ISB News

Drs. Nitin Baliga and Serdar Turkarslan

ISB Researchers Discover How Microorganisms Evolve Cooperative Behaviors

ISB research sheds light on how interspecies interactions arise, evolve and are maintained. The results, published in The ISME Journal, provide a new window to understand the key roles of these interactions in industrial applications, and in the health and disease of humans, animals and plants.

Priyanka Baloni

Bile Acids Provide More Evidence of the Gut Microbiome’s Effect on Alzheimer’s Disease

ISB researchers and their collaborators are looking beyond the one-drug, one-solution approach that has thus far failed in Alzheimer’s disease research. Instead, they are focusing on other promising research avenues, such as the possible role of the gut microbiome in dementia.

Illustration of a person using a katana to slash a coronavirus in half

COVID-19 Immune Response Study Could Lead to More Effective Treatments

Findings from the ISB-Swedish COVID-19 Immune Response Study suggest that treatments aimed at arresting the infection at the stage of moderate severity may be most effective. The team studied 139 patients and found that mild COVID-19 is very distinct from the moderate or severe forms of disease, which appear surprisingly similar. 

Human proteome blueprint

HUPO Releases 10-Year High-Stringency Blueprint of Human Proteome

Like the draft “shotgun” Human Genome Project of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO), the HPP has now reached a significant decadal milestone of more than 90 percent completion of the Human Proteome that is referred to as the human proteome “parts list.”

Corresponding author and ISB President Dr. Jim Heath and lead author Dr. Yapeng Su.

For Cancer Cells, There Is More Than One Path to Drug Resistance

In findings published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers show that cancer cells can take more than one path to reach a drug-resistant cell state. These findings could have promising implications for the future of cancer care.

ISB researchers

Unveiling the Guerrilla Warfare Tactics of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

ISB researchers have unveiled new insights on how Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis, enters and exits a dormant state in human hosts. About a quarter of the world’s population has latent TB, so these important findings will enable and accelerate the discovery of more effective TB drugs.

Dr. Jeff Ranish and Dr. Mark Gillespie

Mysteries of Cell Fate Unlocked with New Measurement and Modeling Techniques 

In the cellular process of differentiation, information about the concentrations of an important class of proteins residing in a cell’s nucleus has been lacking, a missing link needed for scientists to fully understand how the process works. ISB researchers have quantified this important class of proteins that play a key role in the formation of red blood cells.

Illustration of a person using a katana to slash a coronavirus in half

Merck, ISB, Swedish Collaborate In Trial to Understand, Treat COVID-19

ISB and Swedish Medical Center launched a study to follow hundreds of patients who contract COVID-19 to learn why those infected have drastically different outcomes. “Each of the COVID-19 patients has a unique lesson to teach us about how the medical and scientific community can respond most effectively to this pandemic,” said ISB President Dr. Jim Heath, who co-leads the study.

Dr. Christian Diener, postdoc in ISB's Gibbons Lab.

New Modeling Tool Allows Microbiome Researchers to Map Community Ecology to Ecosystem Function

A promising new open-source metabolic modeling tool provides microbiome researchers a path forward in predicting ecosystem function from community structure. News of the software package, called MICOM, was developed in part by researchers in ISB’s Gibbons Lab, and its uses were published in the journal mSystems.

Malaria Researchers’ Findings May Have Implications for Preventing Spread of Deadly Disease

ISB researchers and their collaborators are using systems biology approaches to learn how the malaria parasite is able to transfer to humans via the bite of an infected mosquito. The information they have uncovered may help identify new ways to prevent people from contracting the deadly disease.

ISB Unveils New Brand Ahead of 20th Anniversary

We created a new brand identity — including logo and tag line — to reflect ISB’s evolution since our inception in 2000, and ahead of our 20th anniversary. ISB is proud to be a part of the vibrant research community in Seattle, and is committed to translational and collaborative science.

New Method to Detect, Analyze Rare T Cells Another Step Toward Personalized Cancer Vaccines

Members of ISB’s Heath Lab and their collaborators have developed a way to sensitively detect and analyze neoantigen-specific T-cell populations from tumors and blood. This promising development may have implications for creating targeted, individual-specific cancer vaccines.

Using Blood to Predict Gut Microbiome Diversity

Predicting the alpha diversity of an individual’s gut microbiome is possible by examining metabolites in the blood. The robust relationship between host metabolome and gut microbiome diversity opens the door for a fast, cheap and reliable blood test to identify individuals with low gut diversity.

New Diagnostic Method Predicts Therapy Response in Lung Cancer Patients

By using single-cell analysis to measure metabolic activities in rare disseminated tumor cells taken from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, ISB researchers and their collaborators can accurately predict how patients will respond to various cancer therapies, and how treatments will impact a patient’s physiological performance and survival.

Dr. Mary Kay Ross

ISB, BHRI Collaborate to Better Understand Significant Brain Impairment

ISB has entered into a scientific partnership with the Brain Health & Research Institute (BHRI), which opens its doors on September 3 in Seattle. BHRI was created by brain health expert Dr. Mary Kay Ross, and is dedicated to the evaluation, prevention, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

Brain health expert Dr. Mary Kay Ross

Brain Health & Research Institute Enters Scientific Partnership with ISB

Brain health expert Dr. Mary Kay Ross announced the creation of the Brain Health & Research Institute (BHRI) in Seattle, and a scientific collaboration with ISB. Through that partnership, BHRI will blend the practical application of medical therapies and treatment protocols with ten advanced scientific analysis now available through personalized medicine and computational biology.

ISB-CGC banner image

ISB Gets $3.4M NIH Extension for Cancer Genomics Cloud

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ISB Receives $3.4 Million Extension to NIH Contract to Continue Development of ‘Cancer Genomics Cloud’ with Google and CSRA SEATTLE, Oct. 21, 2016 – Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) has received a $3.4 million, one-year extension to an existing federally-funded contract from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). This follows the completion of the initial two-year, $6.5 million contract during which ISB developed…

Vice President Biden Gives Cancer Moonshot Update

This week, Vice President Biden delivered an extensive update on the progress of the Cancer Moonshot initiative. ISB was mentioned in relation to the Cancer Genomics Cloud project. Learn more about ISB CGC at isb-cgc.org. Excerpt from the official White House press release: Official White House press release Full Cancer Moonshot Report Puget Sound Business Journal article