University of Wisconsin–Madison

Basic science

A greyscale electron microscopy image of a plant cell is shown on the left, the false-color rendering of the features in the EM image is shown on the right — Give most kids a basic microscope and a leaf or a drop of pond water, and they are in awe of the, well, microscopic patterns and organisms they can now see. Give a cell biologist a transmission electron microscope (TEM), and they can understand how structures within cells are organized […]

Seeing things more clearly, thanks to campus-wide microscopy effort

February 20, 2019 by Sarah Perdue

Legos - building blocks — A study published today (Jan. 8) in eLife, led by University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor of Biochemistry and Bacteriology Robert Landick and his research team, reveals for the first time the elemental mechanism behind transcriptional pausing, which underlies the control of gene expression in all living organisms. It also provides new understanding […]

New insight into gene expression in all living things

January 8, 2019 by Kelly April Tyrrell

It is winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The vicious cold has transformed the scattered blue lakes of the North Woods into white disks — barren wastelands of ice. The harsh winds rushing across the icy plains combined with average air temperatures that are just above freezing seem to offer a […]

Do you ever wonder what happens to the fish in ...

February 27, 2018 by Mason Muerhoff

I spotted this young red fox meandering across the west end of campus on this brisk, sunny Friday, hopping from sun spot to sun spot. The empty streets make for an inviting playground for the canids, without any of the noise and commotion of the crowded passing times. Foxes are no […]

When the students are away, the foxes will play

January 12, 2018 by Mason Muerhoff

What’s more Wisconsin than milk and cheese? I’ll tell you: It’s snow. Fat, fluffy flakes silently piling up on windowsills and those bitter, piercing blizzards are as predictable as NFC North championships in Wisconsin. But the cold, snowy conditions that are a staple of winter in Wisconsin and the Great […]

Computer modeling offers glimpse into Wisconsin’s future

December 1, 2017 by Mason Muerhoff

Open up any social media app today and you will be bombarded with hashtags and Snapchat filters reminding you that today, September 29th, is National Coffee Day. And such an occasion would not be complete without a thorough investigation of the namesake’s key ingredient: caffeine. So, grab your favorite cold […]

So what is caffeine, anyway?

September 29, 2017 by Mason Muerhoff

Legos - building blocks — The following is from Kaine Korzekwa, science writer and marketing specialist in the Department of Biochemistry: Think of the cellular machine known as the spliceosome as being like a car. For a car to function properly, its parts have to be assembled in a particular order. Additionally, many of the car’s […]

Cellular machine assembly process yields new insight into disease, evolution

September 11, 2017 by Kelly April Tyrrell

We asked you on twitter for your eclipse questions, and user @_dbza_ asked us, “Since availability of glasses is a problem, can I use the phone camera to record a video of the eclipse? Would that damage the sensor?” The abridged version of the answer is yes, you’re probably safe […]

The sun will damage your eyes, but what about your ...

August 18, 2017 by Mason Muerhoff

A small 3D molecule, in blue, is fit into the desired site of a 3D model of a target protein. If the docking program can make this fit easily, this small molecule would receive a high docking score. — From anti-cancer to antibiotic, high throughput screening is a powerful method of drug discovery. Researchers identify a target protein and test tens if not hundreds of thousands of chemicals for their ability to inhibit its function in the lab setting. Then, they whittle the chemical pool to a handful of […]

The machines are learning to develop new targeted drug therapies

August 14, 2017 by Sarah Perdue