Research & Innovation

UW-Madison’s medical physics program is one of the best in the country and has allowed the UWCCC to be at the forefront of combining expanding technology of imaging with innovative therapies for cancer.

The UW-Madison School of Pharmacy is home to a number of outstanding professors, and one of them is Glen Kwon. Dr. Kwon is the Jens T. Carstensen Distinguished Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences, funded by philanthropists Mahendra and Jayshree Patel. It brings to the UW a brilliant mind for science with strong business leadership. More simply put, he knows… Read more »

Today’s smartphones and tablets provide consumers unparalleled mobile computing capability. Yet, these and many other technologies are critically dependent on sophisticated new materials that can solve challenges in areas ranging from clean energy and national security to human health and well-being. And currently, a new material’s journey from discovery to commercial product typically takes as… Read more »

A study conducted by the UW-Madison Center for Healthy Minds (CHM) to promote social, emotional and academic skills has found that prekindergarten students who learned their mindfulness ABCs—attention, breath and body, and caring practice—earned higher marks in academic performance measures. Known as the Kindness Curriculum, the study was designed to teach children to be more… Read more »

Scientists at UW-Madison have constructed a highly detailed three-dimensional model of the recently discovered rhinovirus C, which shows why there’s no remedy for an all-too-prevalent virus. Called the “missing link” cold virus, rhinovirus C is believed to be responsible for up to half of all childhood colds.

John Hawks is a star in the field of paleoanthropology. The recent discovery of Homo naledi and subsequent publications about the find have raised the profile of this dynamic thinker and researcher. The Homo naledi find brought together scientists for what was one of the most exciting, challenging, and groundbreaking excavations in the history of… Read more »

Due to the overuse of antibiotics in humans and livestock, multi-drug resistant pathogens, or superbugs, are on the rise. Now medical teams are running out of antibiotics that work, and researchers are racing to find new treatments that are both effective and safe for use.

Researchers at UW-Madison are changing the way we look at bioproducts. “We’re trying to make very high-value commodity chemicals from biomass that can be used to make different kinds of plastics and plasticizers,” says George W. Huber, the Harvey D. Spangler Professor in chemical and biological engineering. “So many people have been focusing on fuels,… Read more »

Cancers are typically classified based on their tissue of origin, and that determines treatment plans. Although that practice is unlikely to end anytime soon, tumor classifications based on genetics are gaining traction and could lead to more effective, personalized treatments for patients. “In recent years, we have recognized that even within one organ type of… Read more »

The one-cylinder test engine in a UW-Madison research lab is connected to a life-support system of pipes, tubes, ducts, and cables. You might think the engine resembles a patient in intensive care, but in this case, the patient is not sick. Instead, the elaborate monitoring system shows the engine can convert 59.5 percent of the… Read more »

School of Human Ecology professor Christine Whelan, who has taught on everything from gender and marriage to social change, has turned her sights to the pursuit of happiness. What she’s uncovered has become the basis for one of the most talked-about classes on campus, Consuming Happiness. “Spending money to maximize happiness is the basis for… Read more »

Thanks to a $200,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Professor Wu has been able to test and implement pilot systems in Port Washington and Milwaukee in Wisconsin, and in Duluth, Minnesota. Using the systems he has developed, the programs will be able to better protect the swimmers and economies that rely on the Great Lakes.

They are one of the most influential federal agencies working in the U.S. healthcare industry—and they wanted to know what Dr. Amy Kind’s research had uncovered. So, naturally, she and her colleagues headed to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to present findings and answer questions.

A team of UW-Madison engineers is creating new, more robust decision-support software that could help prevent a frequent, potentially fatal blood-clotting condition in hospitalized patients. The work is to help prevent and manage venous thromboembolism (VTE). VTE occurs when a blood clot in a vein breaks free and travels in the blood, sometimes making its… Read more »

A celebrated environmental historian, Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies Professor William Cronon is inspiring new generations of conservationists.

As the world’s population grows, genetic engineering plays an increasingly important role in helping meet our need for crops. Since genetically engineered crops have laboratory-inserted defenses against disease and pests, they are a frequently misunderstood segment of food production. And that’s where agronomy professor Joe Lauer steps in to make a difference. For the past… Read more »

As the world’s population grows, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) play an increasingly important role in helping meet our demand for fresh fruits and vegetables. Since they have laboratory manufactured built-in defenses against disease and pests, they are a frequently misunderstood segment of food production.

By decoding cosmic neutrinos and their origins, UW-Madison researchers are seeking to expand our fundamental knowledge of the universe. Their work will spur astrophysics—and science as a whole—forward.

For almost 60 years, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) has closely followed the life course of roughly a third of Wisconsin high school graduates from the class of 1957. Subjects of the project known as the “Happy Days Study” — one of the most consistent, comprehensive, and expansive studies of aging and health in America — have… Read more »

Farmers in every nation are already struggling to solve problems of animal health and welfare, drought, high temperatures, and many more issues that put our nation and the world at risk for food scarcity. The Dairyland Initiative and other agricultural practices that have their roots in Wisconsin will play a vital role in how we continue to feed people at home and across the globe.

