Gov. Inslee Hosts Round Table With College Students at ISB
systemsbiology.org/news/2015/03/16/gov-inslee-hosts-round-table-with-college-students-at-isb/
Gov. Jay Inslee hosted a round table discussion today at Institute for Systems Biology with a group of invited college students, who were asked to share their thoughts on the affordability of education. We were honored to be able to provide the venue. ISB has had a long history of supporting systemic change at the K-12 school district level to improve the quality and access of STEM education. Now, our education staff are working with community colleges in Washington State to consider how STEM-related courses might be revised to better reflect contemporary issues and needs to better prepare students for the job market. Learn more about ISB’s work through our Logan Center for Education and the Baliga Lab’s systems education program here.
ISB’s SVP and Director Dr. Nitin Baliga welcomes Gov. Inslee. Institute for Systems Biology/March 16, 2015
Dana Riley Black, Director for ISB’s Logan Center for Education, greets Gov. Inslee before his round table discussion with area college students about affordability. March 16, 2015
Gov. Inslee meets college students who are attending the Governor’s round table discussion. Institute for Systems Biology/March 16, 2015
Dr. Nitin Baliga, ISB’s SVP and Director, welcomes the group and provides a brief history of the Institute. Institute for Systems Biology/March 16, 2015
Dr. Nitin Baliga, ISB’s SVP and Director, explains to Gov. Inslee, pictured right, about how ISB pioneered the systems approach and how it can be applied to human health, wellness, and environmental sustainability. Institute for Systems Biology/March 16, 2015
Dr. Nitin Baliga, ISB’s SVP and Director, explains to Gov. Inslee and invited guests about how ISB pioneered the systems approach and how it can be applied to human health, wellness, and environmental sustainability. At left, a cameraman from KIRO TV filmed the meeting. Institute for Systems Biology/March 16, 2015
Dr. Nitin Baliga, ISB’s SVP and Director, explains to Gov. Inslee and invited guests about how ISB pioneered the systems approach and how it can be applied to human health, wellness, and environmental sustainability. As well, Dr. Baliga emphasized ISB’s history in supporting STEM education at K-12 and college levels. Institute for Systems Biology/March 16, 2015
Related Articles
-
ISB’s Mónica Orellana, Nyasha Chambwe Honored With Inaugural Education Recognition Awards
At ISB, many of our scientists and STEM professionals give their time and expertise and make profound impacts on our educational programs. Two of our researchers — Dr. Mónica Orellana and Dr. Nyasha Chambwe — were honored with inaugural Education Recognition Awards for their devotion to providing quality STEM education.
Read More -
New Study May Provide Knowledge for Increased Biofuel Production from Unicellular Algae
With potential ramifications for increasing biofuel production from unicellular algae, ISB’s Drs. Mónica Orellana and Nitin Baliga, along with colleagues from the University of the Witwatersrand, used the chlorophyte algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to demonstrate the cell’s metabolic and physiological changes of lipid accumulation that occurs during nitrogen depletion.
Read More -
Profiling Pathogen Gene Expression from Infected Host Cells
Researchers at ISB reported a novel method, Path-seq, to profile expression of all MTB genes within infected mice. This study presents the most comprehensive transcriptome profiling of MTB from in vivo infection and a major technical advancement for studying any host-pathogen interaction.
Read More
-
Biology Classes ‘Come Alive’ After Teacher’s Summer with ISB
Kyle Kinzler, a high school biology teacher from Portland, Oregon, spent part of last summer at Institute for Systems Biology to evolve his curriculum and learn new ways to teach relevant, compelling and innovative content to his students. As a result, he says his classes has “come alive.”
Read More -
Spotlight on Amy Zamora, ISB Systems Research Scholar
Amy Zamora joined ISB in August as a Systems Research Scholar. The Systems Research Scholars Program provides recent college undergraduates a springboard to become the next generation’s pioneers of interdisciplinary scientific research. In this Q&A, Zamora describes her experiences at ISB, research interests, future aspirations, and much more.
Read More -
27 Gift Ideas for the Scientist in Your Life
Do you have a science geek on your holiday shopping list? Whether your scientist is young or old, professional or amateur, or serious or silly, we’ve collected a couple dozen gift ideas that will help you spread some cheer.
Read More
-
Valerie Logan Luncheon Honors ‘Elevating K-12 STEM Education’
The seventh annual Valerie Logan Luncheon was held November 8, 2018, and celebrated the mission of the ISB Education team to engage entire school systems — from principals and administrators to teachers and students — to ensure all students are STEM literate. The theme of the event was “Elevating K-12 STEM Education.”
Read More -
Dr. Kyle Kinoshita Accepts Valerie Logan Leadership in Science Education Award
Dr. Kyle Kinoshita was honored with the Valerie Logan Leadership in Science Education Award at ISB’s Valerie Logan Luncheon. This award is presented to community leaders who are committed to an educational practice grounded in research, who build educational networks, and who share ISB’s bold vision that all children should have the opportunity to learn science.
Read More -
ISB’s Innovator Award Program rewards high-risk, cross-disciplinary research projects
The Innovator Award Program at Institute for Systems Biology is an annual internal initiative started in 2017 that aims to stimulate creativity, innovation and collaboration within ISB, to provide funding support for high-risk, high-reward projects, and to develop new technologies and discoveries that will impact the entire research organization.
Read More
-
ISB develops stress test to predict how diatoms will react to ocean acidification
In a study published in Nature Communications and with implications for understanding effects of climate change, ISB researchers show microscopic phytoplankton are more resilient in an acidified environment.
