.
• Research proposals sought for Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery May 1, 2006 A grant program aimed at stimulating collaborative research projects to be included in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery has begun with an open invitation to University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers to submit initial proposals by June 1.
• Stem cell symposium, bioethics forum to focus on neural repair, chimeras April 14, 2006 Two of biology's hottest and most contentious realms will come under the microscope next week at two conferences hosted by Promega Corp.'s BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute in Fitchburg.
• Badgerland presence at BIO 2006 April 6, 2006 Following Monday's blockbuster announcement of a $150 million public-private investment in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, the University of Wisconsin-Madison will have considerable momentum as it vies for attention at BIO 2006 this weekend in Chicago.
• Historic gift will drive research innovation April 3, 2006 The largest individual gift ever to benefit UW-Madison - $50 million from alumni John and Tashia Morgridge - will pave the way for pioneering scientific collaboration at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
• Liquid crystals show promise in controlling embryonic stem cells March 6, 2006 Liquid crystals, the same phase-shifting materials used to display information on cell phones, monitors and other electronic equipment, can also be used to report in real time on the differentiation of embryonic stem cells.
• Wisconsin scientists grow two new stem cell lines in animal cell-free culture Jan. 1, 2006 Scientists working at the WiCell Research Institute, a private laboratory affiliated with UW-Madison, have developed a precisely defined stem cell culture system free of animal cells and used it to derived two new human embryonic stem cell lines.
• Transplanted stem cells show promise for mending broken hearts Dec. 20, 2005 Working with heart attack-stricken mice, a team of UW-Madison scientists has shown that embryonic stem cells may one day live up to their clinical promise.
• Engineered stem cells show promise for sneaking drugs into the brain Dec. 15, 2005 One of the great challenges for treating Parkinson's diseases and other neurodegenerative disorders is getting medicine to the right place in the brain. UW-Madison neuroscientist Clive Svendsen and his colleagues show how engineered human brain cells, transplanted into the brains of rats and monkeys, can integrate into the brain and deliver medicine where it is needed.
• Study suggests treatment for fatal nervous system disorder Dec. 12, 2005 Working with mice, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed the basis for a therapeutic strategy that could provide hope for children afflicted with Krabbe's disease, a fatal nervous system disorder.
• Chancellor's statement regarding Governor's veto of AB 499 Nov. 4, 2005 Gov. Jim Doyle's veto Thursday (Nov. 3) of Assembly Bill 499 was an important step to preserve Wisconsin's leadership in the burgeoning field of embryonic stem cell research. The bill would have criminalized a promising form of biomedical research.
• WiCell receives $16 million NIH grant to create national stem cell bank Oct. 3, 2005 The WiCell Research Institute has been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish the federal government's first and only National Stem Cell Bank (NSCB), it was announced today at a news conference in Madison.
• Nanoscale research receives big boost Sept. 30, 2005 The National Science Foundation has awarded the UW-Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) nearly $14.8 million over the next six years to continue its leading-edge research on the interfaces of materials at the nanoscale.
• Statement from Chancellor John Wiley on Assembly Bill 499 Sept. 28, 2005 The failure of the Wisconsin State Senate to amend Assembly Bill 499, which effectively criminalizes a promising area of biomedical research, sends a frightening message to Wisconsin's research community. Scientists in many fields view this with alarm.
• $3.4 million directed to key MS study Aug. 10, 2005 In an effort to develop new techniques to repair and protect the nervous system in multiple sclerosis patients, including the use of human stem cells, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has awarded $3.4 million to a team of UW-Madison scientists.
• UW-Madison gains two new stem cell programs April 26, 2005 Capitalizing on its across-the-board-strengths in stem cell research, UW-Madison will add two new stem cell programs to its portfolio.
• Stem cell scientists make progress toward ALS treatment April 19, 2005 Unveiling a delivery method that may one day help surgeons treat the deadly neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), researchers at UW-Madison have inserted engineered human stem cells into the spinal cords of ALS-afflicted rats.
• Scientists rid stem cell culture of key animal cells Feb. 17, 2005 Tackling a pressing and controversial technical barrier in stem cell biology, scientists at the WiCell Research Institute and UW-Madison have crafted a recipe that allows researchers to grow human embryonic stem cells in the absence of mouse-derived "feeder" cells, long thought to be a source of potential contamination for the therapeutically promising cells.
• Team receives $1.25 million grant for stem cell research Feb. 3, 2005 A multidisciplinary team led by James Thomson has received a $1.25 million grant for stem cell research from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles.
