From The School of Medicine At The University of Washington: “Protein scientists share Frontiers of Knowledge Award”

From The School of Medicine

At

The University of Washington

1.25.23

Leila Gray
UW Medicine
leilag@uw.edu

BBVA Foundation honors UW Medicine’s David Baker and British scientists Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for artificial intelligence in protein design.

U Washington, Dr. David Baker, Baker Lab, University of Washington Institute for Protein Design.

David Baker’s Rosetta@home project, a project running on BOINC software from University of California-Berkeley

BOINC-Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing from University of California-Berkeley

BOINC-Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing from University of California-Berkeley.

Rosetta@home BOINC project screen saver

My BOINC stats

UW Medicine biochemist David Baker is among three scientists named to receive The Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine. The BBVA Foundation is honoring Baker and British scientists Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, both at AI company Deep Mind, for leading parallel efforts that are revolutionizing artificial intelligence for protein design.

Protein molecules are the workhorses of biology and are involved in almost every cellular activity in all living things. The ability to analyze their structure, understand their functions and interactions, and engineer brand new, highly useful proteins not found in nature opens avenues to many medical and other advances.

Baker, who directs the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design, oversaw the development of RoseTTAFold.

Researchers used artificial intelligence to generate hundreds of new protein structures, including this 3D view of human interleukin-12 bound to its receptor. Credit: Ian Haydon.

Deep learning hallucinating a protein design. Image: Ian Haydon.

It is a “deep learning” system that can quickly and accurately decipher the three-dimensional structure of proteins. It can accomplish in a just a few seconds what used to take years of laboratory work. This technology also supports the design of new proteins, created to carry out specific functions. This holds promise for the engineering of new therapies against a variety of diseases, including cancer and infectious illness, as well as applications in energy, environmental, nanotech and other fields.

DeepMind’s CEO Hassabis and chief research scientist Jumper headed the creation of the AlphaFold2 tool, which brought artificial intelligence and deep learning to protein structure prediction and design, and which is powering protein research a variety of medical areas and other bioscientific fields.

The BBVA Foundation promotes world-class scientific research and cultural creation, and the recognition of talent. It is assisted in evaluating nominees for the Frontiers Award in Biology and Biomedicine by the Spanish National Research Council, the country’s premier public research organization. They were joined by an international jury for this category.

According to the selection committee, as reported in the BBVA Foundation news announcement on the work being honored by this year’s award, “Both computer methods rely on a sophisticated machine-learning technique known as deep learning to predict the shape of proteins with unprecedented accuracy, similar to that of experimentally determined structures, and with exceptional speed.”

They added, “This breakthrough is revolutionizing our understanding of how the amino acid sequence of proteins leads to uniquely ordered three-dimensional structures. Scientists are now using these new methods.”

This is an advance, the announcement noted, with huge potential for the development of new treatments against multiple conditions, from combatting the flu virus or COVID-19, cancer cell growth, or malaria parasites, as a few examples.

Baker was born in Seattle. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California-Berkeley. He is currently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in addition to directing the Institute for Protein Design. He is also an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science and physics at the UW. He has authored more than 570 research papers, holds more than 100 patents, co-founded 11 tech firms, and directs Rosetta Commons, a consortium of labs and researchers working on biomolecular structure predictions and design software. He and his colleagues are also know for their longstanding citizen scientist effort to involve people from a variety of backgrounds and locations in protein design through Rosetta@Home.

In the BBVA Foundation award announcement, Baker described the revolution in purpose-designed proteins to advance the creation of new drugs and vaccines. He said that the latest RoseTTAFold version even allows for the design of proteins from simple descriptions, similar to the DALL-E system that generates images from text prompts.

“So, for example, you can tell RoseTTAFold: design a protein which blocks this flu virus protein, or design a protein which will block these cancer cells,” he said in the BBVA Foundation news release. “RoseTTAFold will then make those proteins. We’ve made them in the lab, and we find that they have exactly those functions.”

An anti-coronavirus vaccine created with RoseTTAFold has been clinically tested and distributed in South Korea. New purpose-designed anti-cancer medicines are being evaluated in human clinical trials. There are plans for a nasal spray that protects against COVID-19 and work underway on an RSV vaccine, a universal flu vaccine, and ideas for a vaccine against a family of viruses related to SARS-CoV-2.

“We believe that almost all of medicine will be transformed by the protein design revolution,” said Baker. “Most medicines today are made by making small modifications to the proteins which already exist in nature. Now that we can design completely new proteins, we can develop much more improved, more sophisticated medicines that, for example, can treat cancer without the side effects, be made very quickly upon the outbreak of a new pandemic, and in general will be more precise and more robust.”

RoseTTAFold and AlphaFold2 are freely available to the scientific community. Upgrades have practically equalized the computing times required by each.

Although these AI tools have not entirely supplanted experimental methods, they are starting to transform both the field of protein design and biological research more generally.

See the full article here .

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The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Graduate School rankings, University of Washington School of Medicine ranked #1 in the nation for primary care education, and #7 for research.

UWSOM is the first public medical school in the states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The school maintains a network of teaching facilities in more than 100 towns and cities across the five-state region. As part of this “WWAMI” partnership, medical students from Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho spend their first year and a half at The University of Wyoming , The University of Alaska-Anchorage , Montana State University , or The University of Idaho , respectively. In addition, sixty first-year students and forty second-year students from Washington are based at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Preference is given to residents of the WWAMI states.

The University of Washington is one of the world’s preeminent public universities. Our impact on individuals, on our region, and on the world is profound — whether we are launching young people into a boundless future or confronting the grand challenges of our time through undaunted research and scholarship. Ranked number 10 in the world in Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings and educating more than 54,000 students annually, our students and faculty work together to turn ideas into impact and in the process transform lives and our world. For more about our impact on the world, every day.

So what defines us —the students, faculty and community members at the University of Washington? Above all, it’s our belief in possibility and our unshakable optimism. It’s a connection to others, both near and far. It’s a hunger that pushes us to tackle challenges and pursue progress. It’s the conviction that together we can create a world of good. Join us on the journey.

The University of Washington is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in downtown Seattle approximately a decade after the city’s founding to aid its economic development. Today, the university’s 703-acre main Seattle campus is in the University District above the Montlake Cut, within the urban Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest. The university has additional campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Overall, University of Washington encompasses over 500 buildings and over 20 million gross square footage of space, including one of the largest library systems in the world with more than 26 university libraries, as well as the UW Tower, lecture halls, art centers, museums, laboratories, stadiums, and conference centers. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees through 140 departments in various colleges and schools, sees a total student enrollment of roughly 46,000 annually, and functions on a quarter system.

University of Washington is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. According to the National Science Foundation, UW spent $1.41 billion on research and development in 2018, ranking it 5th in the nation. As the flagship institution of the six public universities in Washington state, it is known for its medical, engineering and scientific research as well as its highly competitive computer science and engineering programs. Additionally, University of Washington continues to benefit from its deep historic ties and major collaborations with numerous technology giants in the region, such as Amazon, Boeing, Nintendo, and particularly Microsoft. Paul G. Allen, Bill Gates and others spent significant time at Washington computer labs for a startup venture before founding Microsoft and other ventures. The University of Washington’s 22 varsity sports teams are also highly competitive, competing as the Huskies in the Pac-12 Conference of the NCAA Division I, representing the United States at the Olympic Games, and other major competitions.

The university has been affiliated with many notable alumni and faculty, including 21 Nobel Prize laureates and numerous Pulitzer Prize winners, Fulbright Scholars, Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars.

In 1854, territorial governor Isaac Stevens recommended the establishment of a university in the Washington Territory. Prominent Seattle-area residents, including Methodist preacher Daniel Bagley, saw this as a chance to add to the city’s potential and prestige. Bagley learned of a law that allowed United States territories to sell land to raise money in support of public schools. At the time, Arthur A. Denny, one of the founders of Seattle and a member of the territorial legislature, aimed to increase the city’s importance by moving the territory’s capital from Olympia to Seattle. However, Bagley eventually convinced Denny that the establishment of a university would assist more in the development of Seattle’s economy. Two universities were initially chartered, but later the decision was repealed in favor of a single university in Lewis County provided that locally donated land was available. When no site emerged, Denny successfully petitioned the legislature to reconsider Seattle as a location in 1858.

In 1861, scouting began for an appropriate 10 acres (4 ha) site in Seattle to serve as a new university campus. Arthur and Mary Denny donated eight acres, while fellow pioneers Edward Lander, and Charlie and Mary Terry, donated two acres on Denny’s Knoll in downtown Seattle. More specifically, this tract was bounded by 4th Avenue to the west, 6th Avenue to the east, Union Street to the north, and Seneca Streets to the south.

John Pike, for whom Pike Street is named, was the university’s architect and builder. It was opened on November 4, 1861, as the Territorial University of Washington. The legislature passed articles incorporating the University, and establishing its Board of Regents in 1862. The school initially struggled, closing three times: in 1863 for low enrollment, and again in 1867 and 1876 due to funds shortage. University of Washington awarded its first graduate Clara Antoinette McCarty Wilt in 1876, with a bachelor’s degree in science.

19th century relocation

By the time Washington state entered the Union in 1889, both Seattle and the University had grown substantially. University of Washington’s total undergraduate enrollment increased from 30 to nearly 300 students, and the campus’s relative isolation in downtown Seattle faced encroaching development. A special legislative committee, headed by University of Washington graduate Edmond Meany, was created to find a new campus to better serve the growing student population and faculty. The committee eventually selected a site on the northeast of downtown Seattle called Union Bay, which was the land of the Duwamish, and the legislature appropriated funds for its purchase and construction. In 1895, the University relocated to the new campus by moving into the newly built Denny Hall. The University Regents tried and failed to sell the old campus, eventually settling with leasing the area. This would later become one of the University’s most valuable pieces of real estate in modern-day Seattle, generating millions in annual revenue with what is now called the Metropolitan Tract. The original Territorial University building was torn down in 1908, and its former site now houses the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

The sole-surviving remnants of Washington’s first building are four 24-foot (7.3 m), white, hand-fluted cedar, Ionic columns. They were salvaged by Edmond S. Meany, one of the University’s first graduates and former head of its history department. Meany and his colleague, Dean Herbert T. Condon, dubbed the columns as “Loyalty,” “Industry,” “Faith”, and “Efficiency”, or “LIFE.” The columns now stand in the Sylvan Grove Theater.

20th century expansion

Organizers of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition eyed the still largely undeveloped campus as a prime setting for their world’s fair. They came to an agreement with Washington’s Board of Regents that allowed them to use the campus grounds for the exposition, surrounding today’s Drumheller Fountain facing towards Mount Rainier. In exchange, organizers agreed Washington would take over the campus and its development after the fair’s conclusion. This arrangement led to a detailed site plan and several new buildings, prepared in part by John Charles Olmsted. The plan was later incorporated into the overall University of Washington campus master plan, permanently affecting the campus layout.

Both World Wars brought the military to campus, with certain facilities temporarily lent to the federal government. In spite of this, subsequent post-war periods were times of dramatic growth for the University. The period between the wars saw a significant expansion of the upper campus. Construction of the Liberal Arts Quadrangle, known to students as “The Quad,” began in 1916 and continued to 1939. The University’s architectural centerpiece, Suzzallo Library, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1935.

After World War II, further growth came with the G.I. Bill. Among the most important developments of this period was the opening of the School of Medicine in 1946, which is now consistently ranked as the top medical school in the United States. It would eventually lead to the University of Washington Medical Center, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top ten hospitals in the nation.

In 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry in the Seattle area were forced into inland internment camps as part of Executive Order 9066 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. During this difficult time, university president Lee Paul Sieg took an active and sympathetic leadership role in advocating for and facilitating the transfer of Japanese American students to universities and colleges away from the Pacific Coast to help them avoid the mass incarceration. Nevertheless, many Japanese American students and “soon-to-be” graduates were unable to transfer successfully in the short time window or receive diplomas before being incarcerated. It was only many years later that they would be recognized for their accomplishments during the University of Washington’s Long Journey Home ceremonial event that was held in May 2008.

From 1958 to 1973, the University of Washington saw a tremendous growth in student enrollment, its faculties and operating budget, and also its prestige under the leadership of Charles Odegaard. University of Washington student enrollment had more than doubled to 34,000 as the baby boom generation came of age. However, this era was also marked by high levels of student activism, as was the case at many American universities. Much of the unrest focused around civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. In response to anti-Vietnam War protests by the late 1960s, the University Safety and Security Division became the University of Washington Police Department.

Odegaard instituted a vision of building a “community of scholars”, convincing the Washington State legislatures to increase investment in the University. Washington senators, such as Henry M. Jackson and Warren G. Magnuson, also used their political clout to gather research funds for the University of Washington. The results included an increase in the operating budget from $37 million in 1958 to over $400 million in 1973, solidifying University of Washington as a top recipient of federal research funds in the United States. The establishment of technology giants such as Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon in the local area also proved to be highly influential in the University of Washington’s fortunes, not only improving graduate prospects but also helping to attract millions of dollars in university and research funding through its distinguished faculty and extensive alumni network.

21st century

In 1990, the University of Washington opened its additional campuses in Bothell and Tacoma. Although originally intended for students who have already completed two years of higher education, both schools have since become four-year universities with the authority to grant degrees. The first freshman classes at these campuses started in fall 2006. Today both Bothell and Tacoma also offer a selection of master’s degree programs.

In 2012, the University began exploring plans and governmental approval to expand the main Seattle campus, including significant increases in student housing, teaching facilities for the growing student body and faculty, as well as expanded public transit options. The University of Washington light rail station was completed in March 2015, connecting Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood to the University of Washington Husky Stadium within five minutes of rail travel time. It offers a previously unavailable option of transportation into and out of the campus, designed specifically to reduce dependence on private vehicles, bicycles and local King County buses.

University of Washington has been listed as a “Public Ivy” in Greene’s Guides since 2001, and is an elected member of the American Association of Universities. Among the faculty by 2012, there have been 151 members of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 68 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 67 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 53 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 29 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 21 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, 15 MacArthur Fellows, 9 winners of the Gairdner Foundation International Award, 5 winners of the National Medal of Science, 7 Nobel Prize laureates, 5 winners of Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, 4 members of the American Philosophical Society, 2 winners of the National Book Award, 2 winners of the National Medal of Arts, 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, 1 winner of the Fields Medal, and 1 member of the National Academy of Public Administration. Among UW students by 2012, there were 136 Fulbright Scholars, 35 Rhodes Scholars, 7 Marshall Scholars and 4 Gates Cambridge Scholars. UW is recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Scholars, ranking 2nd in the US in 2017.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities has consistently ranked University of Washington as one of the top 20 universities worldwide every year since its first release. In 2019, University of Washington ranked 14th worldwide out of 500 by the ARWU, 26th worldwide out of 981 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 28th worldwide out of 101 in the Times World Reputation Rankings. Meanwhile, QS World University Rankings ranked it 68th worldwide, out of over 900.

U.S. News & World Report ranked University of Washington 8th out of nearly 1,500 universities worldwide for 2021, with University of Washington’s undergraduate program tied for 58th among 389 national universities in the U.S. and tied for 19th among 209 public universities.

In 2019, it ranked 10th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings. In 2017, the Leiden Ranking, which focuses on science and the impact of scientific publications among the world’s 500 major universities, ranked University of Washington 12th globally and 5th in the U.S.

In 2019, Kiplinger Magazine’s review of “top college values” named University of Washington 5th for in-state students and 10th for out-of-state students among U.S. public colleges, and 84th overall out of 500 schools. In the Washington Monthly National University Rankings University of Washington was ranked 15th domestically in 2018, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

From The School of Medicine At Stanford University: “Stanford Medicine researchers measure thousands of molecules from a single drop of blood”

From The School of Medicine

At

Stanford University

1.19.23
Hadley Leggett

Using a new technique called “multi-omic microsampling” Stanford Medicine researchers can measure thousands of protein and fat and metabolic molecules from a single drop of blood.

A single drop of blood can yield measurements for thousands of proteins, fats and other biomarkers, researchers at Stanford Medicine found. Credit: fizkes/Shutterstock.com

Researchers at Stanford Medicine have shown they can measure thousands of molecules — some of which are signals of health — from a single drop of blood.

The new approach combines a microsampling device — a tool used to self-administer a finger prick — with “multi-omics” technologies, which simultaneously analyze a vast array of proteins, fats, by-products of metabolism and inflammatory markers.

“Even more importantly, we’ve shown you can collect the blood drop at home and mail it into the lab,” said Michael Snyder, PhD, director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine and senior author on the research, which was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering [below] on Jan. 19.

Fig. 1: Overview of the microsampling multi-omics workflow and stability analysis.

[a] The samples were collected using microsampling devices, and then multi-omics data (proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, cytokine and so on) were acquired. [b] Outline of the primary microsampling analyses. [c] The coefficient of variation (CV) distribution for proteins, metabolites and lipids across all the samples in the stability analysis. [d] The percentage of analytes is significantly affected by storage duration, temperature and interactions (linear regression). The red line shows the expected proportion of nominally significant results at the alpha level of 5% (P = 0.05). [e] The Spearman correlations between microsamples and intravenous blood samples (n = 34) for metabolites and lipids, respectively.

Fig. 2: The overview of Ensure shake study and molecular response to Ensure shake.

[a] The study design and overview of the Ensure shake study. [b] The summary of multi-omics data from the microsamples. [c] Responses of metabolites, lipids and cytokines/hormones after Ensure shake consumption (two-sided Wilcoxon rank test). [d] The clustering of dysregulated molecules following Ensure shake consumption. [e] Amino acid response to Ensure shake consumption. [f] Response of three dysregulated carbohydrates to Ensure shake consumption. [g] Acylcarnitine response to Ensure shake consumption. [h] Cytokine/hormone response to Ensure shake consumption. The points are represented by mean ± s.d.

Unlike finger-prick testing for diabetes, which measures a single type of molecule (glucose), “multi-omics microsampling” gives data about thousands of different molecules at once.

The research sounds similar to a well-known approach promoted in the past for testing a single drop of blood, but there are important differences: While the earlier approach was based on replicating existing diagnostic tests, multi-omic microsampling uses a different type of data analysis based on a technology called “mass spectrometry”, which sorts molecules based on their mass and electronic charge. In addition, the data analysis is performed in a lab, not in a portable box.

Less blood but more insights

Instead of focusing on any single protein, metabolite or inflammatory marker, the growing field of “omics” research takes a broader, systems-biology approach: analyzing the whole spectrum of proteins (the proteome), fats (the lipidome) or the by-products of metabolism (the metabolome). Although recent advances have made this data analysis more robust and efficient, the real-world usefulness of multi-omics research has been limited by the difficulties of sample collection, among other challenges. To measure someone’s response to a food or medication, many samples in a short time span may be needed; currently, sampling requires traveling to a clinic for an intravenous blood draw of 10 to 50 milliliters.

“For the study, we asked participants to take blood samples five times in just four hours,” said Snyder, the Stanford W. Ascherman, MD, FACS Professor in Genetics. “Traditionally that would have meant putting in a catheter and pulling out a lot of blood each time. By the fifth draw, your participants would have less iron and fewer red blood cells.”

The researchers wanted to know whether they could drastically reduce the volume of blood used for multi-omics analysis, but still profile thousands of molecules. After testing a variety of microsampling devices, they chose one called the Mitra, a portable finger-stick device that draws 10 microliters of blood into a gel matrix. They then tested multiple extraction techniques to separate out the proteins, lipids and metabolites. A second separate microsample was used to measure inflammatory markers.

