genetics
May 29, 2022
Finishing the sequence
UW researchers are contributors to the groundbreaking work of the Human Genome Project.
October 13, 2020
Sweet science
Kennewick native Danielle Reed forages for genetic answers after her research finds that processed food is much too sweet for the average human tastebud.
November 24, 2019
Calling all dogs
A UW-led study is recruiting 10,000 canines and their companions for a study of dogs’ health as they age.
April 5, 2018
Genetic fortune telling
Thanks to services such as 23andMe, genetics has gone mainstream. But should you believe the hype?
March 13, 2018
Arno Motulsky (1923-2018)
The founder of the UW Division of Genetics in 1957 lived a life of twists and turns.
September 1, 2015
Relationships first
Genetic ethicist Wylie Burke keeps people in mind as she studies advances in medicine and public health.
June 1, 2014
Life guard
Art Levinson, the driving force behind several cancer-fighting drugs, is the 2014 Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus, the highest award bestowed upon UW alumni.
March 1, 2014
Genetic echo
Researchers led by Dr. John Stamatoyannopoulos have discovered a second code hiding within DNA. This second code contains information that changes how scientists read the instructions contained in DNA and interpret mutations to make sense of health and disease.
December 1, 2013
Immortal life
The cover of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks succinctly proclaims the book’s storyline: “Doctors took her cells without asking. Those cells never died. They launched a medical revolution and a multimillion-dollar industry. More than 20 years later, her children found out. Their lives would never be the same.”
June 1, 2013
Probing DNA
The University of Washington Adult Medical Genetics Clinic is not only well-established—both UW and Johns Hopkins started the first genetics programs in 1957—but is widely considered the best in the world.
March 1, 2013
Trisomy trials
Certain medical problems experienced by people with Down Syndrome may eventually be helped because of a research breakthrough at the UW.
December 1, 2012
More than 'junk'
For decades most scientists thought the bulk of the material in the human genome—up to 95 percent—was “junk DNA.” It now turns out much of this “junk” actually contains the vital instructions that switch genes on and off in all kinds of different cells.
June 1, 2012
Autism link
UW researchers were one of three teams of university scientists who found a link between autism spectrum disorder and mutations that occur spontaneously near or during conception.
September 1, 2011
Gene warfare
In the future, global-health experts may be able to cast a genetic net over mosquitoes to prevent them from spreading malaria to people.
March 1, 2010
Seeing red
Jay and Maureen Neitz, who joined the UW School of Medicine faculty in 2008, reported in the journal Nature that they had cured color-blindness in two squirrel monkeys using gene therapy.
September 1, 2009
Clues to autism
UW scientists contributed to two recent studies that are beginning to unlock the genetic underpinnings of autism and related disorders.
September 1, 2007
Genetics prize winner
According to the Gruber Foundation, the human genome would have been “an impossible jigsaw puzzle” without the work of UW Medicine and Genome Sciences Professor Maynard Olson.
Honoring a legend
The University will salute UW Genome Sciences and Biology Professor Benjamin Hall Oct. 17 when it dedicates its newest research facility in his honor.
March 1, 2003
Prize catch
A leader of the Human Genome Project joins the UW to help unlock further secrets to the code of life.
December 1, 2002
Breakthrough research
UW researchers announced a dramatic breakthrough—they were able to insert the missing gene into these defective mice and reverse the effects of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
September 1, 2002
Diabetes discovery
Discovery of a gene that plays a major role in type 1 diabetes in rats and is present in nearly identical form in humans might shed light on the little understood processes of the thymus, a research team including University of Washington scientists announced.
Genome chief
One of the world’s most notable genome scientists, Robert H. Waterston, will become chair of the new Department of Genome Sciences at the UW School of Medicine.
June 1, 2002
Kissing cousins OK
The genetic consequences of first cousins marrying each other are not as severe as commonly thought, say UW genetics experts.
December 1, 2001
Sound solution
UW scientists, with the aid of some bird brains, may have found an answer to hearing loss: bringing dead cells back to life.
September 1, 2001
Turning off TB
UW Pathobiology Professor David Sherman announced that he was able to interrupt the function of a TB gene that allows the bacterium to go dormant.
Code control
Scientists may be solving the mystery of the human genome, but the debate is getting hotter over profit motives and the rights to the human blueprint.
March 1, 2000
Gene expert departs
Leroy Hood, chair of the Department of Molecular Biotechnology, announced he is leaving the UW to form the Institute for Systems Biology.
March 1, 1998
Deafness gene
UW Postdoctoral Fellow Eric D. Lynch successfully cloned a gene which, when mutated, causes an inherited form of deafness.
September 1, 1996
Genes unlock the mysteries of the immune system
Scientists have uncovered some powerful and surprising information about the human immune system.
Cancer detective
After discovering the gene linked to breast cancer, Mary-Claire King now is on the hunt for ways to combat the disease.
June 1, 1996
New hope for ways to reverse breast and ovarian cancers
Biologists have found the first direct evidence suggesting that the gene known to cause hereditary forms of breast and ovarian cancers can also halt—and in some cases reverse—both diseases.
December 1, 1995
‘Super mice’ illustrate the power of genetic engineering
Scientists using technology discovered at the UW and other research universities are inserting bits of DNA from a person into a pig or a mouse.
March 1, 1995
Hope against Alzheimer's
Almost half of all Americans over 85 have Alzheimer's, but hope is on the horizon as UW research begins to break its secrets.
December 1, 1992
UW lures Leroy Hood to help break the human genetic code
In a 15-year, $3-billion project, scientists are trying to map the chemical sequence of every gene in the human being, what they call the human genome.
September 1, 1990
Campaign gains
Recent grants to the UW from IBM and the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust brought the Campaign for Washington to $166.7 million as of June 30.
June 1, 1990
Why me, doc?
The University of Washington is home to the nation’s first concentrated research effort in the budding field of ecogenetics.