News

Common Immune Response Protective Across Many Diseases

Infection, autoimmunity and cancer account for 40 percent of deaths worldwide. In a Cell Reports paper, ISB researchers detail how the human immune system works in common ways across diseases – findings that offer promising avenues for exploring multi-disease therapeutic strategies.

Breakthrough T Cell Discovery Has Huge Potential for Engineering Custom Immune Responses

In a breakthrough discovery that changes how we understand T cells and with implications of how we can better engineer custom immune responses to fight disease, Institute for Systems Biology researchers showed that the different disease-fighting functions of different T cells are determined by the genetically encoded T-cell receptor sequence that are unique to those cells.

ISB Building at dusk

2023 Year in Review

Throughout 2023, ISB research has been published in impactful peer-reviewed journals and our scientists have been featured in major media outlets and popular podcasts. In this 2023 Year in Review, we showcase some of our most important and interesting highlights of the year.

How Immune Cells ‘See’ and Respond to Mutations in Cancer Cells

In a just-published paper in the journal Nature, a collaborative team of researchers from ISB, UCLA, PACT Pharma, and beyond analyzed T-cell responses in melanoma patients who were treated with different immune checkpoint inhibitors, and how those responses evolved over time.

Ginny Ruffner and Dr. Jim Heath Explore the Intersection of Art and Science

Renowned artist Ginny Ruffner and ISB President Dr. Jim Heath delivered a lecture at Town Hall Seattle about the intersection of art and science. They spoke about how creation stories tie scientists and artists together, and how their approaches are both similar and different from that point on.

In First-of-Its-Kind Trial, Scientists Use CRISPR to Treat Cancer

Scientists for the first time have used CRISPR to substitute a gene to treat patients with cancer. The remarkable findings were published in the journal Nature and presented at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 2022.

Reimagining Chronic Illness: A Conversation With Meghan O’Rourke

Author Meghan O’Rourke recently joined ISB President Dr. Jim Heath for a virtual fireside chat focused on reimagining chronic illness – also the topic of O’Rourke’s New York Times bestselling book. This event was the latest in the ISB-Town Hall Seattle Science Series.

Improving Cancer Care for All: A Conversation with Drs. Jim Heath, Jim Allison and Lynda Chin

ISB President Dr. Jim Heath talks with Nobel laureate and Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at MD Anderson Cancer Center Dr. Jim Allison and Apricity Health CEO Dr. Lynda Chin. Drs. Heath, Allison and Chin discuss disparities in cancer care and ways to bring state-of-the-art care from big cities and major academic centers to rural and underserved areas.

ISB President Dr. Jim Heath

ISB Leading NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center to Study Sequential Targeted Inhibitors and Immunotherapies

The NCI awarded ISB a 5-year, $13 million grant to lead a comprehensive cancer center and study sequential combinations of targeted inhibitors and immunotherapies. The program is designed to determine if the treatments yield greater patient benefit when administered in sequence rather than as monotherapies or as simultaneously administered combinations.

Understanding, Preventing and Treating Long-Term Effects of COVID: RECOVER Study Enrolling Patients from Pacific Northwest

As part of a massive nationwide effort, ISB is leading a multi-site consortium for the NIH RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) Initiative. The Pacific Northwest consortium is made up of ISB, Providence, Swedish, and University of Washington School of Medicine.

Jim Heath AACR Academy Fellow

Dr. Jim Heath Named Fellow of AACR Academy Class of 2022

Dr. Jim Heath was announced as a newly elected Fellow of the American Academy for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy Class of 2022. “I am honored and humbled to be recognized as part of this renowned group of researchers who have done so much to move our understanding of cancer forward,” Heath said.

Predicting ‘Long COVID’ At Initial Point of COVID-19 Diagnosis

Researchers have identified several factors that can be measured at the initial point of COVID-19 diagnosis that anticipate if a patient is likely to develop long COVID. They also found that mild cases of COVID-19, not just severe cases, are associated with long COVID. Their findings were published by the journal Cell.

Research Roundtable with Dr. Jim Heath on COVID

On January 18, 2022, Dr. Jim Heath gave a talk on COVID at the first Research Roundtable event of 2022. Research Roundtable is a series of ISB hosted conversations with our leading scientists on the latest research happening at ISB. Designed for a lay audience, this series is open to all. Attendees have the opportunity to ask questions directly to our scientists.

Drs. Jim Heath, Yapeng Su and Jihoon Lee

Metabolic Changes in Plasma and Immune Cells Associated with COVID-19 Severity, May Predict Patient Survival

Researchers from Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and other organizations have uncovered underlying metabolic changes that regulate how immune cells react to COVID-19. These findings are associated with COVID-19 severity and may predict patient survival. The work was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Glioblastoma tumor slice and corresponding density map

Looking at Tumors Through a New Lens

To improve the efficacy of neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade against glioblastoma, researchers are looking for vulnerabilities in surgically removed tissues – a difficulty due to the vast differences within the tumor and between patients. To address this, ISB researchers and their collaborators developed a new way to study tumors.

Dr. Temple Grandin and the Importance of Getting Kids Outside

Dr. Temple Grandin was the featured guest of the latest ISB-Town Hall Seattle Science Series. Grandin discussed her new book – “The Outdoor Scientist: The Wonder of Observing the Natural World” – and a variety of other topics. Following her talk, she joined ISB President Dr. Jim Heath for a wide ranging Q&A discussion. 

2021 Innovator Awards

Three Collaborative Projects Announced for ISB’s 2021 Innovator Award Program

ISB has kicked off the fifth year of its Innovator Award Program by announcing three collaborative and cross-disciplinary projects. The program was created in 2017 to support early-career scientists working on high-risk, high-reward innovations, and champions interdisciplinary collaboration for non-faculty ISB researchers.

Goldwater Scholar Daniel Chen

ISB Undergraduate Researcher Daniel Chen Earns Goldwater Scholarship

Daniel Chen, an undergraduate researcher in ISB’s Heath Lab and junior at the University of Washington, has been awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Chen has been a key member of ISB’s COVID-19 Immune Response Study.