What’s good medicine for animals often turns out to be good for humans as well. This is something that the UW School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) has been demonstrating for a long time. And right now, SVM faculty and scientists are working on therapies and products that will reshape how we treat a number of… Read more »

For many kids, the school nurse may be the only healthcare professional they see consistently. And the challenges many school nurses face are familiar to medical professionals everywhere: too little time, too few resources, and not enough opportunities for collaboration with peers.

Many of Helen Louise Allen’s students have a picture in their minds of their teacher sitting at a loom, her skilled hands creating — seemingly out of nothing — extraordinary textiles. But there was a side of the delightfully eccentric woman that few of her students ever saw: the hunter. Allen traveled the earth, scouring… Read more »

Brain injuries may be the worst long-term danger that athletes face, but many players don’t report them. Now a multidisciplinary team of University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers is working to change that by studying the most effective ways to teach athletes and young adults about the importance of reporting when they have suffered a concussion. “What… Read more »

Early is the answer. If the question is how to solve Wisconsin’s achievement gap — the difference in poverty rates between its black and white citizens — then the answer is to act early. Wisconsin ranks 49th in the nation in the severity of its achievement gap, and the UW’s School of Human Ecology (SoHE) understands that… Read more »

In the field of manufacturing, very often the brains behind creative new concepts find themselves at odds with the operators of the machines that must produce the finished object. In the 1980s, “design for manufacturability” emerged, a new paradigm in which engineers sought to educate designers about manufacturing processes. However, this new approach had the… Read more »

It’s a simple question with a complex answer: How do plants know when to flower? Thanks to biochemistry professor Rick Amasino, we now know a lot more about the genes and environmental variables—for example, changes in temperature or length of day—governing that process, as well as how to control it. Amasino and his team also… Read more »

On August 30, 2015, scholars from across campus as well as across the Atlantic had a hand in “Out of the Shadows: Rediscovering Jewish Music, Literature and Theater,” part of the Performing the Jewish Archive project. The project was part of a larger international research project led by the University of Leeds in England. Campus… Read more »

With support from the New Frontier Science (NFS) group of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., UW-Madison engineers are conducting innovative research that could open new avenues for treating such diseases as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and others. NFS collaborates with external researchers in an effort to advance innovative technologies and integrate them into future medicines. “There are… Read more »

While the journey from seed to plate may be unfamiliar to us, that doesn’t mean that it happens by accident. Behind the scenes, scores of people work tirelessly to make sure that our food makes it safely to our pantries, and to ensure that future generations will always have plenty to eat.

Infectious diseases are as unpredictable as they are terrifying. And in an increasingly interconnected world, the potential for a global outbreak is immense. Researchers at UW-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine are seeking innovative ways to stay a step ahead of the next pandemic.

Having grown up together in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, UW–Madison students Katie Piel and Natalie Hogan were well aware of food-security issues throughout their hometown, but it wasn’t until college that they learned how they could address these problems. Piel, an environmental studies and communication arts double major, was taking notes in a lecture on… Read more »

Developing invisible implantable medical sensor arrays, a team of UW-Madison engineers has overcome a major technological hurdle in researchers’ efforts to understand the brain. The team described its technology, which has applications in fields ranging from neuro-science to cardiac care and even contact lenses, in the journal Nature Communications. Neural researchers study, monitor, or stimulate… Read more »

Exonerating the innocent and making right where the justice system has failed: that is what students and faculty in the Wisconsin Innocence Project fight for every day.

There are over 27 million people in the U.S. living with chronic kidney disease, but only about 5,000 nephrologists nationwide, placing limitations on the number of individual medical appointments that can be made.

The experiment started with a classroom discussion about consumer persuasion. Students in Professor Evan Polman’s marketing course were curious about how business interaction can elicit changes in consumer’s behavior, and Professor Polman wanted to craft a real-world example.

Some of the most important members of Wisconsin’s police departments walk on four legs. Canine — or “K9” — cops perform crowd control, sniff out drugs and bombs, track suspects and missing persons, and help with community outreach. But police animals need all the same care that private-citizen animals do, and that care has to… Read more »

Due to their innovative approach to targeting cancer cells without harming healthy tissue, Dr. Sondel and his team have been asked to join the pediatric oncology “Dream Team” by Stand Up to Cancer, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Representing unique collaborations across multiple disciplines, this alliance of 7 research groups is the only pediatric cancer Dream Team in North America.

Nancy Wong, professor of consumer science in the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology, designed an energy-tracking app to make reducing day-to-day energy usage more accessible. Drawing on parallels between food consumption and energy use, Wong’s team designed “My Earth – Track Your Carbon Savings” with approaches used in food-tracking apps that help users catalog their… Read more »

Getting Us from Here to There The College of Engineering drives improvements in many areas of transportation, including safety, automobile performance, and environmental impact, among many others. Here are a few recent developments. Mapping Wisconsin traffic deaths A new interactive map developed in partnership with the Madison news website Channel3000.com gives Wisconsinites a view of… Read more »

What if a smartphone could help people struggling with addiction stay sober? A team led by David Gustafson, a UW-Madison professor of industrial and systems engineering, has developed the Addiction-Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (A-CHESS), which provides personalized support to people recovering from alcoholism.

In 2016, the University of Wisconsin–Madison was awarded a UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing, and a Culture of Peace: a first in the state of Wisconsin and a first for the university in any area. It creates a global platform for the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and for the campus wide 4W (Women… Read more »