“It wasn’t at all expected that we’d be able to do this kind of analysis on such a small sample,” said Ryan Kellogg, PhD, post-doctoral researcher in genetics and one of four co-lead authors on the paper. The other three co-lead authors are Stanford postdoctoral scholars Xiaotao Shen, PhD, Daniel Panyard, PhD, and Nasim Bararpour, PhD.

In a pilot study of two test subjects, the researchers were able to measure the levels of 128 proteins and 1461 metabolites and 776 lipids from each microsample. They then monitored the samples for stability when they were stored at a variety of temperatures.

“Overall, very few proteins were unstable, regardless of temperature,” Snyder said. Some of the lipids and metabolites broke down during storage at certain temperatures, but the majority were stable, he said.

When the researchers compared the multi-omics results obtained by microsampling with those from a traditional blood draw, they found the results from the two collection types to be similar for the vast majority of molecules. Confident that their multi-omic microsamples were reliable, the scientists next tested applications for the new technique.

Tracking individual metabolic responses to food

The researchers conducted a study that monitored the molecular impact of a nutrition shake, analyzing data from 28 participants for four hours after they consumed a defined quantity of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and micronutrients from the meal replacement shake.

“What we found is that people responded very, very differently to this mixture,” Snyder said.

Different people can have drastically different metabolic responses to the same food, but standard blood tests don’t give enough data to understand why.

Almost 50% of the compounds in the shake could eventually be detected in the blood of participants, and researchers were able to divide the participants into two major groups based on how quickly the molecules in their blood changed, with one group responding more quickly to the shake than the other. Participants with known insulin resistance were more likely to fall into the “fast responder” group.

Some participants also had an inflammatory reaction, with molecules involved in their immune response peaking about 30 minutes after consuming the shake.

“The ultimate goal of doing these detailed profiles is to give people information,” Snyder said. “If you learn you’re having an immune response to a particular food, you might be quite motivated to change your diet.”

24/7 monitoring with wearable sensors

In the second experiment, the researchers took molecular monitoring a step further, by sampling Snyder’s blood every one to two hours while he was awake for a week.

“After 98 samples, I’ll admit my fingers were pretty sore.” He also wore four different smart watches and a continuous glucose monitor to track his heart rate, activity level, sleep and food intake.

By the end of the week, the research team had made a total of 214,661 biochemical measurements, including levels of proteins, fats and hormones like cortisol, which they compared with physiologic data from the wearable sensors. In addition to discovering many molecules that exhibited previously unidentified 24-hour rhythms (meaning that certain molecules follow a daily, cyclic ebb and flow), the researchers observed that glucose and cortisol levels varied extensively throughout the day, contrary to what they’d expected.

“Textbooks describe how these molecules are supposed to behave,” Snyder said. For example, cortisol is expected to be high in the morning and drop during the day. But when the researchers analyzed the data, they found this was true for Snyder on some days but not others, highlighting the importance of frequent sampling.

Because this data represents the molecules of a single participant, it can’t be used to draw conclusions about anyone else. But according to Snyder, that’s one of the important take-aways from this research: Individuals have diverse molecular profiles that may change based on their personalized behavior patterns.

“The most exciting thing about microsampling is the ability to collect denser time points and more comprehensive data,” Kellogg said. “With traditional venipuncture, your doctor gets a sample every six months, or maybe even every few years. There’s a lot of biology happening between those samples.”

Midway through the week, for instance, the multi-omics monitoring picked up an immune event, of which Snyder himself was unaware — he suspects it was his body fighting off an infection. Snyder was also able to track his own personal metabolism of salicylic acid (a byproduct of the baby aspirin he takes each morning), suggesting that multi-omics microsampling can be useful for tracking an individual’s response to a drug.

Bringing health care into the home

The next step for the Snyder lab will be to expand the pilot studies and offer multi-omic microsampling to a broader swath of patients. “Several ongoing projects are evaluating if this method can be used for early disease detection,” said Shen, who was in charge of data analysis for the project. “Through longitudinal monitoring, we’re very hopeful this can be used for diagnosis.” In addition, Kellogg has founded a startup that uses multi-omic microsampling to better define the molecular effects of long COVID and develop new diagnostics.

Snyder envisions a future in which healthy people would perform multi-omic microsampling at home at regular intervals — every month, every week, or maybe even once a day — to get a sense of their personal molecular fingerprint. Subtle changes in that fingerprint could signal the onset of disease long before an abnormality would be picked up by standard lab tests.

“The bottom line,” Snyder said, “is that we can get a really deep profile of a person’s metabolic and immune health, all through the convenience of a home test.”

He added that many people experience a “white coat effect,” which sends their heart rate and blood pressure skyrocketing the moment they step into a health care setting. “That’s going to change your physiology and affect the results. You’re better off doing as much of this as possible from home.”

Funding for this research was provided by the National Institute of Health (grants 5RM1HG00773508 and 34 5R01AT01023204).

Nature Biomedical Engineering

See the full article here.

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Stanford Medicine integrates research, medical education and health care at its three institutions – Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Health Care (formerly Stanford Hospital & Clinics), and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. For more information, please visit the Office of Communication & Public Affairs site at http://mednews.stanford.edu.

Stanford University campus

Leland and Jane Stanford founded Stanford University (US) to “promote the public welfare by exercising an influence on behalf of humanity and civilization.” Stanford opened its doors in 1891, and more than a century later, it remains dedicated to finding solutions to the great challenges of the day and to preparing our students for leadership in today’s complex world. Stanford, is an American private research university located in Stanford, California on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus near Palo Alto. Since 1952, more than 54 Stanford faculty, staff, and alumni have won the Nobel Prize, including 19 current faculty members.

Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university located in Stanford, California. Stanford was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Stanford is consistently ranked as among the most prestigious and top universities in the world by major education publications. It is also one of the top fundraising institutions in the country, becoming the first school to raise more than a billion dollars in a year.

Leland Stanford was a U.S. senator and former governor of California who made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students on October 1, 1891, as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. Stanford University struggled financially after the death of Leland Stanford in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, provost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates’ entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would later be known as Silicon Valley.

The university is organized around seven schools: three schools consisting of 40 academic departments at the undergraduate level as well as four professional schools that focus on graduate programs in law, medicine, education, and business. All schools are on the same campus. Students compete in 36 varsity sports, and the university is one of two private institutions in the Division I FBS Pac-12 Conference. It has gained 126 NCAA team championships, and Stanford has won the NACDA Directors’ Cup for 24 consecutive years, beginning in 1994–1995. In addition, Stanford students and alumni have won 270 Olympic medals including 139 gold medals.

As of October 2020, 84 Nobel laureates, 28 Turing Award laureates, and eight Fields Medalists have been affiliated with Stanford as students, alumni, faculty, or staff. In addition, Stanford is particularly noted for its entrepreneurship and is one of the most successful universities in attracting funding for start-ups. Stanford alumni have founded numerous companies, which combined produce more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue, roughly equivalent to the 7th largest economy in the world (as of 2020). Stanford is the alma mater of one president of the United States (Herbert Hoover), 74 living billionaires, and 17 astronauts. It is also one of the leading producers of Fulbright Scholars, Marshall Scholars, Rhodes Scholars, and members of the United States Congress.

Stanford University was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford, dedicated to Leland Stanford Jr, their only child. The institution opened in 1891 on Stanford’s previous Palo Alto farm.

Jane and Leland Stanford modeled their university after the great eastern universities, most specifically Cornell University. Stanford opened being called the “Cornell of the West” in 1891 due to faculty being former Cornell affiliates (either professors, alumni, or both) including its first president, David Starr Jordan, and second president, John Casper Branner. Both Cornell and Stanford were among the first to have higher education be accessible, nonsectarian, and open to women as well as to men. Cornell is credited as one of the first American universities to adopt this radical departure from traditional education, and Stanford became an early adopter as well.

Despite being impacted by earthquakes in both 1906 and 1989, the campus was rebuilt each time. In 1919, The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace was started by Herbert Hoover to preserve artifacts related to World War I. The Stanford Medical Center, completed in 1959, is a teaching hospital with over 800 beds. The DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory(US)(originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), established in 1962, performs research in particle physics.

Land

Most of Stanford is on an 8,180-acre (12.8 sq mi; 33.1 km^2) campus, one of the largest in the United States. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula, in the northwest part of the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley) approximately 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco and approximately 20 miles (30 km) northwest of San Jose. In 2008, 60% of this land remained undeveloped.

Stanford’s main campus includes a census-designated place within unincorporated Santa Clara County, although some of the university land (such as the Stanford Shopping Center and the Stanford Research Park) is within the city limits of Palo Alto. The campus also includes much land in unincorporated San Mateo County (including the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve), as well as in the city limits of Menlo Park (Stanford Hills neighborhood), Woodside, and Portola Valley.

Non-central campus

Stanford currently operates in various locations outside of its central campus.

On the founding grant:

Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) natural reserve south of the central campus owned by the university and used by wildlife biologists for research.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a facility west of the central campus operated by the university for the Department of Energy. It contains the longest linear particle accelerator in the world, 2 miles (3.2 km) on 426 acres (172 ha) of land.
Golf course and a seasonal lake: The university also has its own golf course and a seasonal lake (Lake Lagunita, actually an irrigation reservoir), both home to the vulnerable California tiger salamander. As of 2012 Lake Lagunita was often dry and the university had no plans to artificially fill it.

Off the founding grant:

Hopkins Marine Station, in Pacific Grove, California, is a marine biology research center owned by the university since 1892.
Study abroad locations: unlike typical study abroad programs, Stanford itself operates in several locations around the world; thus, each location has Stanford faculty-in-residence and staff in addition to students, creating a “mini-Stanford”.

Redwood City campus for many of the university’s administrative offices located in Redwood City, California, a few miles north of the main campus. In 2005, the university purchased a small, 35-acre (14 ha) campus in Midpoint Technology Park intended for staff offices; development was delayed by The Great Recession. In 2015 the university announced a development plan and the Redwood City campus opened in March 2019.

The Bass Center in Washington, DC provides a base, including housing, for the Stanford in Washington program for undergraduates. It includes a small art gallery open to the public.

China: Stanford Center at Peking University, housed in the Lee Jung Sen Building, is a small center for researchers and students in collaboration with Beijing University [北京大学](CN) (Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University(CN) (KIAA-PKU).

Administration and organization

Stanford is a private, non-profit university that is administered as a corporate trust governed by a privately appointed board of trustees with a maximum membership of 38. Trustees serve five-year terms (not more than two consecutive terms) and meet five times annually.[83] A new trustee is chosen by the current trustees by ballot. The Stanford trustees also oversee the Stanford Research Park, the Stanford Shopping Center, the Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University Medical Center, and many associated medical facilities (including the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital).

The board appoints a president to serve as the chief executive officer of the university, to prescribe the duties of professors and course of study, to manage financial and business affairs, and to appoint nine vice presidents. The provost is the chief academic and budget officer, to whom the deans of each of the seven schools report. Persis Drell became the 13th provost in February 2017.

As of 2018, the university was organized into seven academic schools. The schools of Humanities and Sciences (27 departments), Engineering (nine departments), and Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (four departments) have both graduate and undergraduate programs while the Schools of Law, Medicine, Education and Business have graduate programs only. The powers and authority of the faculty are vested in the Academic Council, which is made up of tenure and non-tenure line faculty, research faculty, senior fellows in some policy centers and institutes, the president of the university, and some other academic administrators, but most matters are handled by the Faculty Senate, made up of 55 elected representatives of the faculty.

The Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) is the student government for Stanford and all registered students are members. Its elected leadership consists of the Undergraduate Senate elected by the undergraduate students, the Graduate Student Council elected by the graduate students, and the President and Vice President elected as a ticket by the entire student body.

Stanford is the beneficiary of a special clause in the California Constitution, which explicitly exempts Stanford property from taxation so long as the property is used for educational purposes.

Endowment and donations

The university’s endowment, managed by the Stanford Management Company, was valued at $27.7 billion as of August 31, 2019. Payouts from the Stanford endowment covered approximately 21.8% of university expenses in the 2019 fiscal year. In the 2018 NACUBO-TIAA survey of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, only Harvard University(US), the University of Texas System(US), and Yale University(US) had larger endowments than Stanford.

In 2006, President John L. Hennessy launched a five-year campaign called the Stanford Challenge, which reached its $4.3 billion fundraising goal in 2009, two years ahead of time, but continued fundraising for the duration of the campaign. It concluded on December 31, 2011, having raised a total of $6.23 billion and breaking the previous campaign fundraising record of $3.88 billion held by Yale. Specifically, the campaign raised $253.7 million for undergraduate financial aid, as well as $2.33 billion for its initiative in “Seeking Solutions” to global problems, $1.61 billion for “Educating Leaders” by improving K-12 education, and $2.11 billion for “Foundation of Excellence” aimed at providing academic support for Stanford students and faculty. Funds supported 366 new fellowships for graduate students, 139 new endowed chairs for faculty, and 38 new or renovated buildings. The new funding also enabled the construction of a facility for stem cell research; a new campus for the business school; an expansion of the law school; a new Engineering Quad; a new art and art history building; an on-campus concert hall; a new art museum; and a planned expansion of the medical school, among other things. In 2012, the university raised $1.035 billion, becoming the first school to raise more than a billion dollars in a year.

Research centers and institutes

DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory(US)
Stanford Research Institute, a center of innovation to support economic development in the region.
Hoover Institution, a conservative American public policy institution and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and limited government.
Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, a multidisciplinary design school in cooperation with the Hasso Plattner Institute of University of Potsdam [Universität Potsdam](DE) that integrates product design, engineering, and business management education).
Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, which grew out of and still contains the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project.
John S. Knight Fellowship for Professional Journalists
Center for Ocean Solutions
Together with UC Berkeley(US) and UC San Francisco(US), Stanford is part of the Biohub, a new medical science research center founded in 2016 by a $600 million commitment from Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg and pediatrician Priscilla Chan.

Discoveries and innovation

Natural sciences

Biological synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) – Arthur Kornberg synthesized DNA material and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959 for his work at Stanford.
First Transgenic organism – Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer were the first scientists to transplant genes from one living organism to another, a fundamental discovery for genetic engineering. Thousands of products have been developed on the basis of their work, including human growth hormone and hepatitis B vaccine.
Laser – Arthur Leonard Schawlow shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nicolaas Bloembergen and Kai Siegbahn for his work on lasers.
Nuclear magnetic resonance – Felix Bloch developed new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements, which are the underlying principles of the MRI.

Computer and applied sciences

ARPANET – Stanford Research Institute, formerly part of Stanford but on a separate campus, was the site of one of the four original ARPANET nodes.

Internet—Stanford was the site where the original design of the Internet was undertaken. Vint Cerf led a research group to elaborate the design of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP/IP) that he originally co-created with Robert E. Kahn (Bob Kahn) in 1973 and which formed the basis for the architecture of the Internet.

Frequency modulation synthesis – John Chowning of the Music department invented the FM music synthesis algorithm in 1967, and Stanford later licensed it to Yamaha Corporation.

Google – Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford. They were working on the Stanford Digital Library Project (SDLP). The SDLP’s goal was “to develop the enabling technologies for a single, integrated and universal digital library” and it was funded through the National Science Foundation, among other federal agencies.

Klystron tube – invented by the brothers Russell and Sigurd Varian at Stanford. Their prototype was completed and demonstrated successfully on August 30, 1937. Upon publication in 1939, news of the klystron immediately influenced the work of U.S. and UK researchers working on radar equipment.

RISC – ARPA funded VLSI project of microprocessor design. Stanford and UC Berkeley are most associated with the popularization of this concept. The Stanford MIPS would go on to be commercialized as the successful MIPS architecture, while Berkeley RISC gave its name to the entire concept, commercialized as the SPARC. Another success from this era were IBM’s efforts that eventually led to the IBM POWER instruction set architecture, PowerPC, and Power ISA. As these projects matured, a wide variety of similar designs flourished in the late 1980s and especially the early 1990s, representing a major force in the Unix workstation market as well as embedded processors in laser printers, routers and similar products.
SUN workstation – Andy Bechtolsheim designed the SUN workstation for the Stanford University Network communications project as a personal CAD workstation, which led to Sun Microsystems.

Businesses and entrepreneurship

Stanford is one of the most successful universities in creating companies and licensing its inventions to existing companies; it is often held up as a model for technology transfer. Stanford’s Office of Technology Licensing is responsible for commercializing university research, intellectual property, and university-developed projects.

The university is described as having a strong venture culture in which students are encouraged, and often funded, to launch their own companies.

Companies founded by Stanford alumni generate more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue, equivalent to the 10th-largest economy in the world.

Some companies closely associated with Stanford and their connections include:

Hewlett-Packard, 1939, co-founders William R. Hewlett (B.S, PhD) and David Packard (M.S).
Silicon Graphics, 1981, co-founders James H. Clark (Associate Professor) and several of his grad students.
Sun Microsystems, 1982, co-founders Vinod Khosla (M.B.A), Andy Bechtolsheim (PhD) and Scott McNealy (M.B.A).
Cisco, 1984, founders Leonard Bosack (M.S) and Sandy Lerner (M.S) who were in charge of Stanford Computer Science and Graduate School of Business computer operations groups respectively when the hardware was developed.[163]
Yahoo!, 1994, co-founders Jerry Yang (B.S, M.S) and David Filo (M.S).
Google, 1998, co-founders Larry Page (M.S) and Sergey Brin (M.S).
LinkedIn, 2002, co-founders Reid Hoffman (B.S), Konstantin Guericke (B.S, M.S), Eric Lee (B.S), and Alan Liu (B.S).
Instagram, 2010, co-founders Kevin Systrom (B.S) and Mike Krieger (B.S).
Snapchat, 2011, co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy (B.S).
Coursera, 2012, co-founders Andrew Ng (Associate Professor) and Daphne Koller (Professor, PhD).

Student body

Stanford enrolled 6,996 undergraduate and 10,253 graduate students as of the 2019–2020 school year. Women comprised 50.4% of undergraduates and 41.5% of graduate students. In the same academic year, the freshman retention rate was 99%.

Stanford awarded 1,819 undergraduate degrees, 2,393 master’s degrees, 770 doctoral degrees, and 3270 professional degrees in the 2018–2019 school year. The four-year graduation rate for the class of 2017 cohort was 72.9%, and the six-year rate was 94.4%. The relatively low four-year graduation rate is a function of the university’s coterminal degree (or “coterm”) program, which allows students to earn a master’s degree as a 1-to-2-year extension of their undergraduate program.

As of 2010, fifteen percent of undergraduates were first-generation students.

Athletics

As of 2016 Stanford had 16 male varsity sports and 20 female varsity sports, 19 club sports and about 27 intramural sports. In 1930, following a unanimous vote by the Executive Committee for the Associated Students, the athletic department adopted the mascot “Indian.” The Indian symbol and name were dropped by President Richard Lyman in 1972, after objections from Native American students and a vote by the student senate. The sports teams are now officially referred to as the “Stanford Cardinal,” referring to the deep red color, not the cardinal bird. Stanford is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in most sports, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in several other sports, and the America East Conference in field hockey with the participation in the inter-collegiate NCAA’s Division I FBS.

Its traditional sports rival is the University of California, Berkeley, the neighbor to the north in the East Bay. The winner of the annual “Big Game” between the Cal and Cardinal football teams gains custody of the Stanford Axe.

