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• WSU Researcher Takes Aim at Metastatic Cancer

  

  Has it spread? That has been one of the questions cancer patients most fear to ask—and one their doctors find most difficult to answer. It can be very hard to tell whether cancerous cells have spread from a tumor into other tissues; and once a cancer spreads from its original site, the patient’s odds of survival go way down. Read more

• WSU Researchers Invent Technique to Speed Development of Vaccines

  PULLMAN, Wash.—A team of Washington State University scientists has devised a method that could lead to the development of vaccines against some of the most troubling infectious diseases we face—diseases that have so far been difficult or impossible to vaccinate against. Read more

• Scientific American Names WSU Scientist One of Top 50 Researchers of 2007

  Washington State University reproductive biologist Patricia A. Hunt has been named one of the top 50 researchers of 2007 by Scientific American, for her work showing a potential threat to human health posed by bisphenol A (BPA), a component of the polycarbonate plastics used to make food and beverage containers. “There’s been so much good work in this area in the past year that to be singled out is really an honor,” said Hunt after learning of her selection. Read more

• WSU Researchers Decipher First Steps in How Key Hormone Promotes Plant Defense and Reproduction

  

  To many people, the scent of jasmine flowers suggests a romantic interlude in an exotic locale. But jasmonate, the main component of the lush scent, carries far different meanings for plants. It is a hormone they use to regulate reproductive development, immunity to pathogens, defense against insect herbivores and other critical aspects of their biology. Read more

• Sleep patterns may have genetic links

  Researchers have long observed significant differences in normal people’s sleep. Some are light sleepers, whereas others sleep deeply. Some fall asleep right away, while others take their time. Such sleeping pattern variability has long been attributed solely to differences in circumstances, habits, and other non-biological factors. But now a landmark study led by Hans Van Dongen, associate research professor and assistant director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University Spokane has shown that these individual variabilities constitute traits which may eventually prove genetic in origin. Read more

• Contagion!
  Emerging diseases: Unraveling the mystery

  

  Human beings have faced new diseases, and more deadly forms of old diseases, all through history. Today fears of an epidemic are on the rise, fueled by reports of exotic infections and antibiotic-resistant "super bugs." Despite sophisticated modern techniques for tracking killer pathogens, figuring out where the next deadly disease will come from--and how to stop it--is not a simple task. Read more

Related News

• Nutrition Study May Give Potato New Respect

  Pullman, Wash. -- The potato, shunned by Americans for its high carbohydrate content, may be healthier than we give it credit. A new study at Washington State University is examining some of its nutritional benefits. Brightly colored potatoes, such as purple, red and yellow, contain higher levels of antioxidants compared with white potatoes, according to Boon Chew, WSU professor of nutritional immunology. Antioxidants help to prevent diseases by improving the human immune system.

• Counting Cougs

  Between 1995, the year before Washington banned the hunting of cougars with hounds, and 2000, the number of human-cougar encounters nearly quadrupled. Although encounters have returned to pre-ban levels in some areas, the public perception is that cougars are making a comeback--and must be stopped. But Hillary Cooley and Rob Wielgus insist that much of what we think we know about cougars is wrong. And their argument rests with the young males.

• WSU Vancouver Biologist Receives $400,000 National Science Foundation Grant

  Christine Portfors, associate professor of biology at Washington State University Vancouver, has received a grant of $400,000 over three years to continue her research on how complex sounds are processed by the auditory system. She also examines how age-related hearing loss impacts this process.

• WSU Sleep Researchers Awarded $1.5M Grant by W.M. Keck Foundation

  A team of sleep researchers from Washington State University has received a $1.5 million grant award from the W.M. Keck Foundation—a philanthropic institution supporting innovative research in science, engineering and medicine—to test a new theory of the brain organization of sleep.

• WSU Graduate Reports Findings in Obstetrical Anesthesia Study

  Imagine you’re a woman who is about to give birth to her first child via a C-section. Depending on the hospital you go to, your comfort and safety during the procedure might be in the hands of a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) or an anesthesiologist. Should you prefer one situation over the other? The answer is no, according to Dan Simonson, a graduate of the health policy and administration program at Washington State University Spokane. Simonson came to this conclusion in an article, "Anesthesia Staffing and Anesthetic Complications During Cesarean Delivery: A Retrospective Analysis," which was recently published in the January/February 2007 issue of Nursing Research. The article reports on a research study conducted by Simonson, himself a CRNA, as part of his master’s thesis.

• Washington State University Technology Licensed to G-Biosciences

  PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State University Research Foundation and G-Biosciences have entered into a worldwide technology licensing agreement for patent rights to a spectroscopic method for assaying the activity of a key class of enzymes involved in several biological systems, including signal transduction, protein repair, chromatin regulation and gene silencing.