Read More -
ISB’s Dr. Eliza Peterson Earns TB Junior Investigator Award
Dr. Eliza Peterson, a senior research scientist who studies tuberculosis (TB) in the Institute for Systems Biology’s Baliga Lab, has been recognized by the University of Washington’s Tuberculosis Research and Training Center with a TB Junior Investigator Award.
Read More -
‘Fantastic Opportunity:’ ISB’s Scholars Program Offers Transformational Experience for Ambitious College Grads
ISB’s Systems Research Scholars Program (SRSP) is a two-year, fully funded training program for recent college graduates, and is designed to help transform exceptionally talented and ambitions post-baccalaureate students into the next generation’s pioneers of interdisciplinary research.
Read More
-
Bench to Blackboard: Q&A with Dr. Colleen Sheridan
Once an immunologist focusing on research at ISB, Colleen Sheridan followed her passion and became a tenure-track college biology professor focusing on teaching. Sheridan was awarded the Valerie Logan Leadership in Science Education Award, and describes her professional transformation in this Q&A.
Read More -
Igniting Curiosity, Catalyzing Change
At the 6th Annual Valerie Logan Luncheon held Thursday, the day’s theme – “Igniting Curiosity, Catalyzing Change” – was evident throughout. Every year, ISB celebrates Valerie Logan, the founder of our education programs, and all her work toward providing K-16 professional development for educators, high school STEM curriculum development, undergraduate research internships, and, crucially, student access to diverse mentors. This year’s event raised a record $140,000 to fund ISB’s education programs.
Read More -
ISB, Providence St. Joseph Health Launch Translational Research Fellows Program
ISB and Providence St. Joseph Health are leveraging their respective research and clinical expertise to attract exceptional individuals into the Translational Research Fellows Program, a three-year training program that offers early-stage scientists a chance to jumpstart their careers and provides mentorship from experts in systems biology and clinical research.
Read More
-
2017 Undergrad Intern Showcase
Summer 2017 brought a fresh cohort of undergraduate students interested in exploring ISB’s research in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program.
Read More -
New Study on How Microbes Learn to Predict the Future
In a study published in Genome Biology and Evolution, researchers at Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) designed an experiment to evolve novel adaptive prediction capability in yeast by repetitively exposing it to caffeine, followed by a toxin. Remarkably, the yeast cells learned the structure of this novel environmental pattern within as few as 50 generations to use caffeine as a cue for anticipating and mitigating lethal effects of the toxin.
Read More -
Inspiring Teachers to Inspire Students
Featured image: ISB’s Dr. Martin Shelton, left, speaks to administrators from the Central Kitsap School District. ISB’s Logan Center for Education recently kicked off a five-year Principles of Science for Principals (P4P) project with the leadership from the Central Kitsap School District. While many programs and accompanying research have been employed to support science teachers in advancing their practice, there have been few programs designed to support principals and their…
Read More
-
Spotlight: Ayodale Braimah, Undergraduate Intern
Congratulations to Ayodale Braimah, an undergraduate intern in the Baliga Lab, who has just been accepted into the medical school at the University of Kansas. Ayodale has been studying microbiology at the University of Washington and sought a position in the Baliga Lab in order to immerse himself in an authentic research experience in microbiology and molecular biology. He specifically wanted to better understand how organisms adapt to new environments….
Read More -
Spotlight: Claudia Ludwig
Congratulations to Claudia Ludwig, Director, Systems Education Experiences (SEE), on being named the winner of the 2017 AWIS Award for Excellence in Science Outreach from the Seattle Chapter of Association for Women in Science (AWIS). Claudia, a former high school biology and chemistry teacher, is the Director of Systems Education Experiences at ISB, a program that she has been instrumental in building since she joined ISB in 2004. Because of…
Read More -
ISB Scientists Have Discovered When and Why a Microbial Community Might Collapse
Researchers in the Baliga Lab at Institute for Systems Biology have developed a framework for assessing the “health” of a microbial community through a stress test that enables them to ask when and why microbial communities collapse under different environmental conditions. The study, published on March 20, 2017, in the journal Molecular Systems Biology, determined that while microbes are equipped to respond to environmental changes, when pushed to the extreme…
Read More
-
K12 Engineering Scholars Program Seeks Applicants
The UW College of Engineering and ISB’s Logan Center for Education are excited to announce a second year of the K12 Engineering Scholars Program. The program seeks 4th-8th grade teachers of STEM to apply for a summer program. Participating teachers will spend the summer participating in engineering research and collaborating to build curricular resources for their schools and students. Additionally, participating teacher will receive generous stipends to fund the creation…
Read More -
New Baliga Article: ‘The Promise of Systems Biology’
ISB Director and SVP Dr. Nitin Baliga contributed an article to the Missoulian Newspaper that explains the power of the systems biology approach to research. Read the full article… “Biology is complex. The need to understand this complexity drives advancements in technologies that are required to measure properties of all of the constituent parts and to understand how they interact with one another. The application of those technologies generates large…
Read More -
ISB High School Intern Gives TEDx Talk
Radhika Dalal, a student at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, presented a talk at TEDxSnoIsleLibraries on Nov. 18. She also participated in a summer internship at ISB to learn how to become a student ambassador for Project Feed 1010, a Baliga Lab research initiative that aims to make scientific breakthroughs for scaling up sustainable agriculture as well as developing and implementing associated STEM curriculum in high schools across the United…
Read More
-
Earth To Dinner Rallies ISB Community Around Climate Action
It started with a call to action: On Dec. 12, the first anniversary of the Paris Agreement, gather around the dinner table with friends and other community members to discuss climate action. Organizers from GOOD Magazine and the Earth To Coalition hoped that this grassroots movement, given the incoming administration, would inspire people to keep climate action at the top of minds. ISB answered the call and decided to host…
Read More -
Best Ever Valerie Logan Lunch: $120K Raised
The 5th Annual Valerie Logan Luncheon, which took place on Nov. 29, was our most successful yet, having raised $120,000 for ISB’s education programs. There were a few tear-jerker moments, including when Lee Hood interviewed some students: Sara Michelassi, who will graduate next spring with her high school diploma AND her AA in science from North Seattle College, said that she’s always dreamed of working in a lab, “but I…
Read More -
Logan Center for Education Hosts NGSS Workshop for Principals
ISB’s Logan Center for Education hosted a workshop on Next Generation Science Standards for principals from Puget Sound area schools. Kim Klinke, of the Logan Center, is also a LASER Alliance Director. She led the workshop, which gave principals an opportunity to learn about NGSS and “3-D teaching.”