Stanford has had at least one NCAA team champion every year since the 1976–77 school year and has earned 126 NCAA national team titles since its establishment, the most among universities, and Stanford has won 522 individual national championships, the most by any university. Stanford has won the award for the top-ranked Division 1 athletic program—the NACDA Directors’ Cup, formerly known as the Sears Cup—annually for the past twenty-four straight years. Stanford athletes have won medals in every Olympic Games since 1912, winning 270 Olympic medals total, 139 of them gold. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, and 2016 Summer Olympics, Stanford won more Olympic medals than any other university in the United States. Stanford athletes won 16 medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics (12 gold, two silver and two bronze), and 27 medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Traditions

The unofficial motto of Stanford, selected by President Jordan, is Die Luft der Freiheit weht. Translated from the German language, this quotation from Ulrich von Hutten means, “The wind of freedom blows.” The motto was controversial during World War I, when anything in German was suspect; at that time the university disavowed that this motto was official.
Hail, Stanford, Hail! is the Stanford Hymn sometimes sung at ceremonies or adapted by the various University singing groups. It was written in 1892 by mechanical engineering professor Albert W. Smith and his wife, Mary Roberts Smith (in 1896 she earned the first Stanford doctorate in Economics and later became associate professor of Sociology), but was not officially adopted until after a performance on campus in March 1902 by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
“Uncommon Man/Uncommon Woman”: Stanford does not award honorary degrees, but in 1953 the degree of “Uncommon Man/Uncommon Woman” was created to recognize individuals who give rare and extraordinary service to the University. Technically, this degree is awarded by the Stanford Associates, a voluntary group that is part of the university’s alumni association. As Stanford’s highest honor, it is not conferred at prescribed intervals, but only when appropriate to recognize extraordinary service. Recipients include Herbert Hoover, Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, Lucile Packard, and John Gardner.
Big Game events: The events in the week leading up to the Big Game vs. UC Berkeley, including Gaieties (a musical written, composed, produced, and performed by the students of Ram’s Head Theatrical Society).
“Viennese Ball”: a formal ball with waltzes that was initially started in the 1970s by students returning from the now-closed Stanford in Vienna overseas program. It is now open to all students.
“Full Moon on the Quad”: An annual event at Main Quad, where students gather to kiss one another starting at midnight. Typically organized by the Junior class cabinet, the festivities include live entertainment, such as music and dance performances.
“Band Run”: An annual festivity at the beginning of the school year, where the band picks up freshmen from dorms across campus while stopping to perform at each location, culminating in a finale performance at Main Quad.
“Mausoleum Party”: An annual Halloween Party at the Stanford Mausoleum, the final resting place of Leland Stanford Jr. and his parents. A 20-year tradition, the “Mausoleum Party” was on hiatus from 2002 to 2005 due to a lack of funding, but was revived in 2006. In 2008, it was hosted in Old Union rather than at the actual Mausoleum, because rain prohibited generators from being rented. In 2009, after fundraising efforts by the Junior Class Presidents and the ASSU Executive, the event was able to return to the Mausoleum despite facing budget cuts earlier in the year.
Former campus traditions include the “Big Game bonfire” on Lake Lagunita (a seasonal lake usually dry in the fall), which was formally ended in 1997 because of the presence of endangered salamanders in the lake bed.

Award laureates and scholars

Stanford’s current community of scholars includes:

19 Nobel Prize laureates (as of October 2020, 85 affiliates in total)
171 members of the National Academy of Sciences
109 members of National Academy of Engineering
76 members of National Academy of Medicine
288 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
19 recipients of the National Medal of Science
1 recipient of the National Medal of Technology
4 recipients of the National Humanities Medal
49 members of American Philosophical Society
56 fellows of the American Physics Society (since 1995)
4 Pulitzer Prize winners
31 MacArthur Fellows
4 Wolf Foundation Prize winners
2 ACL Lifetime Achievement Award winners
14 AAAI fellows
2 Presidential Medal of Freedom winners

From “The MIT Technology Review” : “Next up for CRISPR – Gene editing for the masses?”

From “The MIT Technology Review”

1.19.23
Jessica Hamzelou

Last year, Verve Therapeutics started the first human trial of a CRISPR treatment that could benefit most people—a signal that gene editing may be ready to go mainstream.

Stephanie Arnett/MITTR | Getty.

We know the basics of healthy living by now. A balanced diet, regular exercise, and stress reduction can help us avoid heart disease—the world’s biggest killer. But what if you could take a vaccine, too? And not a typical vaccine—one shot that would alter your DNA to provide lifelong protection?

That vision is not far off, researchers say. Advances in gene editing, and CRISPR technology in particular, may soon make it possible. In the early days, CRISPR was used to simply make cuts in DNA. Today, it’s being tested as a way to change existing genetic code, even by inserting all-new chunks of DNA or possibly entire genes into someone’s genome.

These new techniques mean CRISPR could potentially help treat many more conditions—not all of them genetic. In July 2022, for example, Verve Therapeutics launched a trial of a CRISPR-based therapy that alters genetic code to permanently lower cholesterol levels.

The first recipient—a volunteer in New Zealand—has an inherited risk for high cholesterol and already has heart disease. But Kiran Musunuru, cofounder and senior scientific advisor at Verve, thinks that the approach could help almost anyone.

The treatment works by permanently switching off a gene that codes for a protein called PCSK9, which seems to play a role in maintaining cholesterol levels in the blood.

“Even if you start with a normal cholesterol level, and you turn off PCSK9 and bring cholesterol levels even lower, that reduces the risk of having a heart attack,” says Musunuru. “It’s a general strategy that would work for anyone in the population.”

CRISPR’s evolution

While newer innovations are still being explored in lab dishes and research animals, CRISPR treatments have already entered human trials. It’s a staggering accomplishment when you consider that the technology was first used to edit the genomes of cells about 10 years ago. “It’s been a pretty quick journey to the clinic,” says Alexis Komor at the University of California-San Diego, who developed some of these newer forms of CRISPR gene editing.

Gene-editing treatments work by directly altering the DNA in a genome. The first generation of CRISPR technology essentially makes cuts in the DNA. Cells repair these cuts, and this process usually stops a harmful genetic mutation from having an effect.

Newer forms of CRISPR work in slightly different ways. Take base editing, which some describe as “CRISPR 2.0.” This technique targets the core building blocks of DNA, which are called bases.

There are four DNA bases: A, T, C, and G. Instead of cutting the DNA, CRISPR 2.0 machinery can convert one base letter into another. Base editing can swap a C for a T, or an A for a G. “It’s no longer acting like scissors, but more like a pencil and eraser,” says Musunuru.

In theory, base editing should be safer than the original form of CRISPR gene editing. Because the DNA is not being cut, there’s less chance that you’ll accidentally excise an important gene, or that the DNA will come back together in the wrong way.

Verve’s cholesterol-lowering treatment uses base editing, as do several other experimental therapies. A company called Beam Therapeutics, for example, is using the approach to create potential treatments for sickle-cell disease and other disorders.

And then there’s prime editing, or “CRISPR 3.0.” This technique allows scientists to replace bits of DNA or insert new chunks of genetic code. It has only been around for a few years and is still being explored in lab animals. But its potential is huge.

That’s because prime editing vastly expands the options. “CRISPR 1.0” and base editing are somewhat limited—you can only use them in situations where cutting DNA or changing a single letter would be useful. Prime editing could allow scientists to insert entirely new genes into a person’s genome.

That would open up many more genetic disorders as potential targets. If you want to correct a specific mutation that is beyond the reach of base editing, “prime editing is your only option,” says Musunuru.

If it works, it could be revolutionary. A hundred people with a disorder might have all kinds of genetic influences that made them vulnerable to it. But inserting a corrective gene could potentially cure all of them, says Musunuru. “If you can put in a fresh new working copy of the gene, it may not matter what mutation you have,” he says. “You’re putting in a working copy, and that’s good enough.”

Together, these new forms of CRISPR could dramatically broaden the scope of gene-editing treatments—making them potentially available to many more people, and for a much broader range of disorders. The target diseases don’t even have to be caused by genetic mutations. In fact, even some of the older CRISPR approaches could be used to target diseases that aren’t necessarily the result of a rogue gene. Verve’s treatment to permanently lower cholesterol is a first example of a CRISPR treatment that could benefit the majority of adults, according to Musnuru.

Genetic vaccinations

Verve’s approach involves swapping a base letter in the gene that codes for the PCSK9 protein. This disables the gene, so much less protein is made. Because the PCSK9 protein plays an important role in maintaining levels of LDL cholesterol—the type associated with clogged arteries—cholesterol levels drop too.

In experiments, when mice and monkeys were given the treatment, their blood cholesterol levels dropped by around 60 to 70% within a few days, says Musunuru. “And once it’s down, it stays down,” he adds. The company expects its first human clinical trial to run for a few years. If the trial is successful, the company will continue with larger trials. The treatment will have to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration before it can be prescribed by doctors in the US. “It will be a while before any [CRISPR treatments] are actually approved for use,” says Musunuru.

But in the future, he says, we might be able to use the same approach to protect people from high blood pressure and diabetes.

Komor of UC-San Diego says a CRISPR-based treatment to prevent Alzheimer’s might also be desirable. But she cautions that editing the genomes of healthy people is ethically ambiguous and could be an unnecessary gamble for people who are otherwise well. “If I was given the opportunity to do editing of my liver cells to reduce cholesterol potentially in the future, I would probably say no,” she says. “I want to keep my genome as is, unless there’s a problem.”

Any new treatment has to be at least as safe as what is already available, says Tania Bubela, who studies the legal and ethical implications of new technologies at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Plenty of drugs have side effects. “The difference is that with a drug, you can … change the person’s medication,” says Bubela. “With a gene therapy, I can’t see how you would do that.”

The price, as well as the safety, of any gene-editing treatment will determine whether it can really help the masses, Bubela says: “I find it difficult to believe that a gene-based therapy like CRISPR will ever be either safer or more cost-effective than a very simple cholesterol pill.” But she accepts that these treatments could become cheaper, and that the “one-shot” approach might appeal to some.

There’s a good reason the first trials of CRISPR have focused on people with rare disorders who have few options, says Komor: “Those are the people most in need.” While broadening the applications of CRISPR is exciting, she says, “we have an ethical obligation to help those people before we help the general masses.”

See the full article here .

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The mission of “The MIT Technology Review” is to equip its audiences with the intelligence to understand a world shaped by technology.

From The University of Toronto (CA): “University of Toronto scientists use AI to fast-track drug formulation development”

From The University of Toronto (CA)

1.11.23
Kate Richards | Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Researchers Christine Allen and Alán Aspuru-Guzik used machine learning to predict experimental drug release from long-acting injectables (photo by Steve Southon)

In a bid to reduce the time and cost associated with developing promising new medicines, University of Toronto scientists have successfully tested the use of artificial intelligence to guide the design of long-acting injectable drug formulations.

The study, published this week in Nature Communication [below], was led by Professor Christine Allen in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Alán Aspuru-Guzik in the departments of chemistry and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Fig. 1: Schematic demonstrating traditional and data-driven formulation development approaches for long-acting injectables (LAIs).

[a] Selected routes of administration for FDA-approved LAI formulations. [b] Typical trial-and-error loop commonly employed during the development of LAIs termed “traditional LAI formulation development”. [c] Workflow employed in this study to train and analyze machine learning (ML) models to accelerate the design of new LAI systems, termed “Data-driven LAI formulation development”.

Their multidisciplinary research shows that machine-learning algorithms can be used to predict experimental drug release from long-acting injectables (LAI) and can also help guide the design of new LAIs.

“This study takes a critical step towards data-driven drug formulation development with an emphasis on long-acting injectables,” said Allen, who is a member of U of T’s Acceleration Consortium, a global initiative that uses artificial intelligence and automation to accelerate the discovery of materials and molecules needed for a sustainable future.

“We’ve seen how machine learning has enabled incredible leap-step advances in the discovery of new molecules that have the potential to become medicines. We are now working to apply the same techniques to help us design better drug formulations and, ultimately, better medicines.”

Considered one of the most promising therapeutic strategies for the treatment of chronic diseases, long-acting injectables are a class of advanced drug delivery systems that are designed to release their cargo over extended periods of time to achieve a prolonged therapeutic effect. This approach can help patients better adhere to their medication regimen, reduce side effects and increase efficacy when injected close to the site of action in the body.

However, achieving the optimal amount of drug release over the desired period of time requires the development of a wide array of formulation candidates through extensive and time-consuming experiments. This trial-and-error approach has created a significant bottleneck in LAI development compared to more conventional types of drug formulation.

“AI is transforming the way we do science. It helps accelerate discovery and optimization. This is a perfect example of a ‘before AI’ and an ‘after AI’ moment and shows how drug delivery can be impacted by this multidisciplinary research,” said Aspuru-Guzik, who is director of the Acceleration Consortium and holds the CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Research Chair at the Vector Institute in Toronto and the Canada 150 Research Chair in Theoretical and Quantum Chemistry.

From left: Zeqing Bao, PhD trainee in pharmaceutical sciences, and Riley Hickman, PhD trainee in chemistry, are co-authors on the study published in Nature Communication (photo by Steve Southon)

Reducing ‘trial and error’ for new drug development

To investigate whether machine-learning tools could accurately predict the rate of drug release, the research team trained and evaluated a series of 11 different models, including multiple linear regression (MLR), random forest (RF), light gradient boosting machine (lightGBM) and neural networks (NN). The data set used to train the selected panel of machine learning models was constructed from previously published studies by the authors and other research groups.

“Once we had the data set, we split it into two subsets: one used for training the models and one for testing,” said Pauric Bannigan, research associate with the Allen research group at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. “We then asked the models to predict the results of the test set and directly compared with previous experimental data. We found that the tree-based models, and specifically lightGBM, delivered the most accurate predictions.”

As a next step, the team worked to apply these predictions and illustrate how machine learning models might be used to inform the design of new LAIs by using advanced analytical techniques to extract design criteria from the lightGBM model. This allowed the design of a new LAI formulation for a drug currently used to treat ovarian cancer.

Expectations around the speed with which new drug formulations are developed have heightened drastically since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve seen in the pandemic that there was a need to design a new formulation in weeks, to catch up with evolving variants. Allowing for new formulations to be developed in a short period of time, relative to what has been done in the past using conventional methods, is crucially important so that patients can benefit from new therapies,” Allen said, explaining that the research team is also investigating using machine learning to support the development of novel mRNA and lipid nanoparticle formulations.

More robust databases needed for future advances

The results of the current study signal the potential for machine learning to reduce reliance on trial-and-error testing. However, Allen and the research team identify that the lack of available open-source data sets in pharmaceutical sciences represents a significant challenge to future progress.

“When we began this project, we were surprised by the lack of data reported across numerous studies using polymeric microparticles,” Allen said. “This meant the studies and the work that went into them couldn’t be leveraged to develop the machine learning models we need to propel advances in this space. There is a real need to create robust databases in pharmaceutical sciences that are open access and available for all so that we can work together to advance the field.”

To that end, Allen and the research team have published their datasets and code on the open-source platform Zenodo.

“For this study our goal was to lower the barrier of entry to applying machine learning in pharmaceutical sciences,” Bannigan said. “We’ve made our data sets fully available so others can hopefully build on this work. We want this to be the start of something and not the end of the story for machine learning in drug formulation.”

The study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency and the Vector Institute.

Science paper:
Nature Communication

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The The University of Toronto (CA) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen’s Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King’s College, the oldest university in the province of Ontario.

Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed its present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution.

As a collegiate university, it comprises eleven colleges each with substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs and significant differences in character and history. The university also operates two satellite campuses located in Scarborough and Mississauga.

University of Toronto has evolved into Canada’s leading institution of learning, discovery and knowledge creation. We are proud to be one of the world’s top research-intensive universities, driven to invent and innovate.

Our students have the opportunity to learn from and work with preeminent thought leaders through our multidisciplinary network of teaching and research faculty, alumni and partners.

The ideas, innovations and actions of more than 560,000 graduates continue to have a positive impact on the world.

Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, known collectively as the Toronto School.

The university was the birthplace of insulin and stem cell research, and was the site of the first electron microscope in North America; the identification of the first black hole Cygnus X-1; multi-touch technology, and the development of the theory of NP-completeness.

The university was one of several universities involved in early research of deep learning. It receives the most annual scientific research funding of any Canadian university and is one of two members of the Association of American Universities outside the United States, the other being McGill(CA).

The Varsity Blues are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate league matches, with ties to gridiron football, rowing and ice hockey. The earliest recorded instance of gridiron football occurred at University of Toronto’s University College in November 1861.

The university’s Hart House is an early example of the North American student centre, simultaneously serving cultural, intellectual, and recreational interests within its large Gothic-revival complex.

The University of Toronto has educated three Governors General of Canada, four Prime Ministers of Canada, three foreign leaders, and fourteen Justices of the Supreme Court. As of March 2019, ten Nobel laureates, five Turing Award winners, 94 Rhodes Scholars, and one Fields Medalist have been affiliated with the university.

Early history

The founding of a colonial college had long been the desire of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada and founder of York, the colonial capital. As an University of Oxford (UK)-educated military commander who had fought in the American Revolutionary War, Simcoe believed a college was needed to counter the spread of republicanism from the United States. The Upper Canada Executive Committee recommended in 1798 that a college be established in York.

On March 15, 1827, a royal charter was formally issued by King George IV, proclaiming “from this time one College, with the style and privileges of a University … for the education of youth in the principles of the Christian Religion, and for their instruction in the various branches of Science and Literature … to continue for ever, to be called King’s College.” The granting of the charter was largely the result of intense lobbying by John Strachan, the influential Anglican Bishop of Toronto who took office as the college’s first president. The original three-storey Greek Revival school building was built on the present site of Queen’s Park.

Under Strachan’s stewardship, King’s College was a religious institution closely aligned with the Church of England and the British colonial elite, known as the Family Compact. Reformist politicians opposed the clergy’s control over colonial institutions and fought to have the college secularized. In 1849, after a lengthy and heated debate, the newly elected responsible government of the Province of Canada voted to rename King’s College as the University of Toronto and severed the school’s ties with the church. Having anticipated this decision, the enraged Strachan had resigned a year earlier to open Trinity College as a private Anglican seminary. University College was created as the nondenominational teaching branch of the University of Toronto. During the American Civil War the threat of Union blockade on British North America prompted the creation of the University Rifle Corps which saw battle in resisting the Fenian raids on the Niagara border in 1866. The Corps was part of the Reserve Militia lead by Professor Henry Croft.

Established in 1878, the School of Practical Science was the precursor to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering which has been nicknamed Skule since its earliest days. While the Faculty of Medicine opened in 1843 medical teaching was conducted by proprietary schools from 1853 until 1887 when the faculty absorbed the Toronto School of Medicine. Meanwhile the university continued to set examinations and confer medical degrees. The university opened the Faculty of Law in 1887, followed by the Faculty of Dentistry in 1888 when the Royal College of Dental Surgeons became an affiliate. Women were first admitted to the university in 1884.

A devastating fire in 1890 gutted the interior of University College and destroyed 33,000 volumes from the library but the university restored the building and replenished its library within two years. Over the next two decades a collegiate system took shape as the university arranged federation with several ecclesiastical colleges including Strachan’s Trinity College in 1904. The university operated the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1896 to 1991 and the Royal Ontario Museum from 1912 to 1968; both still retain close ties with the university as independent institutions. The University of Toronto Press was founded in 1901 as Canada’s first academic publishing house. The Faculty of Forestry founded in 1907 with Bernhard Fernow as dean was Canada’s first university faculty devoted to forest science. In 1910, the Faculty of Education opened its laboratory school, the University of Toronto Schools.

