The 91爆料 is proud to announce that more than 40 faculty and researchers who completed their work while at 91爆料 have been named on the annual list from Clarivate.

The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their chosen field or fields through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Their names are drawn from the publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index.

The list of faculty and researchers whose primary affiliation is with the 91爆料 or with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation who were acknowledged for their work includes:

David Baker

William A. Banks

Gregory N. Bratman

Steven L. Brunton

Guozhong Cao

William A. Catterall

Helen Chu

David H. Cobden

Katharine H.D. Crawford

Riza M. Daza

Frank DiMaio

Evan E. Eichler

Michael Gale Jr.

Raphael Gottardo

Allison J. Greaney

Alexander L. Greninger

Simon I. Hay

Celestia S. Higano

Neil P. King

James B. Leverenz

Charles M. Marcus

Philip Mease

Ali Mokdad

Thomas J. Montine*

Christopher J. L. Murray

Mohsen Naghavi

William S. Noble

Young-Jun Park

David M. Pigott

Stanley Riddell

Andrea Schietinger **

Jay Shendure

M. Alejandra Tortorici

Troy R. Torgerson***

Cole Trapnell

David Veesler

Theo Vos

Alexandra C. Walls****

Bryan J. Weiner

Spencer A. Wood

Sanfeng Wu

Di Xiao

Xiaodong Xu

The that determines the 鈥渨ho鈥檚 who鈥� of influential researchers draws on the data and analysis performed by bibliometric experts and data scientists at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. It also uses the tallies to identify the countries and research institutions where these scientific elite are based.

The full 2023 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found online .

* now is at Stanford University.

** now is at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

*** now is at the Allen Institute.

**** now is at BoiNTech SE.

now is at Princeton University.

• 顿谤.听, professor of medicine and of immunology at the 91爆料, as well as the Rona Jaffe Foundation Endowed Chair at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and head of the Program in Immunology in its Clinical Research Division
• , the Robert R. and Elaine F. Phelps Endowed Professor in Mathematics at the 91爆料

Greenberg and Uhlmann are among 120 new members and 23 international members elected 鈥渋n recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research,鈥� May 2 by the academy. Chartered in 1863, the National Academy of Sciences provides policy advice and input to governmental, nonprofit and private organizations.

Greenberg鈥檚 laboratory is internationally respected for its work on T-cell therapies for cancer and chronic infections. A type of white blood cell, T cells are part of the body鈥檚 defenses. His team is identifying tumor antigens 鈥� or substances that provoke immune responses 鈥� that could be targets for T cells and the basis of anti-cancer therapies. Clinical trials of T-cell therapies are currently underway for patients with small cell lung cancer, malignant melanoma and acute leukemia 鈥� along with preclinical research for ovarian and pancreatic cancers. Greenberg鈥檚 research also focuses on developing techniques to monitor T-cell infusions for potential obstacles to immune therapy. Other work includes seeking ways to erase immune 鈥渕emory鈥� in T cells and reprogram them with another immune response. He is also testing strategies to activate natural killer cells 鈥� another immune system component 鈥� against cancer.

Greenberg earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.D. from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. He was a medical resident, and later a postdoctoral researcher, at the University of California, San Diego, before joining Fred Hutch as a clinical and research fellow in oncology. Greenberg was recently named president of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Uhlmann is a world-renowned expert in inverse problems, which involves calculating the causal factors behind a set of observations. Among other applications, Uhlmann has explored identifying an object by how it scatters light and other electromagnetic waves. As part of these efforts, he has formulated theories for certain types of cloaking technologies, some of which have been realized. He has also worked on partial differential equations, imaging and microlocal analysis.

Uhlmann earned a degree in mathematics from the University of Chile in 1973 and a doctoral degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976. Beginning his academic career at MIT, he joined the 91爆料 faculty in 1984, and held the Walker Family Endowed Professorship in Mathematics from 2006 to 2022. Since 2014, Uhlmann has been the Si Yuan Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He has also held chairs and professorships at Cambridge University, the University of Helsinki, the Paris Mathematical Science Foundation and the University of California, Berkeley. Among other honors, elected fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012 and fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2010.

With this year鈥檚 additions, the National Academy of Sciences now has 2,565 active members and 526 international members.

