Trask to head Human Biology Division

Barbara Trask, professor of molecular biotechnology, will join the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center on Oct. 1 as head of the Human Biology Division.

Trask's laboratory develops and utilizes techniques for visualizing chromosomes, including fluorescence in situ hybridization, in which researchers deposit and detect a fluorescent signal at the sites of cloned genes. The technique allows researchers to locate specific genes or chromosomal regions within the cell's nucleus.

UW researchers and their international colleagues report in today's issue of Science that they have mapped the crystal structure of rhodopsin, one of a family of proteins crucial to virtually every physiological process. (Full story)

Wylie Burke, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Medical Genetics, has been named chair of the Department of Medical History and Ethics. Her appointment is effective Oct. 1, pending UW Board of Regents' approval. (Full story)

Paul Lange, professor and chair of the Department of Urology, has been named the first holder of the Wilma Wise Nelson, Ole A. Nelson and Mabel Wise Nelson Endowed Chair in Urology. (Full story)