Headshot of David Baker

David Baker Receives Nobel Prize

October 9, 2024 | Categories: Award, Core Faculty | Tagged:

ISRCRM faculty member David Baker has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for computational protein design. Read More

Two men wearing white lab coats stand and smile in a laboratory. Shelves with lab equipment and supplies are visible in the background, and a window lets in natural light.

New Gene Therapy for Muscular Dystrophy Offers Hope

July 17, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research | Tagged: , ,

A new gene therapy treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) shows promise of not only arresting the decline of the muscles of those affected by this inherited genetic disease, but perhaps, in the future, repairing those muscles. Read More

Three people wearing white lab coats closely examine scientific equipment on a lab bench, appearing focused and engaged in a laboratory setting.

Kelly Stevens to Co-Lead NIH Funded Center to Foster New Ideas and Fight Inequity

June 27, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty | Tagged: ,

Kelly Stevens and Lola Eniola-Adefeso at the University of Michigan are co-leaders of a new NIH-funded center that will spur biomaterials translational solutions and bring together traditional, nontraditional, and historically excluded biomaterials researchers. Read More

Microscopic image showing a cell with branching white structures on the left, and a 3D molecular model with a white circular structure and pink segments on the right, set against a dark background.

Designed Proteins Guide Stem Cells to Form Blood Vessels

June 11, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research | Tagged: , ,

UW researchers have used computer-designed proteins to direct human stem cells to form new blood vessels in the lab, offering new hope for repairing damaged hearts, kidneys, and other organs. Read More

Side-by-side photos of two men: the left man with short light brown hair wearing a light purple shirt, and the right man with short dark curly hair wearing a dark polo shirt, smiling in a room with shelves behind him.

Meet the 2024 Tietze Award Winners

May 24, 2024 | Categories: Award, Core Faculty | Tagged: , ,

ISCRM Associate Director Nate Sniadecki, PhD, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Hichem Tasfaout, PhD, Acting Assistant Professor, Neurology have received prestigious awards from the John H. Tietze Foundation Trust that will help fuel promising research underway in their labs. Read More

Side-by-side images of PKD mini-kidneys: the untreated one (left) appears smoother, while the one given readthrough drug (right) looks more structured or textured. Each is about 1mm wide.

Freedman Lab Discovers Promising New Therapeutic for PKD in Tailor-Made Organoids

April 4, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research | Tagged: , , ,

In a new study published in Cell Stem Cell, the Freedman Lab shows that a drug known to be safe in humans inhibits the growth of cysts in gene-edited organoids with polycystic kidney disease. Read More

A middle-aged man with short, light brown hair smiles at the camera while wearing a white button-up shirt against a plain gray background.

Leadership News

April 1, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty

ISCRM Dr. Charles “Chuck” Murry has been appointed to lead stem-cell research at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. He will start there in August. Read More

Two scientists in lab coats and gloves sit in a laboratory with scientific equipment, a microscope, and computers displaying data on screens. Shelves with lab supplies and boxes are visible in the background.

Berndt Lab Machine Learning Model Sets a New Pace in Protein Sensor Design

March 26, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research | Tagged: , ,

Over the course of a multiyear, collaborative investigation, researchers in the Berndt Lab showed that their trained machine learning models correctly predicted several variants of the calcium indicator GCaMP with record-setting speed and accuracy, outperforming all previous generations of these sensors. Read More

Diagram showing a coil-flanked XTEN protein with stabilizing mutations, forming an injectable protein gel that exhibits self-healing, shear-thinning, and supports high cell viability, with a close-up of green cells.

Protein-Based Biomaterial Protects Injected Cells, Improves Engraftment

March 13, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research | Tagged: , , , ,

Research led by Cole DeForest, PhD in collaboration with Chuck Murry, MD, PhD and Kelly Stevens, PhD details a new protein-based biomaterial that could help improve engraftment and function following injectable cell therapies. Read More

Gloved hands holding and assembling scientific equipment with transparent chambers and labeled cassette, likely used for laboratory experiments or cell culture work.

$7.3 Million NIH Grant Funds Effort to Advance Kidney Microphysiological Testing Platforms

February 12, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research | Tagged: , , , , ,

NIH Funding will allow ISCRM faculty members Ed Kelly and Beno Freedman to lead the effort to advance kidney-on-a-chip and organoid testing technology and submit a 3D engineered platform for FDA approval. Read More