Category: BTP News

Thirty-two members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty have been awarded 2019-20 faculty fellowships, including three Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) Mentors. The awardees span the four divisions — arts and humanities, physical sciences, social sciences and biological sciences — on campus. “Our faculty are a key component of what makes UW–Madison a world research institute …

To Bill Murphy and the other leaders of the Forward BIO Initiative, Wisconsin possesses all the elements to become a hub of biomanufacturing in the United States, the Midwest’s version of Boston or San Francisco in this rapidly expanding industry. “Our established, statewide excellence in research, technology development and workforce development make Wisconsin a powerhouse,” says Murphy, the …

To learn about industrial biotechnology’s role in the cheese and dairy industry, Ph.D. trainees in the UW–Madison Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) recently traveled to Cedar Grove Cheese located in Plain, Wisc. At the cheese factory BTP trainees learned how cheese is made and sat down for a conversation with owner Bob Wills to discuss how …

Congratulations to two Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) trainees who received 2019 Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Katherine Bultman from the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program under BTP mentor Mark Mandel Katherine Senn from the Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB) under BTP mentor Heidi Dvinge The Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports …

One way to treat the most common type of kidney cancer is to use anti-angiogenic drugs to cut off the blood supply to the tumors, but patients respond differently to the drugs, and choosing the wrong one can make the cancer grow faster. A new UW Carbone Cancer Center study, published online this week in EBioMedicine, has developed …

Stroke treatment has come a long way in the past decade: patients, hurried by the slogan “time is brain,” are visiting stroke centers for injections of clot-busting drugs to prevent brain damage. But that progress only concerns ischemic strokes, which occur when a clot interferes with blood flow. Unfortunately, there is no proven treatment for …

On more occasions than Naomi Chesler would prefer, she’s heard academic colleagues respond to discussions about diversity and inclusion with a familiar refrain. “I’ll have to ask our [insert underrepresented minority label] faculty member about that.” Chesler, a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of biomedical engineering and Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) mentor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, would like to …

On a beautiful September Sunday, hundreds of bicyclists pedaled the roads of eastern Dane County on The Ride to raise money for cancer research. This weekend, their fundraising came home to support cancer research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as scholarships totaling $365,488 were awarded at Friday’s Badger hockey game. Three Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) mentors …

After filming a movie, scenes are cut and rearranged to tell the director’s story. A similar editorial process occurs in our cells in a process called RNA splicing. Before the DNA code is translated into a protein, it must first be converted into RNA, its single-stranded mirror image. The resulting strand of RNA is spliced …

Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) trainee Edna Chiang is using her education and BTP traineeship to bring science to others. Recently, her outreach efforts culminated in a talk about her research for Science on Tap-Minocqua, a science outreach program in rural Wisconsin. The event is the result of a partnership between UW–Madison, the Wisconsin Alumni Association, …