World wars and post-war years

The First and Second World Wars curtailed some university activities as undergraduate and graduate men eagerly enlisted. Intercollegiate athletic competitions and the Hart House Debates were suspended although exhibition and interfaculty games were still held. The David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill opened in 1935 followed by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 1949. The university opened satellite campuses in Scarborough in 1964 and in Mississauga in 1967. The university’s former affiliated schools at the Ontario Agricultural College and Glendon Hall became fully independent of the University of Toronto and became part of University of Guelph (CA) in 1964 and York University (CA) in 1965 respectively. Beginning in the 1980s reductions in government funding prompted more rigorous fundraising efforts.

Since 2000

In 2000 Kin-Yip Chun was reinstated as a professor of the university after he launched an unsuccessful lawsuit against the university alleging racial discrimination. In 2017 a human rights application was filed against the University by one of its students for allegedly delaying the investigation of sexual assault and being dismissive of their concerns. In 2018 the university cleared one of its professors of allegations of discrimination and antisemitism in an internal investigation after a complaint was filed by one of its students.

The University of Toronto was the first Canadian university to amass a financial endowment greater than c. $1 billion in 2007. On September 24, 2020 the university announced a $250 million gift to the Faculty of Medicine from businessman and philanthropist James C. Temerty- the largest single philanthropic donation in Canadian history. This broke the previous record for the school set in 2019 when Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman jointly donated $100 million for the creation of a 750,000-square foot innovation and artificial intelligence centre.

Research

Since 1926 the University of Toronto has been a member of the Association of American Universities a consortium of the leading North American research universities. The university manages by far the largest annual research budget of any university in Canada with sponsored direct-cost expenditures of $878 million in 2010. In 2018 the University of Toronto was named the top research university in Canada by Research Infosource with a sponsored research income (external sources of funding) of $1,147.584 million in 2017. In the same year the university’s faculty averaged a sponsored research income of $428,200 while graduate students averaged a sponsored research income of $63,700. The federal government was the largest source of funding with grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council; and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council amounting to about one-third of the research budget. About eight percent of research funding came from corporations- mostly in the healthcare industry.

The first practical electron microscope was built by the physics department in 1938. During World War II the university developed the G-suit- a life-saving garment worn by Allied fighter plane pilots later adopted for use by astronauts.Development of the infrared chemiluminescence technique improved analyses of energy behaviours in chemical reactions. In 1963 the asteroid 2104 Toronto was discovered in the David Dunlap Observatory (CA) in Richmond Hill and is named after the university. In 1972 studies on Cygnus X-1 led to the publication of the first observational evidence proving the existence of black holes. Toronto astronomers have also discovered the Uranian moons of Caliban and Sycorax; the dwarf galaxies of Andromeda I, II and III; and the supernova SN 1987A. A pioneer in computing technology the university designed and built UTEC- one of the world’s first operational computers- and later purchased Ferut- the second commercial computer after UNIVAC I. Multi-touch technology was developed at Toronto with applications ranging from handheld devices to collaboration walls. The AeroVelo Atlas which won the Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition in 2013 was developed by the university’s team of students and graduates and was tested in Vaughan.

The discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921 is considered among the most significant events in the history of medicine. The stem cell was discovered at the university in 1963 forming the basis for bone marrow transplantation and all subsequent research on adult and embryonic stem cells. This was the first of many findings at Toronto relating to stem cells including the identification of pancreatic and retinal stem cells. The cancer stem cell was first identified in 1997 by Toronto researchers who have since found stem cell associations in leukemia; brain tumors; and colorectal cancer. Medical inventions developed at Toronto include the glycaemic index; the infant cereal Pablum; the use of protective hypothermia in open heart surgery; and the first artificial cardiac pacemaker. The first successful single-lung transplant was performed at Toronto in 1981 followed by the first nerve transplant in 1988; and the first double-lung transplant in 1989. Researchers identified the maturation promoting factor that regulates cell division and discovered the T-cell receptor which triggers responses of the immune system. The university is credited with isolating the genes that cause Fanconi anemia; cystic fibrosis; and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease among numerous other diseases. Between 1914 and 1972 the university operated the Connaught Medical Research Laboratories- now part of the pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi-Aventis. Among the research conducted at the laboratory was the development of gel electrophoresis.

The University of Toronto is the primary research presence that supports one of the world’s largest concentrations of biotechnology firms. More than 5,000 principal investigators reside within 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the university grounds in Toronto’s Discovery District conducting $1 billion of medical research annually. MaRS Discovery District is a research park that serves commercial enterprises and the university’s technology transfer ventures. In 2008, the university disclosed 159 inventions and had 114 active start-up companies. Its SciNet Consortium operates the most powerful supercomputer in Canada.

From The Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences At Northwestern University: “Now on the molecular scale – electric motors”

From The Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

At

Northwestern University

1.11.23
Megan Fellman
Phone: (847) 491-3115
fellman@northwestern.edu

Tiny motor one day could drive innovations in materials science and medicine.

Only 2 nanometers wide, the molecular motor is the first to be produced en masse in abundance. The motor is easy to make, operates quickly and does not produce any waste products. Credit: Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

Electric vehicles, powered by macroscopic electric motors, are increasingly prevalent on our streets and highways. These quiet and eco-friendly machines got their start nearly 200 years ago when physicists took the first tiny steps to bring electric motors into the world.

Now a multidisciplinary team led by Northwestern University has made an electric motor you can’t see with the naked eye: an electric motor on the molecular scale.

This early work — a motor that can convert electrical energy into unidirectional motion at the molecular level — has implications for materials science and particularly medicine, where the electric molecular motor could team up with biomolecular motors in the human body. 

“We have taken molecular nanotechnology to another level,” said Northwestern’s Sir Fraser Stoddart, who received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in the design and synthesis of molecular machines. “This elegant chemistry uses electrons to effectively drive a molecular motor, much like a macroscopic motor. While this area of chemistry is in its infancy, I predict one day these tiny motors will make a huge difference in medicine.”

Stoddart, Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, is a co-corresponding author of the study. The research was done in close collaboration with Dean Astumian, a molecular machine theorist and professor at the University of Maine, and William Goddard, a computational chemist and professor at the California Institute of Technology. Long Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow in Stoddart’s lab, is the paper’s first author and a co-corresponding author.

Only 2 nanometers wide, the molecular motor is the first to be produced en masse in abundance. The motor is easy to make, operates quickly and does not produce any waste products. 

The study was published January 11, 2022 by the journal Nature [below].

The research team focused on a certain type of molecule with interlocking rings known as catenanes held together by powerful mechanical bonds, so the components could move freely relative to each other without falling apart. Stoddart decades ago played a key role in the creation of the mechanical bond, a new type of chemical bond that has led to the development of molecular machines.

The electric molecular motor specifically is based on a catenane whose components ― a loop interlocked with two identical rings ― are redox active, i.e. they undergo unidirectional motion in response to changes in voltage potential. The researchers discovered that two rings are needed to achieve this unidirectional motion. Experiments showed that a catenane, which has one loop interlocked with one ring, does not run as a motor. 

The synthesis and operation of molecules that perform the function of a motor ― converting external energy into directional motion ― has challenged scientists in the fields of chemistry, physics and molecular nanotechnology for some time.

To achieve their breakthrough, Stoddart, Zhang and their Northwestern team spent more than four years on the design and synthesis of their electric molecular motor. This included a year working with UMaine’s Astumian and Caltech’s Goddard to complete the quantum mechanical calculations to explain the working mechanism behind the motor.

“Controlling the relative movement of components on a molecular scale is a formidable challenge, so collaboration was crucial,” Zhang said. “Working with experts in synthesis, measurements, computational chemistry and theory enabled us to develop an electric molecular motor that works in solution.”

A few examples of single-molecule electric motors have been reported, but they require harsh operating conditions, such as the use of an ultrahigh vacuum, and also produce waste. 

The next steps for their electric molecular motor, the researchers said, is to attach many of the motors to an electrode surface to influence the surface and ultimately do some useful work. 

“The achievement we report today is a testament to the creativity and productivity of our young scientists as well as their willingness to take risks,” Stoddart said. “This work gives me and the team enormous satisfaction.” 

Stoddart is a member of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

Science paper:
Nature
See the science paper for instructive material with images.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences is the largest of the twelve schools comprising Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois and downtown Chicago, Illinois.

It was established in 1851 and today comprises 25 departments and many specialty programs. Weinberg also has special agreements with Chicago’s major cultural institutions, including the Field Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Adler Planetarium, Chicago Botanic Garden, and American Bar Foundation, to offer courses taught by Chicago-area experts.

South Campus

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851 to serve the former Northwest Territory, the university is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference.

On May 31, 1850, nine men gathered to begin planning a university that would serve the Northwest Territory.

Given that they had little money, no land and limited higher education experience, their vision was ambitious. But through a combination of creative financing, shrewd politicking, religious inspiration and an abundance of hard work, the founders of Northwestern University were able to make that dream a reality.

In 1853, the founders purchased a 379-acre tract of land on the shore of Lake Michigan 12 miles north of Chicago. They established a campus and developed the land near it, naming the surrounding town Evanston in honor of one of the University’s founders, John Evans. After completing its first building in 1855, Northwestern began classes that fall with two faculty members and 10 students.
Twenty-one presidents have presided over Northwestern in the years since. The University has grown to include 12 schools and colleges, with additional campuses in Chicago and Doha, Qatar.

Northwestern is known for its focus on interdisciplinary education, extensive research output, and student traditions. The university provides instruction in over 200 formal academic concentrations, including various dual degree programs. The university is composed of eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, which include the Kellogg School of Management, the Pritzker School of Law, the Feinberg School of Medicine, the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the Bienen School of Music, the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Medill School of Journalism, the School of Communication, the School of Professional Studies, the School of Education and Social Policy, and The Graduate School. As of fall 2019, the university had 21,946 enrolled students, including 8,327 undergraduates and 13,619 graduate students.

Valued at $12.2 billion, Northwestern’s endowment is among the largest university endowments in the United States. Its numerous research programs bring in nearly $900 million in sponsored research each year.

Northwestern’s main 240-acre (97 ha) campus lies along the shores of Lake Michigan in Evanston, 12 miles north of Downtown Chicago. The university’s law, medical, and professional schools, along with its nationally ranked Northwestern Memorial Hospital, are located on a 25-acre (10 ha) campus in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. The university also maintains a campus in Doha, Qatar and locations in San Francisco, California, Washington, D.C. and Miami, Florida.

As of October 2020, Northwestern’s faculty and alumni have included 1 Fields Medalist, 22 Nobel Prize laureates, 40 Pulitzer Prize winners, 6 MacArthur Fellows, 17 Rhodes Scholars, 27 Marshall Scholars, 23 National Medal of Science winners, 11 National Humanities Medal recipients, 84 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 10 living billionaires, 16 Olympic medalists, and 2 U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Northwestern alumni have founded notable companies and organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, The Blackstone Group, Kirkland & Ellis, U.S. Steel, Guggenheim Partners, Accenture, Aon Corporation, AQR Capital, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Melvin Capital.

The foundation of Northwestern University can be traced to a meeting on May 31, 1850, of nine prominent Chicago businessmen, Methodist leaders, and attorneys who had formed the idea of establishing a university to serve what had been known from 1787 to 1803 as the Northwest Territory. On January 28, 1851, the Illinois General Assembly granted a charter to the Trustees of the North-Western University, making it the first chartered university in Illinois. The school’s nine founders, all of whom were Methodists (three of them ministers), knelt in prayer and worship before launching their first organizational meeting. Although they affiliated the university with the Methodist Episcopal Church, they favored a non-sectarian admissions policy, believing that Northwestern should serve all people in the newly developing territory by bettering the economy in Evanston.

John Evans, for whom Evanston is named, bought 379 acres (153 ha) of land along Lake Michigan in 1853, and Philo Judson developed plans for what would become the city of Evanston, Illinois. The first building, Old College, opened on November 5, 1855. To raise funds for its construction, Northwestern sold $100 “perpetual scholarships” entitling the purchaser and his heirs to free tuition. Another building, University Hall, was built in 1869 of the same Joliet limestone as the Chicago Water Tower, also built in 1869, one of the few buildings in the heart of Chicago to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 1873 the Evanston College for Ladies merged with Northwestern, and Frances Willard, who later gained fame as a suffragette and as one of the founders of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), became the school’s first dean of women (Willard Residential College, built in 1938, honors her name). Northwestern admitted its first female students in 1869, and the first woman was graduated in 1874.

Northwestern fielded its first intercollegiate football team in 1882, later becoming a founding member of the Big Ten Conference. In the 1870s and 1880s, Northwestern affiliated itself with already existing schools of law, medicine, and dentistry in Chicago. Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the oldest law school in Chicago. As the university’s enrollments grew, these professional schools were integrated with the undergraduate college in Evanston; the result was a modern research university combining professional, graduate, and undergraduate programs, which gave equal weight to teaching and research. By the turn of the century, Northwestern had grown in stature to become the third largest university in the United States after Harvard University and the University of Michigan.

Under Walter Dill Scott’s presidency from 1920 to 1939, Northwestern began construction of an integrated campus in Chicago designed by James Gamble Rogers, noted for his design of the Yale University campus, to house the professional schools. The university also established the Kellogg School of Management and built several prominent buildings on the Evanston campus, including Dyche Stadium, now named Ryan Field, and Deering Library among others. In the 1920s, Northwestern became one of the first six universities in the United States to establish a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). In 1939, Northwestern hosted the first-ever NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship game in the original Patten Gymnasium, which was later demolished and relocated farther north, along with the Dearborn Observatory, to make room for the Technological Institute.

After the golden years of the 1920s, the Great Depression in the United States (1929–1941) had a severe impact on the university’s finances. Its annual income dropped 25 percent from $4.8 million in 1930-31 to $3.6 million in 1933-34. Investment income shrank, fewer people could pay full tuition, and annual giving from alumni and philanthropists fell from $870,000 in 1932 to a low of $331,000 in 1935. The university responded with two salary cuts of 10 percent each for all employees. It imposed hiring and building freezes and slashed appropriations for maintenance, books, and research. Having had a balanced budget in 1930-31, the university now faced deficits of roughly $100,000 for the next four years. Enrollments fell in most schools, with law and music suffering the biggest declines. However, the movement toward state certification of school teachers prompted Northwestern to start a new graduate program in education, thereby bringing in new students and much needed income. In June 1933, Robert Maynard Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, proposed a merger of the two universities, estimating annual savings of $1.7 million. The two presidents were enthusiastic, and the faculty liked the idea; many Northwestern alumni, however, opposed it, fearing the loss of their Alma Mater and its many traditions that distinguished Northwestern from Chicago. The medical school, for example, was oriented toward training practitioners, and alumni feared it would lose its mission if it were merged into the more research-oriented University of Chicago Medical School. The merger plan was ultimately dropped. In 1935, the Deering family rescued the university budget with an unrestricted gift of $6 million, bringing the budget up to $5.4 million in 1938-39. This allowed many of the previous spending cuts to be restored, including half of the salary reductions.

Like other American research universities, Northwestern was transformed by World War II (1939–1945). Regular enrollment fell dramatically, but the school opened high-intensity, short-term programs that trained over 50,000 military personnel, including future president John F. Kennedy. Northwestern’s existing NROTC program proved to be a boon to the university as it trained over 36,000 sailors over the course of the war, leading Northwestern to be called the “Annapolis of the Midwest.” Franklyn B. Snyder led the university from 1939 to 1949, and after the war, surging enrollments under the G.I. Bill drove dramatic expansion of both campuses. In 1948, prominent anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits founded the Program of African Studies at Northwestern, the first center of its kind at an American academic institution. J. Roscoe Miller’s tenure as president from 1949 to 1970 saw an expansion of the Evanston campus, with the construction of the Lakefill on Lake Michigan, growth of the faculty and new academic programs, and polarizing Vietnam-era student protests. In 1978, the first and second Unabomber attacks occurred at Northwestern University. Relations between Evanston and Northwestern became strained throughout much of the post-war era because of episodes of disruptive student activism, disputes over municipal zoning, building codes, and law enforcement, as well as restrictions on the sale of alcohol near campus until 1972. Northwestern’s exemption from state and municipal property-tax obligations under its original charter has historically been a source of town-and-gown tension.

Although government support for universities declined in the 1970s and 1980s, President Arnold R. Weber was able to stabilize university finances, leading to a revitalization of its campuses. As admissions to colleges and universities grew increasingly competitive in the 1990s and 2000s, President Henry S. Bienen’s tenure saw a notable increase in the number and quality of undergraduate applicants, continued expansion of the facilities and faculty, and renewed athletic competitiveness. In 1999, Northwestern student journalists uncovered information exonerating Illinois death-row inmate Anthony Porter two days before his scheduled execution. The Innocence Project has since exonerated 10 more men. On January 11, 2003, in a speech at Northwestern School of Law’s Lincoln Hall, then Governor of Illinois George Ryan announced that he would commute the sentences of more than 150 death-row inmates.

In the 2010s, a 5-year capital campaign resulted in a new music center, a replacement building for the business school, and a $270 million athletic complex. In 2014, President Barack Obama delivered a seminal economics speech at the Evanston campus.

Organization and administration

Governance

Northwestern is privately owned and governed by an appointed Board of Trustees, which is composed of 70 members and, as of 2011, has been chaired by William A. Osborn ’69. The board delegates its power to an elected president who serves as the chief executive officer of the university. Northwestern has had sixteen presidents in its history (excluding interim presidents). The current president, economist Morton O. Schapiro, succeeded Henry Bienen whose 14-year tenure ended on August 31, 2009. The president maintains a staff of vice presidents, directors, and other assistants for administrative, financial, faculty, and student matters. Kathleen Haggerty assumed the role of interim provost for the university in April 2020.

Students are formally involved in the university’s administration through the Associated Student Government, elected representatives of the undergraduate students, and the Graduate Student Association, which represents the university’s graduate students.

The admission requirements, degree requirements, courses of study, and disciplinary and degree recommendations for each of Northwestern’s 12 schools are determined by the voting members of that school’s faculty (assistant professor and above).

Undergraduate and graduate schools

Evanston Campus:

Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (1851)
School of Communication (1878)
Bienen School of Music (1895)
McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science (1909)
Medill School of Journalism (1921)
School of Education and Social Policy (1926)
School of Professional Studies (1933)

Graduate and professional

Evanston Campus

Kellogg School of Management (1908)
The Graduate School

Chicago Campus

Feinberg School of Medicine (1859)
Kellogg School of Management (1908)
Pritzker School of Law (1859)
School of Professional Studies (1933)

Northwestern University had a dental school from 1891 to May 31, 2001, when it closed.

Endowment

In 1996, Princess Diana made a trip to Evanston to raise money for the university hospital’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at the invitation of then President Bienen. Her visit raised a total of $1.5 million for cancer research.

In 2003, Northwestern finished a five-year capital campaign that raised $1.55 billion, exceeding its fundraising goal by $550 million.

In 2014, Northwestern launched the “We Will” campaign with a fundraising goal of $3.75 billion. As of December 31, 2019, the university has received $4.78 billion from 164,026 donors.

Sustainability

In January 2009, the Green Power Partnership (sponsored by the EPA) listed Northwestern as one of the top 10 universities in the country in purchasing energy from renewable sources. The university matches 74 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of its annual energy use with Green-e Certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). This green power commitment represents 30 percent of the university’s total annual electricity use and places Northwestern in the EPA’s Green Power Leadership Club. The Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), supporting research, teaching and outreach in these themes, was launched in 2008.

