PDF version - University of Washington

AUTISM
LINKED TO OLDER FATHERS
BIODEFENSE DRUG
Dangerous disease solutions
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
has awarded an $8.1 million biodefense grant to the UW, the
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Kineta, a
Seattle biotech company. The grant will fund development of
drugs to treat Ebola, plague, Japanese encephalitis and other
lethal pathogens. L www.bit.ly/J2tPrs
FOOD INSECURITY
Crop yields threatened by climate warmth
UW professor of atmospheric sciences David Battisti presented
research showing that greater volatility of summertime
temperatures caused by climate warming will harm graingrowing
regions of Europe and North and South America.
L www.bit.ly/x02YOf
UW RESEARCHERS WERE one of three teams of
university scientists who found a link between
autism spectrum disorder and mutations that
occur spontaneously near or during conception.
They determined that the mutations were from
the father at an overwhelming ratio of 4 to 1
with older fathers tending to have children with
more mutations.
Although the mutations are rare and account
for only a fraction of autism cases, the study is
important because it’s a step toward determining
the biological foundations of these
disorders. Dr. Brian J. O’Roak, a senior fellow in
the Department of Genome Sciences, was first
author of the UW study led by Drs. Jay Shendure
and Evan E. Eichler.
SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL
Funds for traffic solutions
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $3.5
million grant to a multi-university, regional transportation
center led by the UW. The new Pacific Northwest Transportation
Consortium led by Professor Yinhai Wang will conduct
research and develop sustainable solutions for the region’s
diverse transportation needs. L www.bit.ly/Jdyt5a
CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Neighborhood affects weight
Brian Saelens, UW professor of pediatrics and researcher at
Seattle Children’s Research Institute, led a study that found a
child’s neighborhood and access to quality parks and healthy
foods affects weight. Children who live in areas with poor resources
were more likely to be overweight. The findings were
published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.
RODENTS VS DINOSAURS
Mammals’ choppers eclipsed dinos
The Mesozoic Era that saw the disappearance of dinosaurs
may have had a rodent survivor. A new study by UW paleontologist
and biology professor Gregory P. Wilson shows that
multituberculates, rodent-like creatures, outlived dinosaurs
because their teeth evolved. L www.bit.ly/wVtttp
The researchers used the latest sequencing
technologies to build on a previous study with
an initial 20 families with an autistic child. In the
current study, they expanded the research to
include 677 individuals from 209 families with a
single child with autism. The also analyzed the
“exomes” of 50 unaffected siblings. Exomes are
the parts of our genome that encode genes.
The results of the three teams were published
in the journal Nature and covered by The New
York Times and media outlets across the U.S.
www.bit.ly/HNrD7U
LYDIA HESS
24 UW 150 Years