Read More
-
#EarthToDinner Event To Support Climate Action
Earth To Dinner: In December 2015, 195 global leaders came together to adopt the historic Paris Agreement – the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement. GOOD, in partnership with the #EarthTo coalition (100+ partners strong), has created the #EarthToDinner (earthtodinner.org) climate conversation dinner series to keep climate action on the table. Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is hosting dinner for 50 at its labs in the South Lake Union neighborhood of…
Read More -
Project Feed 1010 High School Interns Launch Video
High school students Linnea Stavney and Ivan Esmeral produced this awesome documentary about their summer internship in our Baliga Lab, where they helped to oversee work related to Project Feed 1010.
Read More -
‘Invisible Forest’ Curriculum
By Claudia Ludwig Baliga Lab Education Program Manager The past nine days have been exciting for the Baliga Lab. Dr. Anne Thompson and I have been working with eight teachers to begin the process of translating Anne’s oceanography research on the Invisible Forest into curriculum that offers a hands-on, engaging experience for high school students. The group developed the framework and drafted lessons that will be field tested this year….
Read More
-
New Baliga Lab Publication in Cell Systems
The Baliga Lab’s Dr. Christopher Plaisier was the lead author of the study “Causal Mechanistic Regulatory Network for Glioblastoma Deciphered Using Systems Genetics Network Analysis” which published online in Cell Systems on July 14. Dr. Plaisier wrote a summary of the research: 3 Bullets: Using data from TCGA and ENCODE, ISB researchers developed integrative database and analysis platforms that provide insight about the underpinnings of glioblastoma multiforme. Researchers developed a…
Read More -
NIH Research Matters Features ISB’s MTB Paper
NIH Research Matters published an article on our tuberculosis paper. “The incredibly large number of possible drug combinations taken together with the difficulty of growing Mtb in the laboratory make discovery of effective combination therapy extremely challenging,” Dr. Nitin Baliga says. “We hope that our systems-based strategy will accelerate TB drug discovery by helping researchers prioritize combinations that are more likely to be effective.” READ THE ARTICLE
Read More -
Exploring the Invisible Forest
Gallery above: Dr. Anne Thompson and research assistant Allison Lee traveled to Station ALOHA in Hawaii on a research cruise to collect water samples and various species of organisms. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. OCE-1558924. What’s the “invisible forest” and what does it have to do with environmental research? Dr. Anne Thompson who was in the Baliga Lab at…
Read More
-
Baliga Lab: New Publication in ‘Nature Microbiology’
The Baliga Lab and colleagues at Center for Infectious Disease Research published (online in advance of print) this landmark study today in the journal Nature Microbiology: Seattle researchers created a genetic blueprint of the cunning tuberculosis bacteria, then used it to predict and rank potential drug targets 3 Bullets: Researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology and Center for Infectious Disease Research have deciphered how the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis…
Read More -
Project Feed 1010 Joins UW Earth Day Event
Our team from Project Feed 1010 participated in the University of Washington’s Earth Day events on April 22, which took place on Red Square. Our researchers shared their work in aquaponics. Read more about Project Feed 1010 work.
Read More -
Logan Center Hosts Community College Faculty
The Logan Center for Education has been working with Washington State’s Board for Community and Technical Colleges to offer faculty development for instructors of undergraduate biology. The participants represent nearly all of Washington State’s 34 community and technical colleges. The April 22 workshop is the sixth for this group.