Northwestern requires that all new buildings be LEED-certified. Silverman Hall on the Evanston campus was awarded Gold LEED Certification in 2010; Wieboldt Hall on the Chicago campus was awarded Gold LEED Certification in 2007, and the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center on the Evanston campus was awarded Silver LEED Certification in 2006. New construction and renovation projects will be designed to provide at least a 20% improvement over energy code requirements where feasible. At the beginning of the 2008–09 academic year, the university also released the Evanston Campus Framework Plan, which outlines plans for future development of the university’s Evanston campus. The plan not only emphasizes sustainable building construction, but also focuses on reducing the energy costs of transportation by optimizing pedestrian and bicycle access. Northwestern has had a comprehensive recycling program in place since 1990. The university recycles over 1,500 tons of waste, or 30% of all waste produced on campus, each year. All landscape waste at the university is composted.

Academics

Education and rankings

Northwestern is a large, residential research university, and is frequently ranked among the top universities in the United States. The university is a leading institution in the fields of materials engineering, chemistry, business, economics, education, journalism, and communications. It is also prominent in law and medicine. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the respective national professional organizations for chemistry, psychology, business, education, journalism, music, engineering, law, and medicine, the university offers 124 undergraduate programs and 145 graduate and professional programs. Northwestern conferred 2,190 bachelor’s degrees, 3,272 master’s degrees, 565 doctoral degrees, and 444 professional degrees in 2012–2013. Since 1951, Northwestern has awarded 520 honorary degrees. Northwestern also has chapters of academic honor societies such as Phi Beta Kappa (Alpha of Illinois), Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Sigma Phi (Beta Chapter), Lambda Pi Eta, and Alpha Sigma Lambda (Alpha Chapter).

The four-year, full-time undergraduate program comprises the majority of enrollments at the university. Although there is no university-wide core curriculum, a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences is required for all majors; individual degree requirements are set by the faculty of each school. The university heavily emphasizes interdisciplinary learning, with 72% of undergrads combining two or more areas of study. Northwestern’s full-time undergraduate and graduate programs operate on an approximately 10-week academic quarter system with the academic year beginning in late September and ending in early June. Undergraduates typically take four courses each quarter and twelve courses in an academic year and are required to complete at least twelve quarters on campus to graduate. Northwestern offers honors, accelerated, and joint degree programs in medicine, science, mathematics, engineering, and journalism. The comprehensive doctoral graduate program has high coexistence with undergraduate programs.

Despite being a mid-sized university, Northwestern maintains a relatively low student to faculty ratio of 6:1.

Research

Northwestern was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1917 and is classified as an R1 university, denoting “very high” research activity. Northwestern’s schools of management, engineering, and communication are among the most academically productive in the nation. The university received $887.3 million in research funding in 2019 and houses over 90 school-based and 40 university-wide research institutes and centers. Northwestern also supports nearly 1,500 research laboratories across two campuses, predominately in the medical and biological sciences.

Northwestern is home to the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, Materials Research Center, Center for Quantum Devices, Institute for Policy Research, International Institute for Nanotechnology, Center for Catalysis and Surface Science, Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies, the Initiative for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, and the Argonne/Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center among other centers for interdisciplinary research.

Student body

Northwestern enrolled 8,186 full-time undergraduate, 9,904 full-time graduate, and 3,856 part-time students in the 2019–2020 academic year. The freshman retention rate for that year was 98%. 86% of students graduated after four years and 92% graduated after five years. These numbers can largely be attributed to the university’s various specialized degree programs, such as those that allow students to earn master’s degrees with a one or two year extension of their undergraduate program.

The undergraduate population is drawn from all 50 states and over 75 foreign countries. 20% of students in the Class of 2024 were Pell Grant recipients and 12.56% were first-generation college students. Northwestern also enrolls the 9th-most National Merit Scholars of any university in the nation.

In Fall 2014, 40.6% of undergraduate students were enrolled in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, 21.3% in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, 14.3% in the School of Communication, 11.7% in the Medill School of Journalism, 5.7% in the Bienen School of Music, and 6.4% in the School of Education and Social Policy. The five most commonly awarded undergraduate degrees are economics, journalism, communication studies, psychology, and political science. The Kellogg School of Management’s MBA, the School of Law’s JD, and the Feinberg School of Medicine’s MD are the three largest professional degree programs by enrollment. With 2,446 students enrolled in science, engineering, and health fields, the largest graduate programs by enrollment include chemistry, integrated biology, material sciences, electrical and computer engineering, neuroscience, and economics.

Athletics

Northwestern is a charter member of the Big Ten Conference. It is the conference’s only private university and possesses the smallest undergraduate enrollment (the next-smallest member, the University of Iowa, is roughly three times as large, with almost 22,000 undergraduates).

Northwestern fields 19 intercollegiate athletic teams (8 men’s and 11 women’s) in addition to numerous club sports. 12 of Northwestern’s varsity programs have had NCAA or bowl postseason appearances. Northwestern is one of five private AAU members to compete in NCAA Power Five conferences (the other four being Duke, Stanford, USC, and Vanderbilt) and maintains a 98% NCAA Graduation Success Rate, the highest among Football Bowl Subdivision schools.

In 2018, the school opened the Walter Athletics Center, a $270 million state of the art lakefront facility for its athletics teams.

Nickname and mascot

Before 1924, Northwestern teams were known as “The Purple” and unofficially as “The Fighting Methodists.” The name Wildcats was bestowed upon the university in 1924 by Wallace Abbey, a writer for the Chicago Daily Tribune, who wrote that even in a loss to the University of Chicago, “Football players had not come down from Evanston; wildcats would be a name better suited to “[Coach Glenn] Thistletwaite’s boys.” The name was so popular that university board members made “Wildcats” the official nickname just months later. In 1972, the student body voted to change the official nickname to “Purple Haze,” but the new name never stuck.

The mascot of Northwestern Athletics is “Willie the Wildcat”. Prior to Willie, the team mascot had been a live, caged bear cub from the Lincoln Park Zoo named Furpaw, who was brought to the playing field on game days to greet the fans. After a losing season however, the team decided that Furpaw was to blame for its misfortune and decided to select a new mascot. “Willie the Wildcat” made his debut in 1933, first as a logo and then in three dimensions in 1947, when members of the Alpha Delta fraternity dressed as wildcats during a Homecoming Parade.

Traditions

Northwestern’s official motto, “Quaecumque sunt vera,” was adopted by the university in 1890. The Latin phrase translates to “Whatsoever things are true” and comes from the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians (Philippians 4:8), in which St. Paul admonishes the Christians in the Greek city of Philippi. In addition to this motto, the university crest features a Greek phrase taken from the Gospel of John inscribed on the pages of an open book, ήρης χάριτος και αληθείας or “the word full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Alma Mater is the Northwestern Hymn. The original Latin version of the hymn was written in 1907 by Peter Christian Lutkin, the first dean of the School of Music from 1883 to 1931. In 1953, then Director-of-Bands John Paynter recruited an undergraduate music student, Thomas Tyra (’54), to write an English version of the song, which today is performed by the Marching Band during halftime at Wildcat football games and by the orchestra during ceremonies and other special occasions.
Purple became Northwestern’s official color in 1892, replacing black and gold after a university committee concluded that too many other universities had used these colors. Today, Northwestern’s official color is purple, although white is something of an official color as well, being mentioned in both the university’s earliest song, Alma Mater (1907) (“Hail to purple, hail to white”) and in many university guidelines.
The Rock, a 6-foot high quartzite boulder donated by the Class of 1902, originally served as a water fountain. It was painted over by students in the 1940s as a prank and has since become a popular vehicle of self-expression on campus.
Armadillo Day, commonly known as Dillo Day, is the largest student-run music festival in the country. The festival is hosted every Spring on Northwestern’s Lakefront.
Primal Scream is held every quarter at 9 p.m. on the Sunday before finals week. Students lean out of windows or gather in courtyards and scream to help relieve stress.
In the past, students would throw marshmallows during football games, but this tradition has since been discontinued.

Philanthropy

One of Northwestern’s most notable student charity events is Dance Marathon, the most established and largest student-run philanthropy in the nation. The annual 30-hour event is among the most widely-attended events on campus. It has raised over $1 million for charity every year since 2011 and has donated a total of $13 million to children’s charities since its conception.

The Northwestern Community Development Corps (NCDC) is a student-run organization that connects hundreds of student volunteers to community development projects in Evanston and Chicago throughout the year. The group also holds a number of annual community events, including Project Pumpkin, a Halloween celebration that provides over 800 local children with carnival events and a safe venue to trick-or-treat each year.

Many Northwestern students participate in the Freshman Urban Program, an initiative for students interested in community service to work on addressing social issues facing the city of Chicago, and the university’s Global Engagement Studies Institute (GESI) programs, including group service-learning expeditions in Asia, Africa, or Latin America in conjunction with the Foundation for Sustainable Development.

Several internationally recognized non-profit organizations were established at Northwestern, including the World Health Imaging, Informatics and Telemedicine Alliance, a spin-off from an engineering student’s honors thesis.
Media

Print

Established in 1881, The Daily Northwestern is the university’s main student newspaper and is published on weekdays during the academic year. It is directed entirely by undergraduate students and owned by the Students Publishing Company. Although it serves the Northwestern community, the Daily has no business ties to the university and is supported wholly by advertisers.
North by Northwestern is an online undergraduate magazine established in September 2006 by students at the Medill School of Journalism. Published on weekdays, it consists of updates on news stories and special events throughout the year. It also publishes a quarterly print magazine.
Syllabus is the university’s undergraduate yearbook. It is distributed in late May and features a culmination of the year’s events at Northwestern. First published in 1885, the yearbook is published by Students Publishing Company and edited by Northwestern students.
Northwestern Flipside is an undergraduate satirical magazine. Founded in 2009, it publishes a weekly issue both in print and online.
Helicon is the university’s undergraduate literary magazine. Established in 1979, it is published twice a year: a web issue is released in the winter and a print issue with a web complement is released in the spring.
The Protest is Northwestern’s quarterly social justice magazine.

The Northwestern division of Student Multicultural Affairs supports a number of publications for particular cultural groups including Ahora, a magazine about Hispanic and Latino/a culture and campus life; Al Bayan, published by the Northwestern Muslim-cultural Student Association; BlackBoard Magazine, a magazine centered around African-American student life; and NUAsian, a magazine and blog on Asian and Asian-American culture and issues.
The Northwestern University Law Review is a scholarly legal publication and student organization at Northwestern University School of Law. Its primary purpose is to publish a journal of broad legal scholarship. The Law Review publishes six issues each year. Student editors make the editorial and organizational decisions and select articles submitted by professors, judges, and practitioners, as well as student pieces. The Law Review also publishes scholarly pieces weekly on the Colloquy.
The Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property is a law review published by an independent student organization at Northwestern University School of Law.
The Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review is a scholarly legal publication published annually by an editorial board of Northwestern undergraduates. Its mission is to publish interdisciplinary legal research, drawing from fields such as history, literature, economics, philosophy, and art. Founded in 2008, the journal features articles by professors, law students, practitioners, and undergraduates. It is funded by the Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies and the Office of the Provost.

Web-based

Established in January 2011, Sherman Ave is a humor website that often publishes content on Northwestern student life. Most of its staff writers are current Northwestern undergraduates writing under various pseudonyms. The website is popular among students for its interviews of prominent campus figures, Freshman Guide, and live-tweeting coverage of football games. In Fall 2012, the website promoted a satiric campaign to end the Vanderbilt University football team’s custom of clubbing baby seals.
Politics & Policy is dedicated to the analysis of current events and public policy. Established in 2010 by students at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, School of Communication, and Medill School of Journalism, the publication reaches students on more than 250 college campuses around the world. Run entirely by undergraduates, it is published several times a week and features material ranging from short summaries of events to extended research pieces. The publication is financed in part by the Buffett Center.
Northwestern Business Review is a campus source for business news. Founded in 2005, it has an online presence as well as a quarterly print schedule.
TriQuarterly Online (formerly TriQuarterly) is a literary magazine published twice a year featuring poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, literary essays, reviews, blog posts, and art.
The Queer Reader is Northwestern’s first radical feminist and LGBTQ+ publication.

Radio, film, and television

WNUR (89.3 FM) is a 7,200-watt radio station that broadcasts to the city of Chicago and its northern suburbs. WNUR’s programming consists of music (jazz, classical, and rock), literature, politics, current events, varsity sports (football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, and women’s lacrosse), and breaking news on weekdays.
Studio 22 is a student-run production company that produces roughly ten films each year. The organization financed the first film Zach Braff directed, and many of its films have featured students who would later go into professional acting, including Zach Gilford of Friday Night Lights.
Applause for a Cause is currently the only student-run production company in the nation to create feature-length films for charity. It was founded in 2010 and has raised over $5,000 to date for various local and national organizations across the United States.
Northwestern News Network is a student television news and sports network, serving the Northwestern and Evanston communities. Its studios and newsroom are located on the fourth floor of the McCormick Tribune Center on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. NNN is funded by the Medill School of Journalism.

From The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne [EPFL-École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne] (CH): “A robotic microsurgeon reveals how embryos grow”

From The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne [EPFL-École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne] (CH)

1.9.23
Nik Papageorgiou

Combining biology and robotics, scientists at EPFL have built a robotic microsurgery platform that can perform high-precision, micrometer-resolution dissections to advance our understanding of how the vertebrate body forms during embryonic development.

Robotic platform enables precise microsurgery of the zebrafish tail. a Robotic tissue micromanipulation platform along with the stereo microscope and operation chamber. b Schematic illustration of the adapters designed to hold actuated and non-actuated instruments (not to scale). c Schematic showing the zebrafish embryo from different anatomical axes (V/D: ventral/dorsal, A/P: anterior/posterior, L/R: left/right). d A representative bright field (BF) image of a zebrafish embryo. Tissues that are studied in this work are indicated on the embryo. e Line of interest indicated with blue is generated to measure the AP tail length from BF image shown in (d). f Composite images of the embryo showing BF and Her1-YFP channels at different time points. g A BF image of the embryo right after robot-assisted microsurgery. h Light-sheet fluorescence image of a tail explant from a utr-mCherry transgenic line which marks filamentous actin structures. White dashed lines indicate the plane at which ventral and dorsal-view images were taken. White arrows indicate the somites, blue dashed-lines indicate notochord (Noto: notochord). i Composite images of a tail explant over time showing the elongation of the tail along with Her1-YFP signal. Scale bars, 100 μm. Credit: Nature Communications (2022).

Understanding the biology behind an embryo’s development is crucial not only from a basic science perspective, but also from a medical one. However, we are in dire need for tools that can help us systematically and explore embryonic development.

“The original experimental approach in embryology is microsurgery,” says Andy Oates at EPFL’s School of Life Sciences. “But it used to be done with a very simple microscope and very simple tools like cactus spines or sharpened pieces of wire. Another problem is that we naturally have a tremor in our hands, which makes microsurgery difficult for some people. It takes years of training, and only some people can do it, so the throughput is very low.”

Combining Robotics and Biology

In an effort to address the current limitations of microsurgery techniques, Oates joined forces with Professor Selman Sakar at the School of Engineering, an expert in microtechnology and small-scale robotics. “In my laboratory, we have been building robotic tools for tissue micro-manipulation,” says Sakar. “Together with Andy [Oates], we asked whether we could use some of these tools to facilitate research in embryology in general, to make it more reliable and give it a higher throughput, and in this case to specifically understand the biomechanics of how tissue morphogenesis [the shaping and structuring of a developing tissue] in zebrafish works.”

The two professors received funding for an iPhD, a specialized doctoral fellowship at EPFL that combines life science research with another discipline. The iPhD candidate, Ece Özelçi, trained on both robotics and developmental biology.

“I think it’s a great program, because, honestly, I would otherwise never have done such interdisciplinary research,” she says. “It was quite intense; it’s not like you only focus on a single discipline. I learned quite a lot from both fields, and I think it’s a really great opportunity if you want to acquire a unique skill set.”

A new robot-assisted platform

Publishing in Nature Communications [below], the researchers describe the new platform’s role as “robot-assisted tissue micromanipulation”. It is compact (200 x 100 x 70 mm3), high-resolution (4 nm position and 25 μ° rotation), and dexterous, with several degrees of freedom. The tool can position itself automatically without any manual intervention and do so with high, reproducible stability.

The researchers drew inspiration from related microsurgery systems from ophthalmology and neurology which are also quite compact and precise, and also rely on microscopes, even though their target objects are often larger than an embryo.

The scientists tested the platform’s capabilities by using it to study body axis elongation of the zebrafish embryo. “Our lab focuses on how the backbone forms, and part of that is how the body elongates, grows out, and segments itself,” says Oates. “We use the zebrafish embryo as a model, and the idea is to look at the contribution of different parts of the embryo to the process of development. In this case, we look at how embryos elongate themselves and how they segment themselves, and how those two processes interact. Our approach is to physically separate elongation and segmentation by microsurgery, and see how each operates when the other process isn’t there.”

A timelapse of an elongating zebrafish embryo.

Using the platform, Özelçi and her colleagues were able to target precise regions of the zebrafish embryo. The robot-assisted microsurgery allowed them to remove the embryo’s elongating tail and grow it separately – a process called “explanting”, which is often used in embryological research.

The study revealed a surprising behavior of the embryo’s notochord, which acts as an early “backbone” for the larva when it begins to swim. “The notochord pushes so hard inside the tail that it can buckle itself,” says Oates. “Normally the embryo would elongate uniaxially, but once we physically stopped the process, the notochord kept elongating, generating compressive stresses that led to buckling.”

Biology for advancing engineering – and vice-versa

“In addition to embryology, our research enables us to reverse engineer the developmental programs for tissue engineering,” says Sakar. “If we understand how forces lead to tissue morphogenesis, we could replicate these conditions with engineered tissues in vitro. Like biochemical factors, providing the right mechanical environment and signals is critical for the tissues to develop and function properly.

“We are also motivated to create biological machines that are designed to perform specific engineering tasks. For example, we would like to engineer mini-hearts that serve as organic pumps with much simpler architecture compared to the real heart. To this end, robot-assisted microsurgery provides not only the construction principles, but also provides the means to manufacture machines from the living matter through mechanically-guided self-assembly.”

But will such platforms gain broader use? “I envision that such robotic micromanipulation tools will become instrumental in every life science laboratory,” says Sakar. “Regardless of the chosen biological model system, ranging from single cells to organisms, robotics and automation can empower the scientists.”

“Medical robots are quite advanced,” he adds. “It is time to bring the unique capabilities of surgical robotics to the biomedical research community. Handling biological samples in an automated fashion will increase the throughput, precision, and repeatability of data acquisition while democratizing procedures that require fine skills and years of experience. Combined with intelligent imaging and microscopy, the possibilities are endless.”

Science paper:
Nature Communications
See the science paper for instructive material with images.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

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EPFL campus

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne [EPFL-École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne] (CH) is a research institute and university in Lausanne, Switzerland, that specializes in natural sciences and engineering. It is one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, and it has three main missions: education, research and technology transfer.

The QS World University Rankings ranks EPFL(CH) 14th in the world across all fields in their 2020/2021 ranking, whereas Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranks EPFL(CH) as the world’s 19th best school for Engineering and Technology in 2020.

EPFL(CH) is located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland; the sister institution in the German-speaking part of Switzerland is The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zürich [Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich] (CH). Associated with several specialized research institutes, the two universities form The Domain of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Domain) [ETH-Bereich; Domaine des Écoles Polytechniques Fédérales] (CH) which is directly dependent on the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. In connection with research and teaching activities, EPFL(CH) operates a nuclear reactor CROCUS; a Tokamak Fusion reactor; a Blue Gene/Q Supercomputer; and P3 bio-hazard facilities.

