• image description

    Applying mathematics in the fight against cancer

    Treatments for malignant brain tumors (glioma) vary little from one patient to the next and are limited to radiation, surgery, and drugs that often cause debilitating side effects with modest survival improvement. Mathematics might seem an unlikely addition to the mix, but could provide a powerful new tool enabling more accurate prognosis and more personalized treatment that could improve quality of care and of life.… View More

  • image description

    A new approach in the treatment of drinking water

    In the industrialized world, drinking water undergoes a rigorous purification process to remove harmful contaminants. In the developing world, more than a billion people lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Mark Benjamin, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is using a common water treatment additive, aluminum oxide, in an innovative new way to improve conventional water filtration processes. In laboratory studies Benjamin heated aluminum… View More

  • image description

    Researcher’s skill set tackles monitoring of abnormal heart rhythms

    David Linker is a UW cardiologist with engineering training and the technical chops to invent a device to improve monitoring and diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common abnormality in heart rhythm. The UW Center for Commercialization began working with Linker in 2004, providing a Commercialization Gap Fund award to develop a prototype device and identifying additional support from the Washington Research Foundation. Five… View More

  • image description

    Image Analysis Technology Helps Prevent Strokes

    More than 15 years of UW research to identify patients at high risk for a stroke has matured into technology now exclusively licensed to a UW start-up company, VPDiagnostics. The Seattle company received a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund a multi-center clinical study to evaluate use of the technology in more than 300 patients. MRI-PlaqueView is image-processing software… View More

  • image description

    New Material Extends the Life of Touch Screen Devices

    If the letter “e” goes dead on the touch screen of an iPhone, Tablet PC, or other mobile device, a recycling or trash bin is the next stop. A supermarket touch screen wears out after about 50,000 uses. Alex Jen, Professor and Chair of Materials Science and Engineering, is developing new technology to extend the durability of these products, no small goal given the burgeoning… View More