UW In The News

Scientists just watched these entities rapidly evolve in Space. They could save our lives

To fill in this knowledge gap, the research team (led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) analyzed two bacterial samples of Escherichia coli (E. coli)—one located on Earth, the other on the ISS, and both infected with what is known as a T7 bacteriophage. Eventually, they found that while the outcome of the arms race remained the same in each location—the bacteriophage eventually infected its bacterial prey—there were distinct differences in how this battle played out between the two samples.

“Space fundamentally changes how phages and bacteria interact: infection is slowed, and both organisms evolve along a different trajectory than they do on Earth,” the authors wrote. “By studying those space-driven adaptations, we identified new biological insights that allowed us to engineer phages with far superior activity against drug-resistant pathogens back on Earth.”

UW-Madison, Immuto partner to target new colorectal cancer treatments

The University of Wisconsin–Madison and Immuto Scientific have teamed up to explore new therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer. According to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, this collaboration aims to use Immuto’s AI-enabled platform to discover novel treatments for solid colorectal cancer tumors.

Dr. Dustin Deming, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, leads the project. “Our collection of patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids enables exploration of tumor biology and therapeutic vulnerabilities in ways that traditional models cannot,” said Deming.

Wisconsin researchers lead natural food coloring breakthrough as industry phases out artificial dyes

Within UW-Madison’s Department of Food Science, Professor Bradley Bolling has pioneered research of anthocyanins, natural pigments responsible for the vibrant hues in fruits like cranberries.

“We want to understand how the pigments in cranberry are stabilized,” Bolling said.

Bolling developed a patented process using lecithin, an emulsifier, to extract natural pigments from cranberries without using alcohol or acetone. This makes the process safer and more environmentally sustainable.

How NIH ending funding for human fetal tissue research could affect studies

Dr. Anita Bhattacharyya, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology in the school of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said she was hoping to apply for a future NIH grant to study human fetal tissue research and will now not be able to do so.

Bhattacharyya explained she currently uses human-induced pluripotent stem cells, which are reprogrammed cells that are similar to embryonic stem cells, in her work. However, the loss of NIH funding for human fetal tissue research could affect future work.

“My reaction was, ‘How are we going to do some of our research if we can no longer use human fetal tissue?'” she recalled to ABC News. “In particular, my lab studies Down syndrome and so we know that in Down syndrome, the brain develops differently to lead to the intellectual disability that people with Down syndrome have.”

Photo of the day: Quilt exhibit

Tarah Connolly, a PhD student at UW-Madison, looks at a quilt from the 1870’s that is on display at the “Find Your Quilt” exhibit in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery in Nancy Nicholas Hall at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis. Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.

PFAS are turning up in the Great Lakes, putting fish and water supplies at risk – here’s how they get there

Written by Christy Remucal, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

How one UW-Madison lab improves sheep’s quality of life

An assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences wants to improve sheep’s quality of life.

Sarah Adcock focuses her research on the welfare of farm animals, including specializing in the docking of lamb tails, a routine procedure on farms that can lead to acute and sometimes even chronic pain for the animal.

UW-Madison’s new center for aging research studies metabolism, biology, genetics and more

“We don’t have the fountain of youth— nobody ever found it,” said Dudley Lamming, co-director of the Wisconsin Nathan Shock Center (WiNSC) and professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “but can we find ways [to] get to the end of our lives, still fit and functional?”

Education has seen unprecedented changes in Trump’s second term

Last year, just as she was finishing a teacher residency program through the University of Wisconsin-Madison, federal funding for the project was cut by the Trump administration.

“So we were in the spring semester and we were all like, are we going to be able to continue?” Lind said. “Are we going to still be able to get our teaching license? Are we going to have to pay this back?”

Could a drug slow aging? UW-Madison researchers seek answers in trial

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are studying whether a drug used for organ transplant patients could slow aging in humans.