ETH Zürich, EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) [École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne](CH), and four associated research institutes form The Domain of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Domain) [ETH-Bereich; Domaine des Écoles polytechniques fédérales] (CH) with the aim of collaborating on scientific projects.

The roots of modern-day EPFL(CH) can be traced back to the foundation of a private school under the name École Spéciale de Lausanne in 1853 at the initiative of Lois Rivier, a graduate of the École Centrale Paris (FR) and John Gay the then professor and rector of the Académie de Lausanne. At its inception it had only 11 students and the offices were located at Rue du Valentin in Lausanne. In 1869, it became the technical department of the public Académie de Lausanne. When the Académie was reorganized and acquired the status of a university in 1890, the technical faculty changed its name to École d’Ingénieurs de l’Université de Lausanne. In 1946, it was renamed the École polytechnique de l’Université de Lausanne (EPUL). In 1969, the EPUL was separated from the rest of the University of Lausanne and became a federal institute under its current name. EPFL(CH), like ETH Zürich (CH), is thus directly controlled by the Swiss federal government. In contrast, all other universities in Switzerland are controlled by their respective cantonal governments. Following the nomination of Patrick Aebischer as president in 2000, EPFL(CH) has started to develop into the field of life sciences. It absorbed the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) in 2008.

In 1946, there were 360 students. In 1969, EPFL(CH) had 1,400 students and 55 professors. In the past two decades the university has grown rapidly and as of 2012 roughly 14,000 people study or work on campus, about 9,300 of these being Bachelor, Master or PhD students. The environment at modern day EPFL(CH) is highly international with the school attracting students and researchers from all over the world. More than 125 countries are represented on the campus and the university has two official languages, French and English.

Organization

EPFL is organized into eight schools, themselves formed of institutes that group research units (laboratories or chairs) around common themes:

School of Basic Sciences
Institute of Mathematics
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering
Institute of Physics
European Centre of Atomic and Molecular Computations
Bernoulli Center
Biomedical Imaging Research Center
Interdisciplinary Center for Electron Microscopy
MPG-EPFL Centre for Molecular Nanosciences and Technology
Swiss Plasma Center
Laboratory of Astrophysics

School of Engineering

Institute of Electrical Engineering
Institute of Mechanical Engineering
Institute of Materials
Institute of Microengineering
Institute of Bioengineering

School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Institute of Architecture
Civil Engineering Institute
Institute of Urban and Regional Sciences
Environmental Engineering Institute

School of Computer and Communication Sciences

Algorithms & Theoretical Computer Science
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Computational Biology
Computer Architecture & Integrated Systems
Data Management & Information Retrieval
Graphics & Vision
Human-Computer Interaction
Information & Communication Theory
Networking
Programming Languages & Formal Methods
Security & Cryptography
Signal & Image Processing
Systems

School of Life Sciences

Bachelor-Master Teaching Section in Life Sciences and Technologies
Brain Mind Institute
Institute of Bioengineering
Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research
Global Health Institute
Ten Technology Platforms & Core Facilities (PTECH)
Center for Phenogenomics
NCCR Synaptic Bases of Mental Diseases

College of Management of Technology

Swiss Finance Institute at EPFL
Section of Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship
Institute of Technology and Public Policy
Institute of Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship
Section of Financial Engineering

College of Humanities

Human and social sciences teaching program

EPFL Middle East

Section of Energy Management and Sustainability

In addition to the eight schools there are seven closely related institutions

Swiss Cancer Centre
Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM)
Centre for Advanced Modelling Science (CADMOS)
École Cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL)
Campus Biotech
Wyss Center for Bio- and Neuro-engineering
Swiss National Supercomputing Centre

From The Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering In The College of Engineering At The University of Washington : “Family matters – For the Winston siblings the intersection of software engineering and neuroscience research is relatively inspiring at The University of Washington”

From The Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering

In

The College of Engineering

At

The University of Washington

1.7.23
Kristin Osborne

The Winston siblings pose for a family photo in downtown Pitttsburgh during the ICSE 2022 conference (from left): Caleb, Cailin, Cleah, Claris and Chloe. Credit: The University of Washington.

Back in May, a group of five student researchers advised by Allen School professors Rajesh Rao and René Just disembarked in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering. They had traveled to ICSE 2022 from Seattle to present a paper [Proceedings of the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering (below)] describing a methodology they had developed at the University of Washington for detecting and repairing faults in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), which are designed to enhance or restore sensorimotor function in people with neurological disorders or spinal cord injury. 

The paper was noteworthy for its contributions toward ensuring that BCIs, which decode or encode neural signals to mediate the connection between the brain and assistive devices, are safe and robust for everyday use. The team was noteworthy for their connection with each other: All five student co-authors — Cailin, twins Caleb and Chloe, Claris, and Cleah — are siblings. And all five were, or were about to become, Allen School majors.

The research that prompted the ICSE paper had its roots in a project initiated by four of the siblings during Rao’s Neural Engineering capstone course last year. While Rao appreciated the novelty of so many siblings working on the same project, he was most appreciative of their ambition and ingenuity in tackling an open problem in neural software engineering with the potential to significantly improve people’s quality of life.

“The field of BCIs is still in its early stages, with most researchers focusing on proof-of-concept demonstrations,” said Rao, co-director of the Center for Neurotechnology and the Cherng Jia and Elizabeth Yun Hwang Professor in the Allen School and the UW Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. “I was therefore surprised and impressed when the Winston team proposed a forward-looking class project seeking to apply state-of-the-art techniques in software engineering to the design and implementation of BCIs.”

Recent Allen School alum Cailin Winston (B.S., ‘20, M.S., ‘22) — the eldest of the Winston siblings — developed and evaluated components of the team’s approach, which applies widely accepted methods for automated software testing and debugging, such as partial test oracles for detecting faults, corrective heuristics for labeling faulty data and slice functions for localizing faults, to the nascent domain of BCIs. The acquired data is then used to retrain the model to correct its performance of fault-prone tasks or used to suggest additional classes of data to target data collection and labeling. A student in the Allen School’s fifth-year master’s program at the time of publication, Cailin was already keenly aware of the importance of software and computational methods to biomedical research. That awareness prompted her to seek out ways to explore the intersection of the two disciplines early in her academic career.

Cailin Winston presents the group’s paper on techniques for repairing BCIs at ICSE 2022. Credit: The University of Washington.

“I initially got involved by contacting research groups at the University of Washington with prior publications that piqued my interest,” explained Cailin, who joined NVIDIA as a Deep Learning Engineer after graduation. “Attending research talks and colloquiums also made me aware of the various research projects being carried out and allowed me to further my involvement.”

As it turns out, the people who would take her involvement furthest — all the way to Pittsburgh as first author of a major conference paper — were closest to home. Her brother, Caleb Winston (B.S., ‘22), was also eager to find a pathway into research; in his case, it was a weekly reading group focused on the latest program synthesis papers organized by graduate students in the Allen School’s Programming Languages & Software Engineering (PLSE) group that set him on his way. Fast forward a few years, and Caleb and Cailin are collaborating on a methodology for real-time debugging and repair of BCIs and writing a paper accepted to one of the top conferences in the field.

In addition to sharing responsibilities for aspects of the ICSE paper, Caleb also shared his sister’s interest in how computing intersects with biomedicine — along with many other fields.

“Computer science intersects with so many different fields of study, from law, to healthcare, to urban planning,” noted Caleb, who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at Stanford University after graduating from the Allen School in the spring. “This generalizability is what excites me to study programming languages, software engineering, AI and hardware/software systems. Simple ideas from these subfields have potentially impactful applications in many fields outside of computing.”

Claris Winston, who is now in her third year at the UW, became intrigued by the connection between computing and biomedicine in part by her experience working on a mobile app for scoliosis treatment as well as her experience participating in a summer computing camp organized by Girls Who Code. After earning direct admission to the Allen School as a freshman, she worked with members of the Molecular Information Systems Lab (MISL) on a new combinatorial polymerase chain reaction method [ACS Synthetic Bioliology (below)] for efficient retrieval of DNA oligo pools. That work, for which Claris was first author, was presented in a journal, in which her graphic design was also featured on the front cover. As she subsequently discovered at ICSE, presenting her research at a conference offered an entirely different — and exhilarating — experience.

“It was exciting to see researchers from all over the world and with such diverse backgrounds,” said Claris, who currently works with Allen School professor Jennifer Mankoff in the Make4All Group on research related to optimization for embroidered tactile graphics. “I was impressed by the range of topics covered, and the talks themselves had so many creative ideas and applications in the field.”

Youngest sibling and current freshman Cleah Winston contributed to the ICSE paper even before she arrived at the UW. She credits this and other early research experiences with opening her eyes to how an Allen School education would help her reach her goal of creating real-world impact.

“After being involved in several research projects in high school, I realized how much I enjoyed designing and developing solutions to problems in society,” she explained. “I felt that studying computer science would give me the tools and thought process for designing such solutions.”

The BCI project certainly gave her a head start in that regard, where she collaborated with sisters Claris and Chloe Winston (B.S., ‘22) in implementing a set of neural decoding BCI applications and using focused data acquisition and data labeling techniques to evaluate the team’s methodology for testing and repairing BCIs. Cleah is currently working with Allen School professor Byron Boots in the Robot Learning Lab exploring neural networks for computer vision and applications for hazard avoidance for off-road autonomous vehicles.

Chloe, who also took the lead on the statistical analysis of the results, credited an “internship-like class” in biotechnology research that she took in high school with setting her on a path to research at the UW. Her experience in the Garden Laboratory, in UW Medicine’s Department of Neurology, further fueled her love for research.

“I enjoyed the process of formulating research questions and designing and conducting experiments,” said Chloe, who double-majored in computer science and neuroscience at the UW. “That experience led me to seek other research opportunities throughout my undergraduate years.”

The two senior authors, Rao and Just, saw to it that all five student researchers would be able to attend the conference in person. While the siblings enjoyed the thrill of presenting their work to more senior researchers, their first conference experience was memorable for a variety of other reasons.

“I especially enjoyed the talks in the ‘Human Aspects of Software Engineering’ session, in which the social and cognitive aspects of the field were discussed,” said Claris. “Many of these topics were ones that I had not thought deeply about before, but this research is very important to study so we can build better engineering communities and software that benefits everyone.”

Chloe, meanwhile, found the conference eye-opening for the breadth of research happening in software engineering and the diverse problems it is trying to solve. The experience also impressed upon her the importance of researchers showing up to share their work. It’s a lesson she took with her to the University of Pennsylvania, where she is pursuing a M.D./Ph.D. with the goal of incorporating deep learning techniques into biomedical research and patient care as a physician-scientist.

“The conference environment was highly collaborative, and I was impressed by how new ideas were sparked through presentation and discussion,” she said. “Despite the inconvenience of travel and the anxiety that can come with presenting, I aim to continue attending and presenting at conferences. This is how new research directions are formed.”

For Caleb, ICSE offered a chance to bring what, at this point, could arguably be referred to as “the family business” full circle.

“The first time we all worked on a research project together was in high school. We were printing, cutting, and taping together a poster on precision medicine the night before a science fair,” he recalled. “It’s exciting to think that we have gone from working on high school science fair projects to cutting-edge research at the intersection of neural engineering and software engineering, which led to us presenting at ICSE.”

Read the team’s and the siblings’ retrospective on ICSE 2022 here.

Science papers:
Proceedings of the 44th International Conference on Software Engineering
ACS Synthetic Biology

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Washington Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering

About the University of Washington Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering
Mission, Facts, and Stats

Our mission is to develop outstanding engineers and ideas that change the world.

Faculty:
275 faculty (25.2% women)
Achievements:

128 NSF Young Investigator/Early Career Awards since 1984
32 Sloan Foundation Research Awards
2 MacArthur Foundation Fellows (2007 and 2011)

A national leader in educating engineers, each year the College turns out new discoveries, inventions and top-flight graduates, all contributing to the strength of our economy and the vitality of our community.

Engineering innovation

PEOPLE Innovation at UW ECE is exemplified by our outstanding faculty and by the exceptional group of students they advise and mentor. Students receive a robust education through a strong technical foundation, group project work and hands-on research opportunities. Our faculty work in dynamic research areas with diverse opportunities for projects and collaborations. Through their research, they address complex global challenges in health, energy, technology and the environment, and receive significant research and education grants. IMPACT We continue to expand our innovation ecosystem by promoting an entrepreneurial mindset in our teaching and through diverse partnerships. The field of electrical and computer engineering is at the forefront of solving emerging societal challenges, empowered by innovative ideas from our community. As our department evolves, we are dedicated to expanding our faculty and student body to meet the growing demand for engineers. We welcomed six new faculty hires in the 2018-2019 academic year. Our meaningful connections and collaborations place the department as a leader in the field.

Engineers drive the innovation economy and are vital to solving society’s most challenging problems. The College of Engineering is a key part of a world-class research university in a thriving hub of aerospace, biotechnology, global health and information technology innovation. Over 50% of UW startups in FY18 came from the College of Engineering.

Commitment to diversity and access

The College of Engineering is committed to developing and supporting a diverse student body and faculty that reflect and elevate the populations we serve. We are a national leader in women in engineering; 25.5% of our faculty are women compared to 17.4% nationally. We offer a robust set of diversity programs for students and faculty.

The University of Washington is an engine of economic growth, today ranked third in the nation for the number of startups launched each year, with 65 companies having been started in the last five years alone by UW students and faculty, or with technology developed here.

The University of Washington is one of the world’s preeminent public universities. Our impact on individuals, on our region, and on the world is profound — whether we are launching young people into a boundless future or confronting the grand challenges of our time through undaunted research and scholarship. Ranked number 10 in the world in Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings and educating more than 54,000 students annually, our students and faculty work together to turn ideas into impact and in the process transform lives and our world. For more about our impact on the world, every day.

The University of Washington is one of the world’s preeminent public universities. Our impact on individuals, on our region, and on the world is profound — whether we are launching young people into a boundless future or confronting the grand challenges of our time through undaunted research and scholarship. Ranked number 10 in the world in Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings and educating more than 54,000 students annually, our students and faculty work together to turn ideas into impact and in the process transform lives and our world. For more about our impact on the world, every day.

So what defines us —the students, faculty and community members at the University of Washington? Above all, it’s our belief in possibility and our unshakable optimism. It’s a connection to others, both near and far. It’s a hunger that pushes us to tackle challenges and pursue progress. It’s the conviction that together we can create a world of good. Join us on the journey.

The University of Washington is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in downtown Seattle approximately a decade after the city’s founding to aid its economic development. Today, the university’s 703-acre main Seattle campus is in the University District above the Montlake Cut, within the urban Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest. The university has additional campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Overall, University of Washington encompasses over 500 buildings and over 20 million gross square footage of space, including one of the largest library systems in the world with more than 26 university libraries, as well as the UW Tower, lecture halls, art centers, museums, laboratories, stadiums, and conference centers. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees through 140 departments in various colleges and schools, sees a total student enrollment of roughly 46,000 annually, and functions on a quarter system.

University of Washington is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. According to the National Science Foundation, UW spent $1.41 billion on research and development in 2018, ranking it 5th in the nation. As the flagship institution of the six public universities in Washington state, it is known for its medical, engineering and scientific research as well as its highly competitive computer science and engineering programs. Additionally, University of Washington continues to benefit from its deep historic ties and major collaborations with numerous technology giants in the region, such as Amazon, Boeing, Nintendo, and particularly Microsoft. Paul G. Allen, Bill Gates and others spent significant time at Washington computer labs for a startup venture before founding Microsoft and other ventures. The University of Washington’s 22 varsity sports teams are also highly competitive, competing as the Huskies in the Pac-12 Conference of the NCAA Division I, representing the United States at the Olympic Games, and other major competitions.

The university has been affiliated with many notable alumni and faculty, including 21 Nobel Prize laureates and numerous Pulitzer Prize winners, Fulbright Scholars, Rhodes Scholars and Marshall Scholars.

In 1854, territorial governor Isaac Stevens recommended the establishment of a university in the Washington Territory. Prominent Seattle-area residents, including Methodist preacher Daniel Bagley, saw this as a chance to add to the city’s potential and prestige. Bagley learned of a law that allowed United States territories to sell land to raise money in support of public schools. At the time, Arthur A. Denny, one of the founders of Seattle and a member of the territorial legislature, aimed to increase the city’s importance by moving the territory’s capital from Olympia to Seattle. However, Bagley eventually convinced Denny that the establishment of a university would assist more in the development of Seattle’s economy. Two universities were initially chartered, but later the decision was repealed in favor of a single university in Lewis County provided that locally donated land was available. When no site emerged, Denny successfully petitioned the legislature to reconsider Seattle as a location in 1858.

In 1861, scouting began for an appropriate 10 acres (4 ha) site in Seattle to serve as a new university campus. Arthur and Mary Denny donated eight acres, while fellow pioneers Edward Lander, and Charlie and Mary Terry, donated two acres on Denny’s Knoll in downtown Seattle. More specifically, this tract was bounded by 4th Avenue to the west, 6th Avenue to the east, Union Street to the north, and Seneca Streets to the south.

John Pike, for whom Pike Street is named, was the university’s architect and builder. It was opened on November 4, 1861, as the Territorial University of Washington. The legislature passed articles incorporating the University, and establishing its Board of Regents in 1862. The school initially struggled, closing three times: in 1863 for low enrollment, and again in 1867 and 1876 due to funds shortage. University of Washington awarded its first graduate Clara Antoinette McCarty Wilt in 1876, with a bachelor’s degree in science.

19th century relocation

By the time Washington state entered the Union in 1889, both Seattle and the University had grown substantially. University of Washington’s total undergraduate enrollment increased from 30 to nearly 300 students, and the campus’s relative isolation in downtown Seattle faced encroaching development. A special legislative committee, headed by University of Washington graduate Edmond Meany, was created to find a new campus to better serve the growing student population and faculty. The committee eventually selected a site on the northeast of downtown Seattle called Union Bay, which was the land of the Duwamish, and the legislature appropriated funds for its purchase and construction. In 1895, the University relocated to the new campus by moving into the newly built Denny Hall. The University Regents tried and failed to sell the old campus, eventually settling with leasing the area. This would later become one of the University’s most valuable pieces of real estate in modern-day Seattle, generating millions in annual revenue with what is now called the Metropolitan Tract. The original Territorial University building was torn down in 1908, and its former site now houses the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

The sole-surviving remnants of Washington’s first building are four 24-foot (7.3 m), white, hand-fluted cedar, Ionic columns. They were salvaged by Edmond S. Meany, one of the University’s first graduates and former head of its history department. Meany and his colleague, Dean Herbert T. Condon, dubbed the columns as “Loyalty,” “Industry,” “Faith”, and “Efficiency”, or “LIFE.” The columns now stand in the Sylvan Grove Theater.

20th century expansion

Organizers of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition eyed the still largely undeveloped campus as a prime setting for their world’s fair. They came to an agreement with Washington’s Board of Regents that allowed them to use the campus grounds for the exposition, surrounding today’s Drumheller Fountain facing towards Mount Rainier. In exchange, organizers agreed Washington would take over the campus and its development after the fair’s conclusion. This arrangement led to a detailed site plan and several new buildings, prepared in part by John Charles Olmsted. The plan was later incorporated into the overall University of Washington campus master plan, permanently affecting the campus layout.