Read More
-
Advancing Sustainable Agriculture
ISB’s Project Feed 1010 is building a global, crowd-sourced network of educators, students, researchers and farmers to optimize and scale-up sustainable agriculture practices and educate the future scientific workforce. To support this global network, we have partnered with Northeastern University to develop database, web and mobile infrastructures with functionalities for data tracking, monitoring, analytics and predictive modeling. More than 20 graduate-level computer science students enrolled in an interactive course have…
Read More -
Project Feed 1010 Partners with Northeastern University to Advance Sustainable Agriculture
ISB’s Project Feed 1010 is building a global, crowd-sourced network of educators, students, researchers and farmers to optimize and scale-up sustainable agriculture practices and educate the future scientific workforce. To support this global network, we have partnered with Northeastern University to develop database, web and mobile infrastructures with functionalities for data tracking, monitoring, analytics and predictive modeling. For the next 10 weeks, more than 20 graduate-level computer science students will…
Read More -
Learning From Microalgae as ‘Biofactories’
In a newly published research, members of the Baliga and Price labs share discoveries from their studies of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii – Chlamy for short. Excerpt: To the casual observer, algae may appear to be a nuisance. But for researchers, photosynthetic microalgae and other microbes have the potential to become sustainable biofactories that can economically produce renewable biofuels and a wide variety of other valuable commodities. One such group of microalgae…
Read More
-
College Faculty Learn Big Data from ISB
Recognizing that systems biology has fostered a paradigm shift in the practice of biology, ISB has interest in supporting educators in advancing science-related course offerings to better reflect contemporary practices of biology. With leadership from ISB’s Logan Center for Education, ISB educators and scientists have collaborated with Washington’s State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to offer faculty development for instructors of undergraduate biology. The partnership has hosted five workshops,…
Read More -
ISB Q&A: Nina Arens and Pop-Up Science
Q: What is your role? A: I am a Research Associate for the Baliga Lab, where I perform genome-wide experiments that feed into the complex, predictive software tools that we create here. One project I work on investigates how microbial communities respond to stressful environmental changes over time. It is challenging research: my model organism—Desulfovibrio vulgaris—is hard to grow at the bench. Desulfovibrio is anaerobic; it likes to grow in…
Read More -
Logan Lunch Raises $88K for STEM Education, Teacher Development
*Editor’s note: After the final tally, the total raised was more than $92,000.* The 4th Annual Valerie Logan Luncheon took place on Nov. 4 and raised more than $88,000 to support ISB’s Logan Center for Education. The fundraiser showcases how the Logan Center continues to revolutionize science education by inspiring and engaging teachers and stakeholders to create learning environments that impact the pipeline of students from early grades through college….
Read More
-
Xconomy Seattle 2035
Attend Xconomy’s Seattle 2035 on Oct. 30 at ISB’s event space (401 Terry Ave. N., Room 106). This conference, co-hosted by Northeastern University, highlights the next 20 years and beyond to explore long-term prospects of the local high-tech economy and what we can do to keep Seattle a city of the future. ISB President Dr. Lee Hood and ISB SVP and Director Dr. Nitin Baliga are featured speakers. The event…
Read More -
Sustainable Agriculture: Project Feed 1010 Launches
ISB is crowdfunding for the first time. We are raising money to support high school science teachers and their students to become citizen scientists for Project Feed 1010, our new study that aims to optimize aquaponics and that will impact #STEM education. Watch our video: https://www.crowdrise.com/ProjectFeed101024forScience #24forScience
Read More -
Genetic Switch May Help Marine Microalgae Respond to Higher CO2 Levels
3 Bullets Rapid climate change, including ocean acidification caused by increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, is predicted to affect the oceans, sea life, and the global carbon cycle. Marine microalgae, including diatoms, are responsible for converting CO2 into oxygen and biologically usable carbon through photosynthesis. How these organisms will respond over the short and long term to rising CO2 is unknown. Growth experiments and transcriptomic analyses performed by UW and…
Read More
-
Monica Orellana Promoted to Principal Scientist
In her 11 years as a senior scientist in the Baliga lab at ISB, Monica has successfully developed a rigorous program on marine and oceanographic systems, and has been a pioneer in transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries and transferring systems methodology developed at ISB to explorecomplex oceanographic problems of global importance. Her highly collaborative and cross-disciplinary work involves laboratory and field studies that integrate physiological, molecular and physical-chemical approaches to understand…
Read More -
ISB Q&A: On the Systems Biology Summer Course
From our inception, we at ISB have been committed to knowledge transfer. This profound sense of responsibility to share what we learn serves as the foundation for our signature professional course on systems biology. This year’s course, which takes place July 27-31 in ISB’s conference facility, will offer a few new features, including lightning talks about systems biology technologies and a mini symposium consisting of research vignettes from nine ISB…
Read More -
Bio-Fiction Recap
On May 7, ISB hosted the first-ever screening of BIO·FICTION in North America. More than 120 people attended the event, which took place as part of the South Lake Union Art Walk. BIO·FICTION explores the emerging field of synthetic biology from different disciplinary angles including science and engineering, social science, cultural studies, amateur biology, filmmaking, art and design. The original program had presentations, panel discussions, do-it-yourself biology demos, performances, art…
Read More
-
New $500K OSPI Award Aids ISB’s Work with Marysville School District
Above: Dr. Dana Riley Black, Director for ISB’s Logan Center for Education, speaks to educators about how her team and other ISB researchers work with school districts. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Marysville School District Scores $500,000 OSPI Funding for Science & Engineering Workshops for Teachers 3-Year Award Supports Partnership with ISB & UW Engineering to Provide Professional Development for District SEATTLE, May 1, 2015 – The Office of Superintendent of Public…
Read More -
ISB’s Impact on College Science Courses
