Top news:
- Vote for UW–Madison in the STAT Madness bracket. STAT News has released a March Madness-style competition among 64 biomedical discoveries from U.S. labs in the past year. Our contender: A team of Badger scientists led by David Andes of SMPH and Tim Bugni of School of Pharmacy discovered a new antifungal from the microbiome of a sea squirt, showing how the ocean’s creatures are an untapped source of the future’s medicine. Readers vote for their favorites in six rounds of elimination to yield a champion. To cast your vote,
- To here, and click on the “vote” tab
- Scroll down to UW–Madison vs. Cleveland Clinic
- Click on the checkmark graphic over UW–Madison
- Vote early and often. (No joke. You can vote daily.)
- Tweet or post on social media to encourage others to vote, using the hashtags #StatMadness and #Core64. Round 1 of voting closes on Sunday, March 7 at 10:59 p.m. central. If we have more votes than Cleveland Clinic by that time, we’ll advance to the next round. Currently, we’re tied.
- COVID-19 updates:
- Vaccine Town Hall: On Thursday, March 4 from noon to 1 p.m., campus experts will discuss COVID-19 vaccine efforts at UW–Madison. The livestream will be available here. Another town hall will occur at noon on March 17.
- Research update: A study published in Nature Medicine showed that grafting neurons grown from monkeys’ own cells into their brains relieved the debilitating movement and depression symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. Read more
- The UW System is hosting a series of town halls on the new single payroll initiative, with the first one on Wednesday, March 3 from 12-1 p.m. Information will be provided about how the new single biweekly payroll system will affect employees’ paychecks and how to prepare for the change. Q&A will occur during each session. Read more and register
- The next installment of the 2021 Innovations in Informatics Seminar Series will be on March 9 at 4:30 p.m., titled “National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) and the Data Enclave.” The presentation will feature Melissa Haendel, PhD, Director of Translational Data Science, Oregon State University. Read more and register
- Drug development funding opportunity — Submit a project proposal to WARF Therapeutics by April 5. The program collaborates with researchers working on translational research with a validated target and therapeutic disease hypothesis to advance their project closer to clinical testing — a “bench to bedside” approach. Learn more and submit
- Save the date for the Spring Faculty/Staff meeting on Monday, April 26 at 4:30 p.m. An agenda and Webex link are forthcoming. Ring in spring by hearing the latest updates from school leaders and submitting your questions for discussion.
- Postdoctoral researchers and graduate students are invited to submit posters for the 15th Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium poster session and contest. Poster deadline: March 31. The event will be on April 14. Read more and register
- View this week’s Quick Links, with valuable information for all personnel, as well as information for researchers and clinicians.
Building an Anti-Racist SMPH
- A lecture titled, “Who, Me Biased? The Reality and the Solutions to Unconscious Bias in Medicine” will be held on March 9 from noon-1:00 p.m. with Narjust Duma, MD, assistant professor (CHS), Department of Medicine. Register
- View upcoming events relating to anti-racism and/or diversity, equity and inclusion topics at UW–Madison and beyond.
Shout-outs
Please send kudos about your colleagues. Honor someone at go.wisc.edu/shoutout and we’ll share the stories. Submit your thoughts and we’ll share them in a future issue.
Telecommuting Tips
What might a hybrid work environment mean for your team? See this MIT Sloan Management Review article about four principles that can help ensure hybrid work is productive.