Both World Wars brought the military to campus, with certain facilities temporarily lent to the federal government. In spite of this, subsequent post-war periods were times of dramatic growth for the University. The period between the wars saw a significant expansion of the upper campus. Construction of the Liberal Arts Quadrangle, known to students as “The Quad,” began in 1916 and continued to 1939. The University’s architectural centerpiece, Suzzallo Library, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1935.

After World War II, further growth came with the G.I. Bill. Among the most important developments of this period was the opening of the School of Medicine in 1946, which is now consistently ranked as the top medical school in the United States. It would eventually lead to the University of Washington Medical Center, ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top ten hospitals in the nation.

In 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry in the Seattle area were forced into inland internment camps as part of Executive Order 9066 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. During this difficult time, university president Lee Paul Sieg took an active and sympathetic leadership role in advocating for and facilitating the transfer of Japanese American students to universities and colleges away from the Pacific Coast to help them avoid the mass incarceration. Nevertheless, many Japanese American students and “soon-to-be” graduates were unable to transfer successfully in the short time window or receive diplomas before being incarcerated. It was only many years later that they would be recognized for their accomplishments during the University of Washington’s Long Journey Home ceremonial event that was held in May 2008.

From 1958 to 1973, the University of Washington saw a tremendous growth in student enrollment, its faculties and operating budget, and also its prestige under the leadership of Charles Odegaard. University of Washington student enrollment had more than doubled to 34,000 as the baby boom generation came of age. However, this era was also marked by high levels of student activism, as was the case at many American universities. Much of the unrest focused around civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. In response to anti-Vietnam War protests by the late 1960s, the University Safety and Security Division became the University of Washington Police Department.

Odegaard instituted a vision of building a “community of scholars”, convincing the Washington State legislatures to increase investment in the University. Washington senators, such as Henry M. Jackson and Warren G. Magnuson, also used their political clout to gather research funds for the University of Washington. The results included an increase in the operating budget from $37 million in 1958 to over $400 million in 1973, solidifying University of Washington as a top recipient of federal research funds in the United States. The establishment of technology giants such as Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon in the local area also proved to be highly influential in the University of Washington’s fortunes, not only improving graduate prospects but also helping to attract millions of dollars in university and research funding through its distinguished faculty and extensive alumni network.

21st century

In 1990, the University of Washington opened its additional campuses in Bothell and Tacoma. Although originally intended for students who have already completed two years of higher education, both schools have since become four-year universities with the authority to grant degrees. The first freshman classes at these campuses started in fall 2006. Today both Bothell and Tacoma also offer a selection of master’s degree programs.

In 2012, the University began exploring plans and governmental approval to expand the main Seattle campus, including significant increases in student housing, teaching facilities for the growing student body and faculty, as well as expanded public transit options. The University of Washington light rail station was completed in March 2015, connecting Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood to the University of Washington Husky Stadium within five minutes of rail travel time. It offers a previously unavailable option of transportation into and out of the campus, designed specifically to reduce dependence on private vehicles, bicycles and local King County buses.

University of Washington has been listed as a “Public Ivy” in Greene’s Guides since 2001, and is an elected member of the American Association of Universities. Among the faculty by 2012, there have been 151 members of American Association for the Advancement of Science, 68 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 67 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 53 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 29 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 21 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 15 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators, 15 MacArthur Fellows, 9 winners of the Gairdner Foundation International Award, 5 winners of the National Medal of Science, 7 Nobel Prize laureates, 5 winners of Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, 4 members of the American Philosophical Society, 2 winners of the National Book Award, 2 winners of the National Medal of Arts, 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, 1 winner of the Fields Medal, and 1 member of the National Academy of Public Administration. Among UW students by 2012, there were 136 Fulbright Scholars, 35 Rhodes Scholars, 7 Marshall Scholars and 4 Gates Cambridge Scholars. UW is recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Scholars, ranking 2nd in the US in 2017.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) has consistently ranked University of Washington as one of the top 20 universities worldwide every year since its first release. In 2019, University of Washington ranked 14th worldwide out of 500 by the ARWU, 26th worldwide out of 981 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 28th worldwide out of 101 in the Times World Reputation Rankings. Meanwhile, QS World University Rankings ranked it 68th worldwide, out of over 900.

U.S. News & World Report ranked University of Washington 8th out of nearly 1,500 universities worldwide for 2021, with University of Washington’s undergraduate program tied for 58th among 389 national universities in the U.S. and tied for 19th among 209 public universities.

In 2019, it ranked 10th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings. In 2017, the Leiden Ranking, which focuses on science and the impact of scientific publications among the world’s 500 major universities, ranked University of Washington 12th globally and 5th in the U.S.

In 2019, Kiplinger Magazine’s review of “top college values” named University of Washington 5th for in-state students and 10th for out-of-state students among U.S. public colleges, and 84th overall out of 500 schools. In the Washington Monthly National University Rankings University of Washington was ranked 15th domestically in 2018, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

From The University of Zürich (Universität Zürich) (CH): “Entrepreneurial Milestones in Life Sciences”

From The University of Zürich (Universität Zürich) (CH)

1.9.23
Nathalie Huber
English translations by Philip Isler

UZH Spin-Offs in 2022

Three new spin-offs were founded at UZH in 2022, transferring scientific findings into industry practice. The business ventures explore new perspectives in the fight against cancer, space factories to produce human tissue, and ways to accelerate the development of novel drugs.

The goal of the UZH spin-off Navignostics is to enable a more precise cancer diagnosis for patients. (Image: iStock / utah778)

At UZH, new ideas evolve into pioneering technologies of the future. Last year, three groups of business founders with roots at UZH took the entrepreneurial leap and signed a licensing agreement with UZH. Their spin-offs emerged from life sciences research conducted at the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science. 

Precision diagnostics, bespoke therapies

Despite a wide variety of available drugs and treatment options, many people still succumb to cancer. Every tumor is unique, making it difficult to find the ideal treatment for each patient. The spin-off Navignostics develops novel diagnostic methods to perform advanced tumor sample analyses. “We want to help specialists find targeted immuno-oncology therapies that are tailored to the individual cancer patient’s tumor phenotype,” says Bernd Bodenmiller, professor of Quantitative Biomedicine.

Navignostics leverages spatial single-cell proteomics, an approach that was developed by Bodenmiller and his research group. Their approach involves measuring the many proteins in a tumor sample in high resolution. This enables clinicians to use algorithms to determine the cell types present in the tumor as well as which of the cells’ processes are deregulated and how the tumor cells affect the surrounding cells. The aim is to use these data and artificial intelligence to recommend therapies that are tailored to the individual cancer patient.

Navignostics is currently providing pharmaceutics companies with various services to support them in developing cancer drugs and companion diagnostics or to increase the chances of their clinical trials. Thanks to its successful round of seed financing (CHF 7.5 million), the spin-off can accelerate the development of its first diagnostic product and step up its cooperation with clinical, pharma and biotech partners.

Human tissue from space

The ambitious goal of Prometheus Life Technologies AG is to set up a factory that can produce human tissue – in space, no less. The spin-off wants to use the microgravity environment in space to manufacture three-dimensional organ-like tissues – dubbed organoids – using human stem cells. These tissues only grow three-dimensionally in zero gravity. On Earth and in labs, they require highly complicated auxiliary structures to do so. “At the moment, there’s an unmet demand for 3D organoids,” says Oliver Ullrich, director of the UZH Space Hub and co-inventor.

These tissues are particularly popular among pharmaceutical companies, as they enable them to carry out toxicological trials on human tissue without first having to use animal models. Organoids produced from a patient’s stem cells could also one day be used as the building blocks for transplants to treat damaged organs, as the number of donated organs is nowhere near enough to meet the worldwide demand. Further opportunities for growth arise from replacing 2D with the more in-vivo-like 3D cell cultures.

The spin-off’s technology is based on a previous joint project of UZH and Airbus. The research and development phase included comprehensive experiments on the ground as well as two successful production tests aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The whole process, from idea to commercialization, originated, developed and matured in the UZH Space Hub. Prometheus Life Technologies AG already won a high-ranking international award last month. The spin-off was selected as the winner of the Reef Starter Innovation Challenge, an innovation engine powered by Orbital Reef, a mixed-use space station to be built in the Earth’s lower orbit.

Mapping drug activity contexts

Just as statements shouldn’t be considered out of context, the effects of drugs need to be seen in a bigger picture. Founded by Lucas Pelkmans, professor of molecular biology, Apricot Therapeutics specializes in mapping drug activity contexts, or DACs. “We’re the first pharmaceutical company worldwide that focuses on DACs, and our goal is to drive forward the development of novel and innovative drugs,” Pelkmans says. The technology used by the spin-off is based on Pelkmans’ pioneering discovery that it is possible to predict the behavior of individual cells by mapping their surroundings using multi-scale microscopy and imaging technology. DACs capture how the various spatial organizations of our individual cells cause drugs to have variable effects.

Apricot Therapeutics’ technology platform is based on methods in the field of “image-based systems biology”, for which the spin-off is currently evaluating two patent applications. The goal of the spin-off is to develop a procedure to measure all DACs relevant for drug activity and use machine learning to predict cellular responses to drugs with unprecedented accuracy. The company is the first to apply novel genomics 3.0 technologies to predict drug activity and treatment outcomes. Future clients include pharmaceutical companies, biotech and medtech start-ups, diagnostic centers, clinicians and research laboratories.

Here are some of the milestones: 

Successful cooperation

Biotech company Molecular Partners concluded a licensing agreement with Novartis for Ensovibep, a drug against Covid-19. Molecular Partners sold the drug’s worldwide rights to Novartis for a one-time payment of CHF 150 million and a 22 percent royalty on sales. 
Neuroimmune entered into a licensing agreement with AstraZeneca subsidiary Alexion to develop and market the NI006 heart drug. The spin-off also stepped up its cooperation with Japanese company Ono Pharmaceutical in the field of neurodegenerative diseases with the aim of co-developing new drugs.

Medtech firsts

Clemedi rolled out Tuberculini in 2022. The molecular test for drug-resistant tuberculosis can deliver results within 48 hours. 
CUTISS AG received certification from Swissmedic that allows the UZH spin-off to manufacture personalized human skin transplants in its Schlieren facilities. On-site production increases the company’s flexibility and production capacity. In addition, CUTISS was awarded a tissue graft patent by the European Patent Office. 
Oncobit AG obtained CE marking for its first product, oncobit™ PM. This marking, granted by European regulatory authorities, guarantees that the product can be used without restrictions throughout Europe. oncobit™ PM can be used to monitor treatment response, minimal residual disease, and disease recurrence in melanoma patients.

New capital

ImmunOs Therapeutics AG completed a highly successful financing round, raising over CHF 72 million. The biopharmaceutical company develops novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.  
Schlieren-based Kuros Biosciences AG announced a capital increase of CHF 6 million. The spin-off develops spinal fusion technologies that ease the burden of back pain.
Invasight AG successfully raised CHF 4.5 million. Founded in 2020, the biotech spin-off develops protein-protein interaction antagonists (PPIAs) against invasive cancers.

KOVE Medical and OxyPrem were each awarded an EIC Accelerator Grant funded by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) to promote groundbreaking innovations by Swiss start-ups. KOVE is developing a method to make prenatal surgical interventions, while OxyPrem is producing a device to monitor oxygen supply to the brain.

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Zürich (Universität Zürich) (CH), located in the city of Zürich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 26,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy.

Currently, the university has seven faculties: Philosophy, Human Medicine, Economic Sciences, Law, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Theology and Veterinary Medicine. The university offers the widest range of subjects and courses of any Swiss higher education institutions.

As a member of the League of European Research Universities (EU) (LERU) and Universitas 21 (U21) network, a global network of 27 research universities from around the world, promoting research collaboration and exchange of knowledge.

Numerous distinctions highlight the University’s international renown in the fields of medicine, immunology, genetics, neuroscience and structural biology as well as in economics. To date, the Nobel Prize has been conferred on twelve UZH scholars.

Sharing Knowledge

The academic excellence of the University of Zürich brings benefits to both the public and the private sectors not only in the Canton of Zürich, but throughout Switzerland. Knowledge is shared in a variety of ways: in addition to granting the general public access to its twelve museums and many of its libraries, the University makes findings from cutting-edge research available to the public in accessible and engaging lecture series and panel discussions.

1. Identity of the University of Zürich

Scholarship

The University of Zürich (UZH) is an institution with a strong commitment to the free and open pursuit of scholarship.

Scholarship is the acquisition, the advancement and the dissemination of knowledge in a methodological and critical manner.

Academic freedom and responsibility

To flourish, scholarship must be free from external influences, constraints and ideological pressures. The University of Zürich is committed to unrestricted freedom in research and teaching.

Academic freedom calls for a high degree of responsibility, including reflection on the ethical implications of research activities for humans, animals and the environment.

Universitas

Work in all disciplines at the University is based on a scholarly inquiry into the realities of our world

As Switzerland’s largest university, the University of Zürich promotes wide diversity in both scholarship and in the fields of study offered. The University fosters free dialogue, respects the individual characteristics of the disciplines, and advances interdisciplinary work.

2. The University of Zurich’s goals and responsibilities

Basic principles

UZH pursues scholarly research and teaching, and provides services for the benefit of the public.

UZH has successfully positioned itself among the world’s foremost universities. The University attracts the best researchers and students, and promotes junior scholars at all levels of their academic career.

UZH sets priorities in research and teaching by considering academic requirements and the needs of society. These priorities presuppose basic research and interdisciplinary methods.

UZH strives to uphold the highest quality in all its activities.
To secure and improve quality, the University regularly monitors and evaluates its performance.

Research

UZH contributes to the increase of knowledge through the pursuit of cutting-edge research.

UZH is primarily a research institution. As such, it enables and expects its members to conduct research, and supports them in doing so.

While basic research is the core focus at UZH, the University also pursues applied research.

From The Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “New sensor uses MRI to detect light deep in the brain”

From The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

12.22.22 [Just today in social media.]
Anne Trafton

Using this approach researchers can map how light spreads in opaque environments.

Using a specialized MRI sensor, MIT engineers have shown that they can detect light deep within tissues such as the brain. Image: iStock.

Imaging light in deep tissues is extremely difficult because as light travels into tissue, much of it is either absorbed or scattered. The MIT team overcame that obstacle by designing a sensor that converts light into a magnetic signal that can be detected by MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

This type of sensor could be used to map light emitted by optical fibers implanted in the brain, such as the fibers used to stimulate neurons during optogenetic experiments. With further development, it could also prove useful for monitoring patients who receive light-based therapies for cancer, the researchers say.

“We can image the distribution of light in tissue, and that’s important because people who use light to stimulate tissue or to measure from tissue often don’t quite know where the light is going, where they’re stimulating, or where the light is coming from. Our tool can be used to address those unknowns,” says Alan Jasanoff, an MIT professor of biological engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, and nuclear science and engineering.

Jasanoff, who is also an associate investigator at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, is the senior author of the study, which appears today in Nature Biomedical Engineering [below]. Jacob Simon PhD ’21 and MIT postdoc Miriam Schwalm are the paper’s lead authors, and Johannes Morstein and Dirk Trauner of New York University are also authors of the paper.

A light-sensitive probe

Scientists have been using light to study living cells for hundreds of years, dating back to the late 1500s, when the light microscope was invented. This kind of microscopy allows researchers to peer inside cells and thin slices of tissue, but not deep inside an organism.

“One of the persistent problems in using light, especially in the life sciences, is that it doesn’t do a very good job penetrating many materials,” Jasanoff says. “Biological materials absorb light and scatter light, and the combination of those things prevents us from using most types of optical imaging for anything that involves focusing in deep tissue.”

To overcome that limitation, Jasanoff and his students decided to design a sensor that could transform light into a magnetic signal.

“We wanted to create a magnetic sensor that responds to light locally, and therefore is not subject to absorbance or scattering. Then this light detector can be imaged using MRI,” he says.

Jasanoff’s lab has previously developed MRI probes that can interact with a variety of molecules in the brain, including dopamine and calcium. When these probes bind to their targets, it affects the sensors’ magnetic interactions with the surrounding tissue, dimming or brightening the MRI signal.

To make a light-sensitive MRI probe, the researchers decided to encase magnetic particles in a nanoparticle called a liposome. The liposomes used in this study are made from specialized light-sensitive lipids that Trauner had previously developed. When these lipids are exposed to a certain wavelength of light, the liposomes become more permeable to water, or “leaky.” This allows the magnetic particles inside to interact with water and generate a signal detectable by MRI.

The particles, which the researchers called liposomal nanoparticle reporters (LisNR), can switch from permeable to impermeable depending on the type of light they’re exposed to. In this study, the researchers created particles that become leaky when exposed to ultraviolet light, and then become impermeable again when exposed to blue light. The researchers also showed that the particles could respond to other wavelengths of light.

“This paper shows a novel sensor to enable photon detection with MRI through the brain. This illuminating work introduces a new avenue to bridge photon and proton-driven neuroimaging studies,” says Xin Yu, an assistant professor radiology at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the study.

Mapping light

The researchers tested the sensors in the brains of rats — specifically, in a part of the brain called the striatum, which is involved in planning movement and responding to reward. After injecting the particles throughout the striatum, the researchers were able to map the distribution of light from an optical fiber implanted nearby.

The fiber they used is similar to those used for optogenetic stimulation, so this kind of sensing could be useful to researchers who perform optogenetic experiments in the brain, Jasanoff says.

“We don’t expect that everybody doing optogenetics will use this for every experiment — it’s more something that you would do once in a while, to see whether a paradigm that you’re using is really producing the profile of light that you think it should be,” Jasanoff says.

In the future, this type of sensor could also be useful for monitoring patients receiving treatments that involve light, such as photodynamic therapy, which uses light from a laser or LED to kill cancer cells.

The researchers are now working on similar probes that could be used to detect light emitted by luciferases, a family of glowing proteins that are often used in biological experiments. These proteins can be used to reveal whether a particular gene is activated or not, but currently they can only be imaged in superficial tissue or cells grown in a lab dish.

Jasanoff also hopes to use the strategy used for the LisNR sensor to design MRI probes that can detect stimuli other than light, such as neurochemicals or other molecules found in the brain.

“We think that the principle that we use to construct these sensors is quite broad and can be used for other purposes too,” he says.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation, a Friends of the McGovern Fellowship from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, the MIT Neurobiological Engineering Training Program, and a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship from the European Commission.

Science paper:
Nature Biomedical Engineering

See the full article here .

Comments are invited and will be appreciated, especially if the reader finds any errors which I can correct. Use “Reply”.

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Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

USPS “Forever” postage stamps celebrating Innovation at MIT.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The institute has an urban campus that extends more than a mile (1.6 km) alongside the Charles River. The institute also encompasses a number of major off-campus facilities such as the MIT Lincoln Laboratory , the MIT Bates Research and Engineering Center , and the Haystack Observatory , as well as affiliated laboratories such as the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Whitehead Institute.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory campus

Massachusettes Institute of Technology-Haystack Observatory Westford, Massachusetts, USA, Altitude 131 m (430 ft).

The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)

Founded in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of the United States, Massachusetts Institute of Technology adopted a European polytechnic university model and stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. It has since played a key role in the development of many aspects of modern science, engineering, mathematics, and technology, and is widely known for its innovation and academic strength. It is frequently regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

As of December 2020, 97 Nobel laureates, 26 Turing Award winners, and 8 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with MIT as alumni, faculty members, or researchers. In addition, 58 National Medal of Science recipients, 29 National Medals of Technology and Innovation recipients, 50 MacArthur Fellows, 80 Marshall Scholars, 3 Mitchell Scholars, 22 Schwarzman Scholars, 41 astronauts, and 16 Chief Scientists of the U.S. Air Force have been affiliated with The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The university also has a strong entrepreneurial culture and MIT alumni have founded or co-founded many notable companies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a member of the Association of American Universities.

