ISCRM Researchers Use AI-Designed Protein to Produce More Mineralized Enamel
March 2, 2026 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research |ISCRM researchers have shown that an AI-designed signaling protein (known as a ligand) can be used to mature ameloblasts capable of secreting more mineralized enamel, representing another important step forward for regenerative dentistry. Read More
New $8.6M NIH RC2 Grant for an Interdisciplinary Team of ISCRM Faculty.
October 6, 2025 | Categories: Award, Core Faculty |An interdisciplinary team of ISCRM researchers has received an $8.6 million grant from the NIH to accelerate cell therapies for diabetes by achieving more reliable and reproducible generation of fully functional pancreatic islets from multiple stem cell lines. Read More
Designed Proteins Guide Stem Cells to Form Blood Vessels
June 11, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research |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
Stem Cell-derived Organoids Secrete Tooth Enamel Proteins
August 14, 2023 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research, Uncategorized |Researchers led by Hannele Ruohola-Baker have created organoids from stem cells that secrete the proteins that form the enamel that protects our teeth from damage and decay. Read More
Regulating Cells With Designed Proteins
March 1, 2022 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research |ISCRM researchers have developed a tool to selectively control the PRC2 complex – an epigenetic regulator that influences cell fate across multiple stages of development. That tool is a computer-designed protein binder engineered in partnership with the Institute for Protein Design (IPD). Read More
Priming the Heart for Regeneration
January 10, 2022 | Categories: Research |In 2015, a team of inquisitive young scientists, absorbed in the study of metabolism, regeneration, and biological development, set out to answer a question. Could the way cells produce energy help explain why certain organisms have an envious ability to regenerate heart tissue after injury? And, if so, could that knowledge be used to help heal human hearts? Read More
ISCRM Research Sheds New Light on COVID-19 and Kidney Health
December 2, 2021 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research, Uncategorized |ISCRM researchers use kidney organoids to demonstrate that COVID-19 is capable of infecting kidney cells directly and test whether a synthetic protein designed by the Institute for Protein Design (IPD) might be capable of preventing infection. Read More
Undergraduate Students on the Hunt for Cancer Killing Molecules
November 3, 2021 | Categories: Core Faculty |Described in the journal Cells, a multi-year effort to identify molecules that target cancer cells gave UW undergraduates real-world laboratory experience. Read More
New Investigator Award for Julie Mathieu Funds Collaborative Cancer Research
June 11, 2021 | Categories: Award, Research |Fueled in part by a New Investigator Award from the Cancer Consortium, ISCRM faculty member Julie Mathieu, PhD is partnering with scientists at the Institute for Protein Design and Fred Hutch to develop new treatments for renal cell carcinoma. Read More
Supercharging Antibodies for Better Medicine
April 2, 2021 | Categories: Uncategorized |Researchers from the Ruohola-Baker Lab have collaborated with the Institute for Protein Design on a technology in which designed proteins assemble antibodies in nanocage structures, increasing their potency against cancer, COVID-19, and other diseases. Read More