Some compelling evidence in recent decades shows rapamycin — also known as sirolimus — can increase the quality and quantity of life in animals, said Adam Konopka, a UW-Madison assistant professor of geriatrics and gerontology.

“This got people really excited that maybe this drug could be used to improve human healthy longevity,” he said.

A new Humanities building and other developments UW-Madison has in the works this year

UW campuses recognized for community engagement

A number of University of Wisconsin schools are being recognized for their community engagement.

UW-Madison, UW-Whitewater, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside and UW-Superior are designated as Carnegie Community Engagement Classified campuses.

5 UW professors reflect on the year when Trump upended federal research

Avtar Roopra’s research has effectively stalled since President Donald Trump started his second term and upended the federal research funding landscape. Agencies have cut projects, delayed grant reviews, fired thousands of federal employees who offer guidance to researchers and reduced the number of new projects getting funding.

“This is like the Holy Grail of epilepsy, what we’ve been looking for for hundreds of years,” Roopra said. “All of it is on hold. It’s extremely frustrating.”

What UW-Madison researchers learned from an experiment in outer space

Vatsan Raman never expected he would send a research experiment to outer space.

“This is like a box that’s sitting on our lab bench one day, and the next day it’s on a rocket that’s going up to (the International Space Station). … It was really quite surreal,” said Raman, an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW-Madison research foundation seeks next ‘diamonds’ amid federal cuts

The organization is set to provide $206.9 million in total support to UW-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research this school year, including $50 million toward research projects and nearly $36 million for faculty, graduate students and staff.

Now in its second century, the nonprofit faces challenges, though. The Trump administration’s widespread cuts to federal research funding could limit the number of discoveries coming to WARF.

Viruses may be more powerful in the International Space Station’s microgravity environment

To better understand how microbes may act differently in space, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied bacteriophages — viruses that infect bacteria, also called phages — in identical settings both on the ISS and on Earth. Their results, published recently in the journal PLOS Biology, suggest that microgravity can delay infections, reshape evolution of both phages and bacteria and even reveal genetic combinations that may help the performance against disease-linked bacteria on Earth.

“Studying phage–bacteria systems in space isn’t just a curiosity for astrobiology; it’s a practical way to understand and anticipate how microbial ecosystems behave in spacecraft and to mine new solutions for phage therapy and microbiome engineering back home,” said Dr. Phil Huss, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the study’s lead authors.

Gen Zers aren’t talking — and it could cost them

Written by Maryellen MacDonald, a professor emerit of psychology and language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of “More Than Words: How Talking Sharpens the Mind and Shapes Our World.”

January 11, 1887- Aldo Leopold was born

Aldo Leopold was born in Burlington, Iowa and moved to Wisconsin in 1925. He taught game management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the first courses for it in the country. Leopold is best known for his collection of essays “Sand County Almanac” that explains the way the natural world works and ways conservation could be used to preserve it.

Twin brothers make “Money Magic:” UW professor & his financial adviser twin brother drop children’s book

Quentin Riser pursued academia, earning a PhD and eventually joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Human Ecology, where he studies child development and family outcomes. Quinlan went into the financial world, spending nearly a decade at Principal Financial Group before becoming a financial advisor and later leading an insurance business.

“It’s designed to be a two-generational book,” Quentin Riser said. “The kids are going to ask their parents, ‘Mom, Dad, what is estate planning?’ And if the parents don’t know, they’re going to have to go look that up.”

Twenty years on, celebrating the University of Wisconsin’s twin hockey titles

It had never happened before, and it hasn’t happened since — the men’s and women’s hockey teams from the same school winning NCAA championships in the same year. 

But in 2006, both the men’s and women’s University of Wisconsin hockey teams won national titles, and the teams were led by a brother and sister who grew up playing youth hockey in Madison. 

UW-Madison set to finish two new buildings in 2026, start another

tudents are on track to take classes in a new humanities building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall. And the athletics department plans to finish an indoor football practice facility next to Camp Randall Stadium this summer.

