ISB researchers examined representative organisms of two classes of microbes whose interaction contributes to the conversion of more than 1 gigaton of carbon into methane every year. They found that gene mutations selected over a relatively short timeframe in the two microbes led to distinct functions.
High school students Ashwin Mukherjee and Rohan Chanani worked with ISB Research Scientist Dr. Jacob Valenzuela on a project to build a machine learning algorithm to count algal cells from microscope images taken from a cell phone. In April, the team was recognized as champions in the DOE-sponsored AlgaePrize competition.
Renowned artist Ginny Ruffner and ISB President Dr. Jim Heath delivered a lecture at Town Hall Seattle about the intersection of art and science. They spoke about how creation stories tie scientists and artists together, and how their approaches are both similar and different from that point on.
The quest to create cultivated meat has been a true multidisciplinary puzzle. It’s biology, engineering, physics, bioinformatics, mathematics, computer science, and more. Enter systems biology. ISB and other organizations are toiling to better understand how to create lab-grown meat in a safe, effective manner that can eventually scale up to compete with traditional meat.
Researchers from ISB’s Baliga Lab recently published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, in which they identified a diatom-specific gene that may play a key role in predicting when diatoms might transition from a low/moderate to a high carbon dioxide environment.
ISB Drs. Jacob Valenzuela and Nitin Baliga are working to answer key questions about how climate change is affecting marine life and food supplies. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation announced a $4 million grant over three years to support efforts aimed to help coral reefs survive the impacts of climate change.
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.
Kyle Kinzler, a high school biology teacher from Portland, Oregon, spent part of last summer at Institute for Systems Biology to evolve his curriculum and learn new ways to teach relevant, compelling and innovative content to his students. As a result, he says his classes has “come alive.”
In a study published in Nature Communications and with implications for understanding effects of climate change, ISB researchers show microscopic phytoplankton are more resilient in an acidified environment.
ISB participated in Earth To Dinner 2 on Jan. 12 at Seattle Culinary Academy. This was a follow-up event for the Dec. 12 Earth to Dinner event at ISB. (Read more…) The theme was sustainable food/agriculture and urban design. Panelists for the evening included: Grace Kim: Architect and co-founder of Schemata Workshop Liz Fikejs: Conservation Program Manager, Seattle Public Utilities Jessica Day: Project Manager, Project Feed 1010 Dean DeCrease: Principal…
Ivan Esmeral, one of ISB’s 2016 summer high school interns in the Baliga Lab, was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania under its early decision program. He plans on pursuing a dual degree in systems science and engineering at the Engineering School and economics at the Wharton School. Ivan had this to say about his time at ISB: “ISB took a chance on me (for which) I could never repay…
It started with a call to action: On Dec. 12, the first anniversary of the Paris Agreement, gather around the dinner table with friends and other community members to discuss climate action. Organizers from GOOD Magazine and the Earth To Coalition hoped that this grassroots movement, given the incoming administration, would inspire people to keep climate action at the top of minds. ISB answered the call and decided to host…
Earth To Dinner: In December 2015, 195 global leaders came together to adopt the historic Paris Agreement – the world’s first comprehensive climate agreement. GOOD, in partnership with the #EarthTo coalition (100+ partners strong), has created the #EarthToDinner (earthtodinner.org) climate conversation dinner series to keep climate action on the table. Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is hosting dinner for 50 at its labs in the South Lake Union neighborhood of…
High school students Linnea Stavney and Ivan Esmeral produced this awesome documentary about their summer internship in our Baliga Lab, where they helped to oversee work related to Project Feed 1010.
By Claudia Ludwig Baliga Lab Education Program Manager The past nine days have been exciting for the Baliga Lab. Dr. Anne Thompson and I have been working with eight teachers to begin the process of translating Anne’s oceanography research on the Invisible Forest into curriculum that offers a hands-on, engaging experience for high school students. The group developed the framework and drafted lessons that will be field tested this year….
Our team from Project Feed 1010 participated in the University of Washington’s Earth Day events on April 22, which took place on Red Square. Our researchers shared their work in aquaponics. Read more about Project Feed 1010 work.
ISB’s Project Feed 1010 is building a global, crowd-sourced network of educators, students, researchers and farmers to optimize and scale-up sustainable agriculture practices and educate the future scientific workforce. To support this global network, we have partnered with Northeastern University to develop database, web and mobile infrastructures with functionalities for data tracking, monitoring, analytics and predictive modeling. More than 20 graduate-level computer science students enrolled in an interactive course have…