• Scientists grow critical nerve cells Jan. 31, 2005 After years of trial and error, scientists have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to become spinal motor neurons, critical nervous system pathways that relay messages from the brain to the rest of the body.
• Wisconsin poised to invest $750 million in biomedical research Nov. 20, 2004 Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, taking a swing at keeping Wisconsin competitive in the superheated world of biomedical research, announced today (Nov. 17) that over the next several years Wisconsin would invest up to $750 million, including more than $500 million in new facilities and direct research support for scientists at UW-Madison.
• UW-Madison launches stem cell research program April 16, 2004 To gather a burgeoning number of stem cell researchers into a cohesive community and leverage new resources, UW-Madison has established the new Wisconsin Stem Cell Research Program.
• DHEA boosts growth rate of human neural stem cells Feb. 18, 2004 Human neural stem cells, exposed in a lab dish to the steroid DHEA, exhibit a remarkable uptick in growth rates, suggesting that the hormone may play a role in helping the brain produce new cells, according to a new study published this week in the online editions of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
• Stem cells illuminate early stages of human development Dec. 22, 2003 A team from the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center has taken some of the first critical steps to putting stem cells to use to understand early development and maternal and fetal health.
• Stem cell pioneer receives 2003 Frank Annunzio Award Oct. 13, 2003 James Thomson, the UW-Madison scientist who was the first to isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells five years ago, has been named the recipient of the 2003 Frank Annunzio Award from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, an independent federal government agency.
• WiCELL earns designation as national stem cell center Sept. 29, 2003 The WiCell Research Institute, a non-profit subsidiary of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, has been named as one of three Exploratory Centers for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in the nation by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
• ES cell model could provide clues to causes, cures for diabetes July 28, 2003 By studying embryonic stem cells from a mouse, researchers at UW-Madison have identified a potential model system for elucidating the stages of normal pancreatic development, as well as for developing a much-needed source of insulin-producing cells for the millions of people who need them to treat their diabetes.
• Stem cell findings offer promise for heart disease June 26, 2003 Researchers at the UW Medical School have published what is believed to be the first evidence that human embryonic stem cells can grow into the three major types of muscle cells found in the heart. The findings were published online in Circulation Research, a journal of the American Heart Association.
• Neural stem cells take a step closer to the clinic June 9, 2003 Scientists working with cells that may someday be used to replace diseased or damaged cells in the brain have taken neural stem cell technology a key step closer to the clinic.
• Gene targeting technique extended to stem cells Feb. 10, 2003 The technique that helped revolutionize modern biology by making the mouse a crucible of genetic manipulation and a window to human disease has been extended to human embryonic stem (ES) cells.
• WARF signs stem cell license agreements April 26, 2002 The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has signed two licensing agreements allowing a company and another university to distribute human embryonic stem cells in research.
• Stem cell study sheds light on Down syndrome Jan. 30, 2002 Using stem cells as a window to the earliest developmental processes in the human brain, scientists have found that a group of genes critical for brain development is selectively disrupted in Down syndrome.
• Stem cell deal reached Jan. 9, 2002 The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Geron Corporation today announced an agreement for the commercialization of human embryonic stem cell technology.
• Stem cells, forged into neurons, show promise for brain repair Nov. 30, 2001 In a set of meticulous experiments, scientists have demonstrated the ability of human embryonic stem cells to develop into nascent brain cells and, seeded into the intact brains of baby mice, further develop into healthy, functioning neural cells.
• Vitamin settlement funds directed to stem cell research Nov. 19, 2001 A portion of the funds received by the State of Wisconsin in a price-fixing settlement with vitamin manufacturers has been directed toward stem cell research at UW-Madison.
• WiCell signs stem cell research agreement Sept. 5, 2001 The National Institutes of Health and the WiCell Research Institute, Inc., of Madison announced today, Sept. 5, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for research use of WiCell's existing five human embryonic stem cell lines.
• Stem cells guided down blood's developmental pathway Sept. 4, 2001 For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells can be teased down a developmental pathway to become blood cells.
• Institute formed to distribute stem cells Feb. 1, 2000 In an effort to move human embryonic stem cell technology into the mainstream of academic and corporate research, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has established a private subsidiary whose primary purpose will be to distribute the cells to qualified scientists.
• Wisconsin scientists culture elusive embryonic stem cells Nov. 5, 1998 The dream of one day being able to grow in the laboratory an unlimited amount of human tissues for transplantation is one step closer to reality.