As those two projects wrap up in 2026, Wisconsin’s flagship public university also plans to break ground on a visitor and education center at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, near Picnic Point.

A new Humanities building and other developments UW-Madison has in the works this year

UW-Madison researchers using fruit flies to find potential treatment for incurable cancer

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have unlocked a potential new treatment to target an incurable form of childhood cancer with the help of a fast-reproducing pest known for swarming kitchen produce.

Professors Melissa Harrison and Peter Lewis used fruit flies to to study how cellular pathways are misregulated by a cancer-causing mutant protein. The pesky bugs were perfect lab subjects for the project because two-thirds of the cancer-causing genes in humans are shared by fruit flies.

Can fruit flies lead to new treatments for incurable childhood brain cancer?

Using fruit flies, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are uncovering a new way to think about treating an aggressive and deadly form of childhood brain cancer.

By understanding how different proteins affect genetic mutations in the flies’ wings and eyes, the researchers say it could lead to new ways to silence genes behind the disease

This growing UW-Madison lab helps students create using AI, other tech

Launched in February, the lab is a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Business and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. It provides an opportunity for students from across the university to try emerging technologies — including AI, blockchain and virtual reality — and use them to potentially solve real-world problems.

“I love it because I see students progress remarkably,” said Sandra Bradley, the lab’s executive director. “When you give them a lot of … space and then hand them things that they need, the magic happens.”

Chazen showcases local influence in newly acquired photos

The Chazen Museum of Art has added 28 photos taken by acclaimed photographer Irving Penn to its collection.

The photos were donated to the museum by the Irving Penn Foundation in Penn’s name. It was a gift in honor of UW-Madison alumnus and former Museum of Modern Art photography director John Szarkowski, according to a statement from museum spokesperson Kirstin Pires.

UW scientists alarmed by Trump plan to break up national weather research center

University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists are sounding the alarm over a Trump administration plan to dismantle a prominent weather and climate research center, saying it could jeopardize the future of weather forecasting.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research is based in Boulder, Colorado, but is overseen by a consortium of universities, including UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee. The center allows researchers to work together on large projects that no one scientist or university could do alone.

Wisconsin’s 32 Most Influential Black Leaders for 2025, Part 2

Dr. Earlise Ward is faculty director for the Cancer Health Disparities Initiative (CHDI) and co-director of the T32 Primary Care Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She conducts community-engaged clinical intervention research focused on African American adults’ mental health and culturally competent mental health services. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Baruch College, master’s degree in counseling and Brooklyn College and PhD in counseling psychology at UW-Madison.

Donald Dantzler is an alder for the City of Fitchburg, candidate for Dane County Board, and a Survey and Research Specialist for the Madison Metropolitan School District. He was previously faculty and adjunct faculty for UW-Whitewater, and has also worked as a research associate at Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory and a project assistant for the UW System Administration Office of Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Success.  He earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UW-Whitewater and is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis program at UW-Madison.

In manure, UW-Madison researcher Brayan Riascos sees the future of plastic

Wisconsin’s 32 Most Influential Black Leaders for 2025, Part 1

Maurice Thomas is chief operating officer at Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy, a 4k-8th grade Christian school in Milwaukee. He is an alum of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and expects to earn a master’s degree in education leadership from Harvard in 2027.

Jerry Jordan is a nationally-known painter working in the style of contemporary realism. He counts the unsung artists of the Harlem Renaissance as his artistic role models. By day, Jordan is an academic and multicultural advisor with the UW-Madison School of Education. He holds a degree in art from UW-Whitewater.

Dr. Bashir Easter is founder of Melanin Minded, a company that aims to empower Black and Latino communities by culturally appropriate resources and support for individuals affected by Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. He began his career in elder care nearly 15 years ago with Milwaukee County as an elder abuse investigator, human services worker, and dementia care program specialist, and later served as associate director of the All of Us Research Program at UW-Madison.