Dr. David Eagleman — bestselling author, TV personality, CEO of Neosensory, adjunct professor at Stanford, TED speaker, and more — was the featured guest at the ISB-Town Hall Seattle event focusing on brain health. His presentation was titled “Can We Create New Senses for Humans?”
Sociologist Dr. Jennifer Reich, author of “Calling the Shots,” was the featured speaker of a virtual event hosted by ISB and Town Hall Seattle. She discussed the complex and increasingly political world of vaccines, how vaccines are viewed as a personal consumption product vs. a public health solution, COVID-19 vaccine development, and more.
Dr. Knatokie Ford was the featured speaker of a virtual event hosted by ISB and Town Hall Seattle, and shared many of the experiences that helped pave her way to become a leading voice in STEM policy and advocacy, and identified several ways parents and teachers can encourage kids to become tomorrow’s STEM professionals.
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 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.
Letter from the president: Dr. Jim Heath announces the kickoff of a 2020 celebration marking ISB’s 20th anniversary. The year-long celebration will include an ISB-Town Hall Seattle speaker series focusing on some of the most important topics in science and health care.
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.
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.
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.
Caroline Cannistra joined ISB in 2018 as a Systems Research Scholar. The Systems Research Scholars Program provides recent college undergraduates a springboard to become the next generation’s pioneers of interdisciplinary scientific research.
About 75 people attended “Reimagine,” ISB’s annual fundraiser, and contributed nearly $35,000 to accelerate groundbreaking research. The event was held at The Ruins, and featured presentations by legendary biologist and ISB Co-founder Dr. Lee Hood and renowned scientist and ISB President Dr. Jim Heath.
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.
In the two decades since joining Dr. Lee Hood as a postdoc, Dr. Qiang Tian has made a tremendous impact on ISB’s science and culture. March 31 is his final day at ISB, as he is returning to China and joining Shanghai’s National Research Center for Translational Medicine.
ISB President Dr. Jim Heath and ISB Co-founder Dr. Lee Hood are prominently featured in a new podcast created by Ozy, the popular news website. The podcast is called “The Future of X.” In the series’ first episode, Heath and Hood discuss cancer immunotherapy, personalized health care, and more.
An impressive lineup of renowned researchers gathered at ISB recently for a one-day symposium, titled “Visions of the Future,” to honor ISB co-founder Dr. Lee Hood on his 80th birthday. Presenters included Drs. Irv Weissman, Ralph Snyderman, Ellen Rothenberg, Roger Perlmutter, Jim Heath, Trey Ideker, and more.
The Andy Hill Cancer Research Endowment (CARE) announced $750,000 in grant funding for Dr. Jim Heath’s work on proactive cancer immunotherapies for initial and recurrent disease. This is the first stage of a planned longer program led by Jim and ISB, and involving Swedish Cancer Institute, Earl A. Chiles Research Institute in Portland, and UW Medicine.
The Institute for Systems Biology has created the ISB Foundation, which aims to implement fundraising programs to appeal to individual donors and foundations, provide support for capital expenditures for equipment or building additions, grow the ISB endowment, and create new endowed positions and programs.
