Biotechnology Training Program Awarded NIH T32

The Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) was awarded a T32 Predoctoral Training Grant from the National Institutes of Health. The award provides a total of $4.8 million over five years to support 20 doctoral students from across campus. The BTP at UW–Madison, co-directed by Professors Brian Fox and Beth Meyerand, is one of the original BTP …

Interstellar biological experiments could aid human space travel

On Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, a rocket and spacecraft were launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia carrying tubes of bacteria and bacteriophage, the viruses that prey on bacteria. They are now on their way to the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists in the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Biochemistry are hoping that by sending them …

BTP helps trainee navigate patent application to protect research invention

Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) trainee Lindsay Bodart first learned about patents and intellectual property in her Foundations of Biotechnology course at the start of graduate school. Little did she know that a few years later, she’d be filing a patent on a tool she created to help in her research. “I knew what a patent …

Two BTP trainers named 2019 Ride Scholars

The 2019 Ride Scholars were announced at the 4th Annual Wisconsin Hockey Face-Off Against Cancer game on Saturday, January 18 at the Kohl Center which can be viewed here. Seven scholars — including two Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) trainers — and their labs will receive a total of $407,389 raised in 2019 from The Ride, the annual community cycling …

Romero, Venturelli announced as winners of 2019 WARF Innovation Award

Two technical breakthroughs, from the realms of experimental physics and microscopic communities, have claimed top honors from WARF this year. The 2019 WARF Innovation Award winners are: Mark Saffman (physics) and Ophelia Venturelli, Philip Romero, Ryan Hsu and Jin Wen Tan (biochemistry). Saffman has developed simplified optical hardware for quantum computing. His technology, recently licensed to ColdQuanta Inc., …

Can ‘smart toilets’ be the next health data wellspring?

Wearable, smart technologies are transforming the ability to monitor and improve health, but a decidedly low-tech commodity — the humble toilet — may have potential to outperform them all. That’s the conclusion of a team of metabolism scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research, who are working to put the tremendous …

Deep in the weeds

If you were to come across a patch of thale cress poking through a crack in a parking lot, you might not think much of it. Its miniscule yellow flowers are little more impressive than its spindly stalk and rosette of leaves. You could eat those leaves in a salad, it just wouldn’t be much …

Communication, collaboration aid BTP alumna at Exact Sciences

Much of biotechnology takes place at the intersections of research, development, regulation, marketing, and customer support. It’s where Betsy Mulligan, a senior director of R&D Project Management at Exact Sciences and BTP alumna, feels right at home. Mulligan graduated with her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 2005 and says being part of BTP equipped her with …

Researchers may have found a new way to fight skin-burrowing schistosomiasis parasite

Scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research have isolated a natural chemical that acts as a potent kryptonite against schistosomes, the parasitic worms that burrow through human skin and cause devastating health problems. A research team led by Morgridge investigator and Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) trainer Phillip Newmark reported in the Oct. 17, 2019 issue …

Tiny capsules packed with gene-editing tools offer alternative to viral delivery of gene therapy

New tools for editing genetic code offer hope for new treatments for inherited diseases, some cancers, and even stubborn viral infections. But the typical method for delivering gene therapies to specific tissues in the body can be complicated and may cause troubling side effects. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have addressed many of those …