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Gene therapy may aid failing hearts

By Guest PostApril 4, 2013Health2 deoxy atp, adenosine 5 triphosphate, alya red, american heart association, animal study, atp, barcelona superconducting center, cardiac muscle fibers, charles murry, datp, DNA, electromechanical computational model, embryonic growth, enzyme, failing hearts, gene therapy, heart attacks, heart conditions, heart failure, heart muscle function, mechanically stressed, michael regnier, muscle contraction, nucleotide, university of washington

The potential of gene therapy to boost heart muscle function was explored in a recent University of Washington animal study. The findings suggest that it might be possible to use this approach to treat patients whose hearts have been weakened by heart attacks and other heart conditions.

Michael Regnier, UW professor and vice chair of bioengineering, Charles Murry, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology and co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, and Sarah Nowakowski, a UW graduate student in bioengineering, led the study. The findings appeared online March 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Some Alaskan trout use flexible guts for the ultimate binge diet

By Guest PostMarch 29, 2013Naturealaska, alec river, atlantic cod, bristol bay region, char family, chignik lake watershed, dolly varden, ecosystems, egg subsidy, eggs roll, intestines, jonathan armstrong, morgan bond, national science foundation, north american members, pacific northwest, salmon carcasses, stomach, thanksgiving feast, trout, university of washington

Imagine having a daylong Thanksgiving feast every day for a month, then, only pauper’s rations the rest of the year.

University of Washington researchers have discovered Dolly Varden, a kind of trout, eating just that way in Alaska’s Chignik Lake watershed.

Organs such as the stomach and intestines in the Dolly Varden doubled to quadrupled in size when eggs from spawning sockeye salmon became available each August, the researchers found. They were like vacuums sucking up the eggs and nipping at the flesh of spawned-out salmon carcasses. (more…)

Tenfold boost in ability to pinpoint proteins in cancer cells

By Guest PostMarch 23, 2013Healthantibodies, array of colors, biology, biomarkers, cancerous, cell behavior, cell function, characteristics, color coding cells, color fluorescence, cyclical testing, diagnosis, fluorescent balls, low ph fluid, molecular level, oncology, pathology, patterns, pavel zrazhevskiy, quantum dots, semiconductor material, single cell, Technology, tissue biopsies, treatment of cancer, university of washington, xiaohu gao

Better diagnosis and treatment of cancer could hinge on the ability to better understand a single cell at its molecular level. New research offers a more comprehensive way of analyzing one cell’s unique behavior, using an array of colors to show patterns that could indicate why a cell will or won’t become cancerous.

A University of Washington team has developed a new method for color-coding cells that allows them to illuminate 100 biomarkers, a ten-time increase from the current research standard, to help analyze individual cells from cultures or tissue biopsies. The work is published this week (March 19) in Nature Communications. (more…)

UW students create, harvest fog in campus ‘hoop house’

By Guest PostMarch 20, 2013Education, Environmentben spencer, botany greenhouse, canadian, Chile, doug ewing, economic systems, fog, fog chamber, fog collectors, green space, greenhouse, harvesting water, hoop house, irrigation, low cost materials, mike schwindeller, non profit fogquest, peru, plant vineyards, plants, power washer, rain falls, shu kuei, spanish colonizer, susan bolton, university of washington, vines, water condenses

In the fog chamber, a thick cool mist rolls from one end to the other blurring glasses, wetting caps and coats and sending water dripping down the latest test panel.