Foundation and vision

In 1859, a proposal was submitted to the Massachusetts General Court to use newly filled lands in Back Bay, Boston for a “Conservatory of Art and Science”, but the proposal failed. A charter for the incorporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, proposed by William Barton Rogers, was signed by John Albion Andrew, the governor of Massachusetts, on April 10, 1861.

Rogers, a professor from the University of Virginia , wanted to establish an institution to address rapid scientific and technological advances. He did not wish to found a professional school, but a combination with elements of both professional and liberal education, proposing that:

“The true and only practicable object of a polytechnic school is, as I conceive, the teaching, not of the minute details and manipulations of the arts, which can be done only in the workshop, but the inculcation of those scientific principles which form the basis and explanation of them, and along with this, a full and methodical review of all their leading processes and operations in connection with physical laws.”

The Rogers Plan reflected the German research university model, emphasizing an independent faculty engaged in research, as well as instruction oriented around seminars and laboratories.

Early developments

Two days after The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was chartered, the first battle of the Civil War broke out. After a long delay through the war years, MIT’s first classes were held in the Mercantile Building in Boston in 1865. The new institute was founded as part of the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act to fund institutions “to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes” and was a land-grant school. In 1863 under the same act, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts founded the Massachusetts Agricultural College, which developed as the University of Massachusetts Amherst ). In 1866, the proceeds from land sales went toward new buildings in the Back Bay.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was informally called “Boston Tech”. The institute adopted the European polytechnic university model and emphasized laboratory instruction from an early date. Despite chronic financial problems, the institute saw growth in the last two decades of the 19th century under President Francis Amasa Walker. Programs in electrical, chemical, marine, and sanitary engineering were introduced, new buildings were built, and the size of the student body increased to more than one thousand.

The curriculum drifted to a vocational emphasis, with less focus on theoretical science. The fledgling school still suffered from chronic financial shortages which diverted the attention of the MIT leadership. During these “Boston Tech” years, Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty and alumni rebuffed Harvard University president (and former MIT faculty) Charles W. Eliot’s repeated attempts to merge MIT with Harvard College’s Lawrence Scientific School. There would be at least six attempts to absorb MIT into Harvard. In its cramped Back Bay location, MIT could not afford to expand its overcrowded facilities, driving a desperate search for a new campus and funding. Eventually, the MIT Corporation approved a formal agreement to merge with Harvard, over the vehement objections of MIT faculty, students, and alumni. However, a 1917 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court effectively put an end to the merger scheme.

In 1916, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology administration and the MIT charter crossed the Charles River on the ceremonial barge Bucentaur built for the occasion, to signify MIT’s move to a spacious new campus largely consisting of filled land on a one-mile-long (1.6 km) tract along the Cambridge side of the Charles River. The neoclassical “New Technology” campus was designed by William W. Bosworth and had been funded largely by anonymous donations from a mysterious “Mr. Smith”, starting in 1912. In January 1920, the donor was revealed to be the industrialist George Eastman of Rochester, New York, who had invented methods of film production and processing, and founded Eastman Kodak. Between 1912 and 1920, Eastman donated $20 million ($236.6 million in 2015 dollars) in cash and Kodak stock to MIT.

Curricular reforms

In the 1930s, President Karl Taylor Compton and Vice-President (effectively Provost) Vannevar Bush emphasized the importance of pure sciences like physics and chemistry and reduced the vocational practice required in shops and drafting studios. The Compton reforms “renewed confidence in the ability of the Institute to develop leadership in science as well as in engineering”. Unlike Ivy League schools, Massachusetts Institute of Technology catered more to middle-class families, and depended more on tuition than on endowments or grants for its funding. The school was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1934.

Still, as late as 1949, the Lewis Committee lamented in its report on the state of education at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology that “the Institute is widely conceived as basically a vocational school”, a “partly unjustified” perception the committee sought to change. The report comprehensively reviewed the undergraduate curriculum, recommended offering a broader education, and warned against letting engineering and government-sponsored research detract from the sciences and humanities. The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and the MIT Sloan School of Management were formed in 1950 to compete with the powerful Schools of Science and Engineering. Previously marginalized faculties in the areas of economics, management, political science, and linguistics emerged into cohesive and assertive departments by attracting respected professors and launching competitive graduate programs. The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences continued to develop under the successive terms of the more humanistically oriented presidents Howard W. Johnson and Jerome Wiesner between 1966 and 1980.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology‘s involvement in military science surged during World War II. In 1941, Vannevar Bush was appointed head of the federal Office of Scientific Research and Development and directed funding to only a select group of universities, including MIT. Engineers and scientists from across the country gathered at Massachusetts Institute of Technology ‘s Radiation Laboratory, established in 1940 to assist the British military in developing microwave radar. The work done there significantly affected both the war and subsequent research in the area. Other defense projects included gyroscope-based and other complex control systems for gunsight, bombsight, and inertial navigation under Charles Stark Draper’s Instrumentation Laboratory; the development of a digital computer for flight simulations under Project Whirlwind; and high-speed and high-altitude photography under Harold Edgerton. By the end of the war, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology became the nation’s largest wartime R&D contractor (attracting some criticism of Bush), employing nearly 4000 in the Radiation Laboratory alone and receiving in excess of $100 million ($1.2 billion in 2015 dollars) before 1946. Work on defense projects continued even after then. Post-war government-sponsored research at MIT included SAGE and guidance systems for ballistic missiles and Project Apollo.

These activities affected The Massachusetts Institute of Technology profoundly. A 1949 report noted the lack of “any great slackening in the pace of life at the Institute” to match the return to peacetime, remembering the “academic tranquility of the prewar years”, though acknowledging the significant contributions of military research to the increased emphasis on graduate education and rapid growth of personnel and facilities. The faculty doubled and the graduate student body quintupled during the terms of Karl Taylor Compton, president of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 1930 and 1948; James Rhyne Killian, president from 1948 to 1957; and Julius Adams Stratton, chancellor from 1952 to 1957, whose institution-building strategies shaped the expanding university. By the 1950s, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology no longer simply benefited the industries with which it had worked for three decades, and it had developed closer working relationships with new patrons, philanthropic foundations and the federal government.

In late 1960s and early 1970s, student and faculty activists protested against the Vietnam War and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology ‘s defense research. In this period Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s various departments were researching helicopters, smart bombs and counterinsurgency techniques for the war in Vietnam as well as guidance systems for nuclear missiles. The Union of Concerned Scientists was founded on March 4, 1969 during a meeting of faculty members and students seeking to shift the emphasis on military research toward environmental and social problems. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology ultimately divested itself from the Instrumentation Laboratory and moved all classified research off-campus to the MIT Lincoln Laboratory facility in 1973 in response to the protests. The student body, faculty, and administration remained comparatively unpolarized during what was a tumultuous time for many other universities. Johnson was seen to be highly successful in leading his institution to “greater strength and unity” after these times of turmoil. However, six Massachusetts Institute of Technology students were sentenced to prison terms at this time and some former student leaders, such as Michael Albert and George Katsiaficas, are still indignant about MIT’s role in military research and its suppression of these protests. (Richard Leacock’s film, November Actions, records some of these tumultuous events.)

In the 1980s, there was more controversy at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology over its involvement in SDI (space weaponry) and CBW (chemical and biological warfare) research. More recently, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s research for the military has included work on robots, drones and ‘battle suits’.

Recent history

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has kept pace with and helped to advance the digital age. In addition to developing the predecessors to modern computing and networking technologies, students, staff, and faculty members at Project MAC, the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and the Tech Model Railroad Club wrote some of the earliest interactive computer video games like Spacewar! and created much of modern hacker slang and culture. Several major computer-related organizations have originated at MIT since the 1980s: Richard Stallman’s GNU Project and the subsequent Free Software Foundation were founded in the mid-1980s at the AI Lab; the MIT Media Lab was founded in 1985 by Nicholas Negroponte and Jerome Wiesner to promote research into novel uses of computer technology; the World Wide Web Consortium standards organization was founded at the Laboratory for Computer Science in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee; the MIT OpenCourseWare project has made course materials for over 2,000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology classes available online free of charge since 2002; and the One Laptop per Child initiative to expand computer education and connectivity to children worldwide was launched in 2005.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was named a sea-grant college in 1976 to support its programs in oceanography and marine sciences and was named a space-grant college in 1989 to support its aeronautics and astronautics programs. Despite diminishing government financial support over the past quarter century, MIT launched several successful development campaigns to significantly expand the campus: new dormitories and athletics buildings on west campus; the Tang Center for Management Education; several buildings in the northeast corner of campus supporting research into biology, brain and cognitive sciences, genomics, biotechnology, and cancer research; and a number of new “backlot” buildings on Vassar Street including the Stata Center. Construction on campus in the 2000s included expansions of the Media Lab, the Sloan School’s eastern campus, and graduate residences in the northwest. In 2006, President Hockfield launched the MIT Energy Research Council to investigate the interdisciplinary challenges posed by increasing global energy consumption.

In 2001, inspired by the open source and open access movements, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched “OpenCourseWare” to make the lecture notes, problem sets, syllabi, exams, and lectures from the great majority of its courses available online for no charge, though without any formal accreditation for coursework completed. While the cost of supporting and hosting the project is high, OCW expanded in 2005 to include other universities as a part of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, which currently includes more than 250 academic institutions with content available in at least six languages. In 2011, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced it would offer formal certification (but not credits or degrees) to online participants completing coursework in its “MITx” program, for a modest fee. The “edX” online platform supporting MITx was initially developed in partnership with Harvard and its analogous “Harvardx” initiative. The courseware platform is open source, and other universities have already joined and added their own course content. In March 2009 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty adopted an open-access policy to make its scholarship publicly accessible online.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has its own police force. Three days after the Boston Marathon bombing of April 2013, MIT Police patrol officer Sean Collier was fatally shot by the suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, setting off a violent manhunt that shut down the campus and much of the Boston metropolitan area for a day. One week later, Collier’s memorial service was attended by more than 10,000 people, in a ceremony hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology community with thousands of police officers from the New England region and Canada. On November 25, 2013, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced the creation of the Collier Medal, to be awarded annually to “an individual or group that embodies the character and qualities that Officer Collier exhibited as a member of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology community and in all aspects of his life”. The announcement further stated that “Future recipients of the award will include those whose contributions exceed the boundaries of their profession, those who have contributed to building bridges across the community, and those who consistently and selflessly perform acts of kindness”.

In September 2017, the school announced the creation of an artificial intelligence research lab called the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. IBM will spend $240 million over the next decade, and the lab will be staffed by MIT and IBM scientists. In October 2018 MIT announced that it would open a new Schwarzman College of Computing dedicated to the study of artificial intelligence, named after lead donor and The Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman. The focus of the new college is to study not just AI, but interdisciplinary AI education, and how AI can be used in fields as diverse as history and biology. The cost of buildings and new faculty for the new college is expected to be $1 billion upon completion.

The Caltech/MIT Advanced aLIGO was designed and constructed by a team of scientists from California Institute of Technology , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and industrial contractors, and funded by the National Science Foundation .

Caltech /MIT Advanced aLigo

It was designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astronomy through the detection of gravitational waves predicted by general relativity. Gravitational waves were detected for the first time by the LIGO detector in 2015. For contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves, two Caltech physicists, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Rainer Weiss won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2017. Weiss, who is also a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, designed the laser interferometric technique, which served as the essential blueprint for the LIGO.

The mission of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the twenty-first century. We seek to develop in each member of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology community the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind.

From The University of Delaware : “Mechanical cures”

From The University of Delaware

1.4.23
Maddy Lauria
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson
Photo illustration by Joy Smoker

Sambeeta Das, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware, was recently awarded a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award program, which is part of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, to support student-driven groundbreaking research in her laboratory in the College of Engineering.

University of Delaware Professor Sambeeta Das earns $2 million NIH grant for research on microscale robotics.

Imagine a tiny robot, just a quarter of the width of a strand of hair, delicately maneuvering the vascular system to reach a potentially life-threatening blood clot. In a matter of minutes, the technology could reach its target and save someone’s life.

While this scenario might sound like something out of a science fiction novel, it’s just one of the fascinating types of research underway in the lab of Sambeeta Das, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware, who was recently awarded a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award program, which is part of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

The funding will not only support her team’s work creating these microrobots — which are typically smaller than a human cell — but also with using them for biological processes and working with “active matter,” which is essentially exploring how to embed the rudimentary intelligence of single-cell organisms into these robotic creations. The NIH program aims to help promising early-stage researchers pursue novel ideas through the grant funding.

Max Sokolich, now a graduate student who has been working in the Das lab since his junior year of undergraduate mechanical engineering studies at UD, said he’s had the chance to work on a broad swath of research involving microrobots, from simple efficiency projects to cancer-focused applications.

“My big focus is coming up with the actuation systems and control policies to manipulate these little robots,” he said, simplifying his work by explaining that he’s essentially figuring out different ways to move them around. While the medical application of microrobots isn’t necessarily new, the single-cell manipulation he’s working on is relatively novel.

One of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to control the robots individually rather than “globally.” For example, if there are several microrobots working on a task, they’re all driven by the same global signal — so they’d all move left or right as designed. How to make them separately move in different ways is a challenge.

“It’s such interdisciplinary work. It basically involves all the scientific disciplines, with aspects from biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, robotics,” Sokolich said. “I’ll never not learn something new. I’ll always be stimulated and thinking of cool ideas. I’m only really limited by my imagination.”

What the robots are doing could have important implications in future medical technologies, even if it all seems like science fiction and conjecture for now. For instance, those pesky trips to the dentist for a cleaning could one day be replaced by snowplow-like microrobots capable of removing plaque from teeth. Or they could help cells speed up the healing of a broken bone.

These researchers are also working on organoid development, linked to Das’ life goal of making organ donation as we know it today obsolete. Organoids are mini organs developed in a Petri dish, a predecessor to producing full-sized, working organs.

“Every year, we have 11,000 people who die waiting on the waiting list,” she said. “If you’re able to make fully functional organs, then we don’t have to worry about that any more. I want to have a world where we can make organs in a lab.”

Not only is the work being done in the Das lab on the forefront of future medical technologies, but she also strives to have students at all levels involved in the groundbreaking research — even those still in high school, like Tanmay Garudadri.

At just 13 years old, the Charter School of Wilmington student, who is now a junior, was able to dive feet first into his love of mechanical engineering after his first year of high school, thanks to Das’ willingness to have him help out in the lab.

“I just emailed Dr. Das one day, and she said sure,” Garudadri said. “It’s a really fun lab, and it was a really great opportunity.”

Garudadri worked with a graduate student in Das’ lab on data analysis and experiments related to surface tension — work that was included in a published scientific paper that was nominated for a robotics award. They utilized a computer program to measure the speed and distance of salt particles, fundamental research that would help inform delivery methods.

It was Garudadri’s first time working in a university lab, and it provided a lot of experience and knowledge about physics that helped in his high school classes the following year. After graduation, Garudadri plans to study mechanical engineering or computer science, possibly at UD. 

For senior mechanical engineering student Rocky Li, working with cells was a bit out of the norm. The first time he handled cancer cells, there was a mix of anxiety about the newness of the experience but also excitement at the prospect of the potential impact of the work. 

“I’m so glad I reached out to Dr. Das,” Li said. “She’s very encouraging with research, which I didn’t think I was going to get into. Coming in my freshman year, I was really intimidated about having to do research later on, even for some of the mechanical engineering classes. But now you can look back and see you’re leaps and bounds beyond what you thought you were capable of. Doing research with Dr. Das is just icing on the cake.”

Das joined the UD College of Engineering faculty in 2019, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down labs like hers in the spring of 2020, most of the work done has been completed in the last one and a half years, she said. Currently, she has five undergraduate students, three graduate students and three postdocs working in her lab.

From the high school level to postdoctoral candidates, all students have an opportunity to work in a very dynamic, productive lab, Das said.

“We can use these robots for drug delivery, tissue engineering and for making organoids,” she said. “We’re working on using them for applications like clot removal, bone repair and a variety of projects.”

The real-world impact of the work is precisely what Sudipta Mallick was looking for in a postdoc appointment. The India native joined the Das lab last June and will be working on UD’s campus through 2024, focusing on organoid engineering and microrobotics in biomedicine.

“Research was becoming monotonous for me since I was working in the nanomedicine field for the past 10 years. When I joined Dr. Das’ lab, I was thrilled to see engineering aspects of biology and possibilities that lie ahead in terms of biomedical applications,” she said. “There are hundreds of applications for microrobots, and I have so much fun working in the lab every day. There’s so much to learn, and since this is a comparatively less-explored field, we will always find new ideas and new applications to work on.”

See the full article here .

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five-ways-keep-your-child-safe-school-shootings

Please help promote STEM in your local schools.

Stem Education Coalition

The University of Delaware is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. University of Delaware (US) is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate’s programs, 148 bachelor’s programs, 121 master’s programs (with 13 joint degrees), and 55 doctoral programs across its eight colleges. The main campus is in Newark, with satellite campuses in Dover, the Wilmington area, Lewes, and Georgetown. It is considered a large institution with approximately 18,200 undergraduate and 4,200 graduate students. It is a privately governed university which receives public funding for being a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant state-supported research institution.

The University of Delaware is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity”. According to The National Science Foundation, UD spent $186 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 119th in the nation. It is recognized with the Community Engagement Classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The University of Delaware is one of only four schools in North America with a major in art conservation. In 1923, it was the first American university to offer a study-abroad program.

The University of Delaware traces its origins to a “Free School,” founded in New London, Pennsylvania in 1743. The school moved to Newark, Delaware by 1765, becoming the Newark Academy. The academy trustees secured a charter for Newark College in 1833 and the academy became part of the college, which changed its name to Delaware College in 1843. While it is not considered one of the colonial colleges because it was not a chartered institution of higher education during the colonial era, its original class of ten students included George Read, Thomas McKean, and James Smith, all three of whom went on to sign the Declaration of Independence. Read also later signed the United States Constitution.

Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus

On October 23, 2009, The University of Delaware signed an agreement with Chrysler to purchase a shuttered vehicle assembly plant adjacent to the university for $24.25 million as part of Chrysler’s bankruptcy restructuring plan. The university has developed the 272-acre (1.10 km^2) site into the Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. The site is the new home of University of Delaware (US)’s College of Health Sciences, which includes teaching and research laboratories and several public health clinics. The STAR Campus also includes research facilities for University of Delaware (US)’s vehicle-to-grid technology, as well as Delaware Technology Park, SevOne, CareNow, Independent Prosthetics and Orthotics, and the East Coast headquarters of Bloom Energy. In 2020 [needs an update], University of Delaware expects to open the Ammon Pinozzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center, which will become the new home of the UD-led National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals. Also, Chemours recently opened its global research and development facility, known as the Discovery Hub, on the STAR Campus in 2020. The new Newark Regional Transportation Center on the STAR Campus will serve passengers of Amtrak and regional rail.

Academics

The university is organized into nine colleges:

Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Earth, Ocean and Environment
College of Education and Human Development
College of Engineering
College of Health Sciences
Graduate College
Honors College

There are also five schools:

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration (part of the College of Arts & Sciences)
School of Education (part of the College of Education & Human Development)
School of Marine Science and Policy (part of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment)
School of Nursing (part of the College of Health Sciences)
School of Music (part of the College of Arts & Sciences)