By Dana Riley Black Director for Logan Center for Education Recognizing that systems biology has fostered a paradigm shift in the practice of biology, ISB has interest in supporting educators in advancing science-related course offerings to better reflect contemporary practices of biology. With leadership from ISB’s Logan Center for Education, ISB educators and scientists have collaborated with Washington’s State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to offer faculty development for…
Read More -
ISB Q&A: High School Science Teachers
From left to right: High school teachers Tami Caraballo and Jennifer Duncan-Taylor work with ISB’s Claudia Ludwig, Baliga Lab Education Program Manager, to learn about ocean acidification, cancer cells, and biofuel. Through the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust’s Partners in Science program, ISB has been able to host two high school science teachers in the Baliga Lab to participate in active research projects. The experience offers teachers valuable insight that textbooks…
Read More
-
The Most Powerful Tool for Reconstructing a Gene Network
Scanning EM of bacteria being eaten by white blood cell Photo Credit: Adrian Ozinsky 3 Bullets: Nearly a decade ago, ISB’s Baliga Lab published a landmark paper describing cMonkey, an innovative method to accurately map gene networks within any organism from microbes to humans. Two new papers describe the benchmark results of cMonkey and also the release of cMonkey2, which performs with higher accuracy. Using this approach, genetic and molecular…
Read More -
Baliga Lab: A Global Map To Fight Tuberculosis
3 Bullets: The disease progression of tuberculosis is extremely complex and it’s poorly understood. ISB and Seattle BioMed researchers have made an important step by developing a comprehensive map of gene regulation in tuberculosis. A resulting open-access web portal offers any scientist the ability to mine the collected data. By ISBUSA Tuberculosis (TB) remains a top global health threat due to its remarkable complexity in disease progression. To help understand…
Read More -
The Women of ISB: Phyliss Lee, Software Engineer
Name: Phyliss Lee Lab: Shmulevich Research: I help create websites and pages for the Cancer Genomics Cloud Pilot Project. The tools that I’m building will not only help scientists gather petabytes of cancer genomic data faster, but will also help them run analyses and visualize the data graphically. What I’m building has the potential to reach millions of people. Working at ISB: What I like about being in science is…
Read More
-
Dr. Lee Hood Signs Code.org Support Letter for WA House Bill 1813
Local business, tech and education leaders – including ISB President Dr. Lee Hood – signed a letter of support for House Bill 1813. From the recent Geekwire.com article: “The letter, sent by Code.org and Washington STEM today to leadership in the state House of Representatives, calls on legislators to support passing and funding House Bill 1813, which establishes a grant program with a private match requirement to both train educators in,…
Read More -
Register Now: ISB’s International Symposium
14th Annual International Symposium April 6 and 7, 2015 Institute for Systems Biology The Institute for Systems Biology’s Annual International Symposium, since its inception in 2002, has become a bellwether of new systems approaches across disciplines in the life sciences. The theme for 2015 is “Tipping Points in Medicine & Ecology” which is aligned with ISB’s focus on personalized medicine and environmental sustainability. The principles of critical phase transitions, early…
Read More -
Researchers Find Key Protein Tied to Production of ‘Good’ Cholesterol
3 Bullets: Inflammation causes cholesterol buildup and leads to cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the world ISB, Seattle Biomed, and Oregon State University researchers collaborate to identify a compendium of proteins that control expression of a key regulator of cholesterol efflux Targeting cholesterol efflux to HDL is a potentially important therapeutic strategy for preventing and treating cardiovascular disease By Dr. Mark Gillespie Cells of the immune system,…
Read More
-
Baliga Lab: ‘The Universe Under a Microscope’
This is an excerpt from Environmental Microbiology Reports, 2015, authored by Arjun Raman, a postdoc in the Baliga Lab here at Institute for Systems Biology. The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together. Information distilled over four billion years of biological evolution. Incidentally, all the organisms on the Earth are made essentially of that stuff. An…
Read More -
ISB Q&A: High School Intern Alex Kuo
Alex Kuo was a high school intern during summer 2014. She reflected on her ISB experience: Q: What were your first impressions of ISB? Alex: ISB is a pivotal force in Seattle’s scientific community, especially when it comes to collaboration across multiple disciplines. Given the magnitude and complexities of the research that’s done at ISB, it would seem unlikely that a high school student would be able to participate in…
Read More -
Tuberculosis Research: A ‘Molecular Road Map’ to Help Understand Gene Regulation
The journal “Trends in Microbiology” recently published a spotlight article on a tuberculosis research collaboration between scientists at Institute for Systems Biology and Seattle BioMed. The paper “The DNA-binding network of Mycobacterium tuberculosis” was published in the journal “Nature Communications” (Jan. 12, 2015): “MTB employs about 200 different molecular switches to sense and respond to the shifting, hostile landscape of the host. To identify and understand the intertwining gene regulatory…
Read More
-
ISB’s Women in Oceanography
Photos above: (Left) Anne Thompson and (right) Mόnica Orellana as featured in “Women in Oceanography: A Decade Later.” BY ISBUSA Two of ISB’s senior research scientists are featured in the second edition of “Women in Oceanography.” Dr. Mόnica Orellana and Dr. Anne Thompson, both of the Baliga Lab, share their stories about what inspired their careers in oceanography and some of their thoughts about working in the field. The inaugural issue…
Read More -
Pushing the Molecular Switches of Tuberculosis Into Overdrive to Map Interactions
3 Bullets: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infects more than 1.5 billion people worldwide partly due to its ability to sense and adapt to the broad range of hostile environments that exist within hosts. To study how MTB controls its responses at a molecular level, ISB researchers and their collaborators at Seattle Biomed perturbed almost all MTB transcription factor regulators and identified the affected genes. This comprehensive map of molecular switches in…
Read More -
4 Minutes of Green Gold: Watch Algae Grow
There’s something calming about watching algae grow. What you see in the tubes are two types of algae: Thalassiosira pseudonana or “Thaps” is the brown diatom. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii or “Chlamy” is the green algae. We use Thaps to study ocean acidification and Chlamy is for studying biofuel production.