University of Washington students have been testing low-cost materials capable of harvesting water from fog in a temporary “hoop house” next to the Botany Greenhouse. They create the fog with a specially adapted power washer and record how much water condenses and drips off various panels of low-cost materials, such as shade cloth. (more…)

Remote Clouds Responsible for Climate Models’ Glitch in Tropical Rainfall

By Guest PostMarch 14, 2013EnvironmentAntarctica, atmospheric scientists, clouds, dargan frierson, equatorial africa, future pattern, global climate models, global climate predictions, Java, modern climate models, prediction, rain in zambia, rainfall, rainfall forecasts, rainfall patterns, shift, simulation of cloud, southern hemisphere, Southern Ocean, tropical island, tropical rainfall, university of washington, warmer ocean temperatures, yen ting hwang

It seems counterintuitive that clouds over the Southern Ocean, which circles Antarctica, would cause rain in Zambia or the tropical island of Java. But new research finds that one of the most persistent biases in global climate models – a phantom band of rainfall just south of the equator that does not occur in reality – is caused by poor simulation of the cloud cover thousands of miles farther to the south.

University of Washington atmospheric scientists hope their results help explain why global climate models mistakenly duplicate the inter-tropical convergence zone, a band of heavy rainfall in the northern tropics, on the other side of the equator. The study appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Tracking Sediments’ Fate in Largest-Ever Dam Removal

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Environmentaerial photos, andrea ogston, beautiful plume, charles nittrouer, chemicals, dam removal, dam removal project, elwha dam, elwha river, elwha river mouth, flow downstream, geologic deposits, geologic event, glines canyon dam, global carbon cycle, juan de fuca, marine geologists, national science foundation, ocean, ocean floor, ocean water, olympic coast, pesticides, port angeles, salmon, sediments fate, strait, university of washington, washington sea grant, water treatment plant

Salmon are beginning to swim up the Elwha River for the first time in more than a century. But University of Washington marine geologists are watching what’s beginning to flow downstream — sediments from the largest dam-removal project ever undertaken.

The 108-foot Elwha Dam was built in 1910, and after decades of debate it was finally dismantled last year. Roughly a third of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam still stands, holding back a mountain of silt, sand and gravel. (more…)

Changes in Cloud Distribution Explain Some Weather Patterns

By Guest PostMarch 4, 2013Environmentability to reflect, atmospheric sciences, black carbon, change in clouds, changes in cloud, climate change, cloud cover, cloud features, cloud properties, cumuliform clouds, distribution, global warming, heavy pollution, homogeneous, horizontal clouds, impact on temperature, jet stream, light, mid latitude, monsoons in india, northern india, rainfall, regional cloud changes, russia, ryan eastman, scientist, stephen warren, storm track, study clouds, thickness, tropics, university of washington, volume of data, weather patterns, weather stations

Regional cloud changes, such as those that result in less rain during monsoons in India and those that indicate a widening of the tropics, may be as important to watch as the overall amount of cloud cover, new University of Washington research indicates.

Authors of the paper, led by Ryan Eastman, a UW research scientist in atmospheric sciences, set out to examine observations collected from weather stations around the world as a way to study the distribution of clouds. The research was recently published in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate. (more…)

Mutant Champions Save Imperiled Species from Almost-Certain Extinction

By Guest PostFebruary 25, 2013Scienceantibiotics, bacterium, benjamin kerr, changing environments, climate change, disease causing bacteria, e coli, environmental changes, environmental deterioration, escherichia coli, eth zurich, evolutionary adaptations, evolutionary rescue, extinction, extinction bullet, genes, genetic engineering, haley lindsey, heavy metals, high concentration environment, human caused changes, imperiled species, insects, jenna gallie, lower concentration, mutant champions, number of factors, overfishing, pesticides, population, populations of microorganisms, rapid rates, relay team, seattle, susan taylor, university of washington

Species facing widespread and rapid environmental changes can sometimes evolve quickly enough to dodge the extinction bullet. Populations of disease-causing bacteria evolve, for example, as doctors flood their “environment,” the human body, with antibiotics. Insects, animals and plants can make evolutionary adaptations in response to pesticides, heavy metals and overfishing.

Previous studies have shown that the more gradual the change, the better the chances for “evolutionary rescue” – the process of mutations occurring fast enough to allow a population to avoid extinction in changing environments. One obvious reason is that more individuals remain alive when change is gradual or moderate, meaning there are more opportunities for a winning mutation to emerge. (more…)

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