Read More
-
25+ Gifts for the Science Geek in Your Life
(Above image: lasers in a cell sorting instrument.) BY ISBUSA If you have a science buff/geek/future geek in your life, here are some gift ideas that our researchers at Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) have offered for your shopping pleasure. For kids, there are many options for “STEM toys” – i.e. toys geared toward science, technology, engineering and math. If you choose to purchase any of these items via Amazon.com,…
Read More -
Talking STEM Education with the Rev. Jesse Jackson
It’s a fine day when the Rev. Jesse Jackson is the surprise guest speaker – after Gov. Jay Inslee – at an event. Dana Riley Black, Director of ISB’s Logan Center for Education, had the opportunity to meet the Rev. Jesse Jackson after his speech during the Washington STEM Summit, which is an annual event to bring education, business and community leaders together for a statewide effort to advance excellence,…
Read More -
How One Family of Microbial Genes Rewires Itself for New Niches
3 Bullets: When an organism duplicates its genes, it increases its ability to adapt and colonize new environments. ISB researchers used the systems approach to study how one family of microbial genes evolved to bring functions that were adaptive to specific environments. This new understanding of how gene regulatory networks rewire themselves has many potential applications, including how to wire new functions into an organism for biofuel production, bio-remediation or…
Read More
-
How Physics and Thermodynamics Help Assess DNA Defects in Cancer
3 Bullets: ‘Big data’ cancer research has revealed a new spectrum of genetic mutations across tumors that need understanding. Existing methods for analyzing DNA defects in cancer are blind to how those mutations actually behave. ISB scientists developed a new approach using physics- and structure-based modeling to systematically assess the spectrum of mutations that arise in several gene regulatory proteins in cancer. By Jake Valenzuela and Justin Ashworth A significant…
Read More -
PROJECT BIOTECH Summer Camp Report
Photo above: Students participating in PROJECT BIOTECH Summer Camp. Photo credit: Shoreline Community College By Dina Kovarik Project Manager, Baliga Lab The Shoreline Community College (SCC) Biotech Program and the Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE) program partnered with the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) to develop a one‐week summer camp for high school students called PROJECT BIOTECH. The camp took place at SCC on July 7‐11, 2014. While the Puget Sound…
Read More -
New Tool Uses 3-D Protein-DNA Structures to Predict Locations of Genetic ‘On-Off’ Switches
3 Bullets: Novel systems approach uses high-resolution structures of protein-DNA complexes to predict where transcription factors (genetic switches) bind and regulate the genome. This approach can help researchers better understand and predict binding sites for non-model organisms or ‘exotic’ species. Having such insight and predictive capabilities is critical for reverse- and forward-engineering organisms that could be pivotal for new green biotechnologies. By Jake Valenzuela and Justin Ashworth Researchers at the…
Read More
-
Baliga Lab: Uncovering the Genetic Adaptability of Tuberculosis
3 Bullets: The Institute for Systems Biology and Seattle BioMed have collaborated to reconstruct the gene regulatory network of the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Finely tuned gene regulation has allowed Mycobacterium tuberculosis to survive unnoticed in an apparently healthy host for decades; understanding those subtleties is critical for advancing treatment. The identification of co-regulated sets of genes and their regulatory influences offers validated predictions that will help guide future research…
Read More -
A Comment About Gov. Inslee’s Announcement of $170,000 STEM Award
WHAT YOU SAW IN THE NEWS: On Aug. 14, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices awarded Washington State a $170,000 grant to support the launch of the STEM Education Innovation Alliance, which is tasked with bringing together business leaders and educators in order to help more students acquire the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills they need to qualify for the increasing…
Read More -
New Open-Access Multiscale Model Captures Dynamic Molecular Processes in Unprecedented Detail
3 Bullets: Microbes are efficient because their streamlined genomes allow them to evolve and adapt rapidly to complex environmental changes. Decoding the highly-compressed information within a microbial genome requires sophisticated systems biology tools to map the genetic programs, and understand how they are executed. ISB researchers invented novel algorithms to unzip and decode microbial genomes into the EGRIN 2.0, an open-access multiscale model that captures instructions for executing the dynamic…
Read More
-
ISB’s 2013 Annual Report is Now Available
Institute for Systems Biology has a dizzying breadth of research projects. But when we talk about what we do, it’s how we do it that matters most. The systems approach that we pioneered and exemplify continues to distinguish our ability to tackle the most complex biological and environmental challenges today. Because of how we apply our hallmark collaborative, cross-disciplinary and integrative approach, our collective success is greater than the sum…
Read More -
Shifting the Education Paradigm
Photo above: Dr. Vineet Sangar, right, a postdoc in the Price Lab at ISB, explains proteomics technology to a group of community college faculty, who participated in a systems biology workshop in May 2014. By Dana Riley Black Director of Logan Center for Education Over the past two decades, systems biology has revolutionized traditional approaches to answering complex biological questions. The rapid advancement of computational power and the increased access…
Read More -
ISB’s K-12 STEM Education Work: Collaboration with Washington Alliance for Better Schools
(Photo: Bothell High School teacher Cynthia McIntyre (above left) and ISB’s Chris Plaisier (above right), a senior research scientist in the Baliga Lab, participated in Washington Alliance for Better Schools’ event “A Celebration of STEM” which took place MOHAI on May 6.) ISB’s K-12 STEM Education work On May 6, Washington Alliance for Better Schools held “A Celebration of STEM” at MOHAI to showcase projects that middle and high school…
Read More
-
Melding ISB and FHCRC Brain Power for Cancer Research
(Photo above: ISB’s Dr. Ilya Shmulevich describes his lab’s work in The Cancer Genome Atlas project and how ISB and FHCRC could collaborate.) Big health challenges require big science. Cancers are prime examples of overwhelmingly complex diseases that need the power of a cross-disciplinary, systems biology approach to decipher the underlying dysfunctional gene networks in order to find ways to prevent and manage the diseases and develop more effective therapies….
Read More -
ISB In the News: NIH, Viral Networks and Systems Biology
Emily Carlson and Sharon Reynolds, of the National Institutes of Health/NIGMS, posted a story on NIGMS's Inside Life Science as well as on Livescience.com on how systems biology is a powerful approach to studying biological networks. The article included comments from ISB scientist Aaron Brooks and senior research engineer Chris Lausted who created a network activity that they presented during the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington D.C. on…
Read More -
ISB at USA Science and Engineering Festival
ISB scientists Aaron Brooks (Baliga Lab) and Martin Shelton (Hood Lab) attended the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington D.C. on April 26-27. They, and ISB senior research engineer, Chris Lausted, developed an interactive network activity involving circuit boxes that represent nodes and fiber optic cables to connect them. The project and trip to D.C. were supported by funds through NIH/NIGMS and ISB’s Center for Systems Biology. From Brooks:…
Read More
-
Free Systems Science Workshop for High School Teachers
FREE SUMMER SYSTEMS SCIENCE WORKSHOP AT ISB FOR TEACHERS: Registration for the summer systems science workshop for high school science, math and CTE teachers is now open. The workshop is hosted by Claudia Ludwig and Dina Kovarik, of the Baliga Lab at ISB, and takes place July 21-25. The focus is on how to implement systems science in the classroom. For more information about the workshop, please visit this site….
Read More -
Systems Biology + Systems Art
(Photo above: Artist Xiao Dong Feng and Dr. Lee Hood raise a toast during a reception on April 28. Feng’s painting “Qing Xu” hangs in the background. The name is symbolic of someone who eschews earthly materialism and is instead a visionary who seeks a higher or more spiritual understanding.) On April 28, Institute for Systems Biology hosted an intimate symposium on Systems Biology & Systems Art in honor of…
Read More -
ISB Impacts Education System Nationally and Locally
National: At the beginning of April, Dana Riley Black, ISB’s Director of Education, was invited to participate in one of three Ideas Labs hosted by the National Science Foundation in Washington D.C. The weeklong lab was related to the new NSF program “Improving Undergraduate STEM Education” (IUSE) and was focused on discussing ideas for integrating quantitative literacy into undergraduate biology education. The reason for this particular topic is that while…
Read More
-
Summer Course Registration Is Now Open!
Summer Course: Systems Biology of Disease Register Now Offered by Institute for Systems Biology and Center for Systems Biology Course Objective The goal of this course is to introduce the core concepts of systems biology and their application to systems biomedicine. We will demonstrate the importance of cross-disciplinary interactions for the success of systems biology programs. When July 28 – August 1, 2014 9 am to 5 pm Where Institute…
Read More -
USA Science & Engineering Festival
Networks are everywhere – from communications and transportation to social and biological – but we take most of them for granted. Three ISB scientists (Chris Lausted, senior research engineer; Aaron Brooks, graduate student; and Martin Shelton, postdoc) and high school intern Sarah Williams are collaborating on a project for the USA Science & Engineering Festival on April 26-27 in Washington D.C. to demonstrate just how essential networks are. The team…
Read More -
USA Science & Engineering Festival
Networks are everywhere – from communications and transportation to social and biological – but we take most of them for granted. Three ISB scientists (Chris Lausted, senior research engineer; Aaron Brooks, graduate student; and Martin Shelton, postdoc) and high school intern Sarah Williams are collaborating on a project for the USA Science & Engineering Festival on April 26-27 in Washington D.C. to demonstrate just how essential networks are. The team…
Read More
-
NOAA Ocean Acidification Webinar for Communicators & Educators
NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries and Ocean Acidification Program is holding a webinar series starting March 19 through June on the topic: "Sharing Ocean Acidification Resources for Communicators and Educators." ISB's Claudia Ludwig, the Education Program Manager in the Baliga Lab, will present: Ocean Acidification: A Systems Approach to a Global Problem When: Wed., April 23, 2014, 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST) Primary Audience: Teachers, Formal Educators Project Website: http://baliga.systemsbiology.net/drupal/education/?q=content/ocean-acidification-systems-approach-global-problem…
Read More -
NOAA Ocean Acidification Webinar for Communicators & Educators
NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries and Ocean Acidification Program is holding a webinar series starting March 19 through June on the topic: "Sharing Ocean Acidification Resources for Communicators and Educators." ISB's Claudia Ludwig, the Education Program Manager in the Baliga Lab, will present: Ocean Acidification: A Systems Approach to a Global Problem When: Wed., April 23, 2014, 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST) Primary Audience: Teachers, Formal Educators Project Website: http://baliga.systemsbiology.net/drupal/education/?q=content/ocean-acidification-systems-approach-global-problem…
Read More -
Best Way to Get Kids to Like Science? Inspire Teachers
By Hillary Lauren Science teachers and principals from Schmitz Park and Arbor Heights Elementary Schools in West Seattle attended a day-long workshop co-hosted at the Institute for Systems Biology. During their visit to ISB, the educators were enthusiastic to collaborate, learn about new curriculum materials, and see first-hand what an innovative science research space looks like at ISB. “The day signified much more than these teachers learning about some instructional…
Read More
-
Now Accepting ISB Internship Applications
ISB’s summer internships for high school and undergraduate students are highly competitive — who wouldn’t want to work leading experts in systems biology research? The application process is now open. If you or someone you know may be interested in applying, visit the following links: High School Internships Undergraduate Internships
Read More -
Science Education Impact
The educators who work at ISB continue to influence how science is taught in the State of Washington. Claudia Ludwig and Dina Kovarik, members of the Baliga Lab education team, recently helped the Highline School District apply for a $1,000 grant to use toward systems science materials and teacher training. Highline’s Arts and Academics Academy received the award, which will also provide students with “real-world” lab experience.
Read More -
Valerie Logan Luncheon Raises $50K for Science Education Programs at ISB
The Second Annual Valerie Logan Luncheon, which took place on Nov. 13, raised just over $50,000 (UPDATE: As of Dec. 18, 2013, the total funds raised has reached more than $60,000) for our education programs at Institute for Systems Biology. Guest speaker Julia Joo, who spent her summer as a high school intern here at ISB, shared with us the educational journey that led her to choose science as a…
Read More
-
ISB Hosts 2nd Annual Valerie Logan Luncheon on Nov. 13
Photo above: Valerie Logan during the 2012 Valerie Logan Luncheon. To inspire students and imbue them with a love for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), we must inspire their teachers. ISB has always held this philosophy and, at the 2nd Annual Valerie Logan Luncheon on Nov. 13, we will celebrate our vision for bringing quality STEM education to all students and also honor Dr. Meena Selvakumar as the recipient…
Read More -
Lee Hood’s 75th Birthday Party Photo Gallery
Dr. Lee Hood's 75th birthday party took place at ISB on Oct. 10. Here's the photo gallery. As part of the presentations, Dr. Nitin Baliga (ISB's Director and SVP) shared a fun video he made using footage he shot during the faculty retreat. Exactly how many PhDs does it take to find a Prius battery? Watch and find out:
Read More -
WA State Adopts Next Generation Science Standards
PRESS RELEASE SEATTLE, Oct. 3, 2013 – After a two-year process, Washington State will officially adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). It is the eighth state in the country to make the commitment. Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) has been one of the leaders in the process of developing the standards and preparing local school districts for the implementation of NGSS. “It is unusual for a nonprofit scientific research…
Read More
-
ISB Leads the Way in Helping Washington Schools Adopt and Implement Next Generation Science Standards
Washington State is expected to be among the first 10 states to officially adopt the Next Generation Science Standards. The NGSS were released in spring 2013 after a two-year development process and reflect the most contemporary research on science and science learning in determining what K-12 students ought learn in order to be prepared for college. Washington State is one of 26 lead states that have been instrumental in the…
Read More -
Guest Post: Harvard at ISB
Guest Post By Alia Qatarneh Research Assistant, Life Sciences Outreach Program Harvard University The realm of research is changing. The understanding of a scientific phenomenon is no longer a journey on a one-way road. It is an active collaboration between many departments, professionals, and experts, resulting in interdisciplinary frameworks that can tackle the vast principles of biology. Systems biology combines those aspects and allows for the exploration of how components…
Read More -
UW Students Get a Taste of Systems Biology
“It was very interesting to learn how all the different backgrounds, such as one person having majored in physics, computer science, or chemistry, can come together to achieve a goal. Also, how some have bachelors or postdoc degrees. I also learned more about how PDMS is used and how there are teams that create their own equipment for experiments and data.” – LSAMP Student This afternoon, a group of freshmen…
Read More
-
Greater Good: Successful High School Interns
Every summer, ISB welcomes a group of high school interns, hosted through our Systems Education Experiences program. ISB is proud of its collaborative and cross-disciplinary culture and we work hard to nurture an environment that allows our staff to achieve at a high level. It was especially gratifying to get this comment from one of our interns, who had just completed her time here: “At ISB, I witnessed collaboration that…
Read More -
Connecting the Dots: NPR TB Story
WHAT YOU HEARD IN THE NEWS: NPR aired this story (on Sept. 5) about research just published in the journal Nature Genetics suggesting that tuberculosis may have existed more than 70,000 years ago. Tuberculosis Hitched a Ride When Early Humans Left Africa ‘ “The old, traditional view was that tuberculosis emerged during the Neolithic transition when people started to domesticate animals and develop agriculture, which started about 10,000 years ago,”…
Read More -
Collaboration: $16.6M TB Grant
ISB will collaborate with Seattle BioMed and ETH Zurich on a $16.6 million tuberculosis grant from the National Institutes of Health. Seattle BioMed issued this press release today: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEATTLE, AUG. 15 — Seattle BioMed has been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, that will take a comprehensive systems approach to the problem of tuberculosis…
Read More
-
Open Science: A Hack Your PhD Interview with Dr. Nitin Baliga
Célya Gruson-Daniel, the founder of HackYourPhD, has been traveling across the United States to make a documentary about open science. She stopped by ISB on Aug. 5, 2013, to interview Dr. Nitin Baliga, who is our senior vice president and director. The short interview is below. Learn more about the Hack Your PhD documentary at this site: http://hackyourphd.org/USA
Read More -
K-12 Science Education: MESA Math Scholars Visit ISB
Just as the Seattle tourist traffic picks up in the summer, the intern and visitor traffic at ISB spikes during July and August. It’s always inspiring to see the fresh faces of high school students in our halls. On Aug. 7, the MESA Math Scholars came to ISB to visit our labs and spend some time with a few of our scientists. MESA stands for Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement and…
Read More -
To Inspire Students, We Have to Inspire their Teachers
JUNE 24, 2013 — Dr. Lee Hood, ISB’s president, says that we have to “infect” kids with the excitement of science. The same can be said about their teachers. It may even be more crucial to inspire teachers, because they’re the ones who have the most impact on the greatest number of kids. At ISB, the transfer of knowledge to society is a part of our core. Supporting K-12 science…
Read More