The 91爆料 rose from No. 7 to No. 6 on the聽, released on Tuesday. The 91爆料 maintained its No. 2 ranking among U.S. public institutions.

U.S. News also ranked several subjects, and the 91爆料 placed in the top 10 in 10 subject areas, including immunology (No. 4), molecular biology and genetics (No. 5) and clinical medicine (No. 6).

In another ranking out this week, Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 by Subject, six subject areas at the 91爆料 placed in the top 25.

鈥淎s a global public research university, the 91爆料鈥檚 mission is to create and accelerate change for the public good,鈥� 91爆料 President Ana Mari Cauce said. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud that these rankings reflect the outstanding and wide-ranging work of our faculty, staff and students to expand knowledge and discovery that is changing people鈥檚 lives for the better, particularly in the health sciences.鈥�

The U.S. News ranking 鈥斅� based on Web of Science data and metrics provided by Clarivate Analytics InCites 鈥� weighs factors that measure a university鈥檚 global and regional research reputation and academic research performance. For the overall rankings, this includes bibliometric indicators such as publications, citations and international collaboration.

The overall Best Global Universities ranking, now in its ninth year, encompasses the top 2,000 institutions spread across 90 countries, according to U.S. News.聽American universities make up eight of the top 10 spots.

Here are all the top 10 91爆料 rankings in U.S. News鈥� subject rankings:

• Immunology 鈥� No. 4
• Molecular biology and genetics 鈥� No. 5
• Clinical medicine 鈥� No. 6
• Geosciences 鈥� No. 7
• Infectious diseases 鈥� No. 7
• Public, environmental and occupational health 鈥� No. 7
• Social sciences and public health 鈥� No. 7
• Biology and biochemistry 鈥� No. 8
• Microbiology 鈥� No. 10

In the rankings, 91爆料鈥檚 programs in these areas placed in the top 25:

• : No. 15
• (includes agriculture and forestry, biological sciences, veterinary science and sport science): No. 16
• (includes medicine, dentistry and other health subjects): No. 17
• (includes communication and media studies, politics and international studies 鈥� including development studies, sociology and geography): No. 18
• (includes mathematics and statistics, physics and astronomy, chemistry, geology, environmental sciences, and Earth and marine sciences): No. 19
• (includes education, teacher training, and academic studies in education): No. 23

The subject tables employ the same used in the overall聽; however, the methodology is recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.

Amid a decline in funding for scientific research, is partnering with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Simons Foundation to launch a new Faculty Scholars program. by HHMI, the of early career scientists includes five faculty members from the 91爆料.

The Faculty Scholars program, which is distinct from the HHMI , is intended to support scientists in their initial years as research faculty. With dwindling grant opportunities, early and mid-career research scientists may feel more pressure to shelve innovative yet risky projects in favor of “safe,” more conventional alternatives. According to its , HHMI intends for this support to provide faculty members freedom and flexibility to pursue more innovative or risky projects 鈥� endeavors which have greater potential for scientific advancements but also less certainty for success.

The 84 scholars will share $84 million in funds over five years, broken down into $600,000 to $1.8 million for each recipient. Scholars are based at 43 institutions across the United States.

Three HHMI Faculty Scholars have primary appointments at the 91爆料 or the College of Arts & Sciences.

: associate professor of genome sciences

Dunham uses comparative genomics and experimental evolution techniques to investigate how yeast genomes evolve over spans of a few weeks to millions of years. Her research informs therapies that counter the evolution of drug resistance in fungal and bacterial pathogens, viruses and cancer.

: professor of biology

Nemhauser studies plant signaling pathways to learn how multicellular organisms develop and respond to their environment. She gleans information about molecular networks in natural systems and then synthetically programs these core functions into yeast cells to measure the effect of evolved and engineered changes. Her ultimate aim is to develop technologies that support farmers and foster global health.

: associate professor of immunology

Stetson studies how our cells detect infection by a virus. Sensors of foreign DNA and RNA are essential for activating immune responses to viruses, but they can also cause autoimmune disease if not properly regulated. Stetson鈥檚 lab explores this dichotomy of protective immunity and autoimmunity activated by the same antiviral sensors.

In addition, two scholars based at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have joint appointments as 91爆料 faculty members.

: assistant member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and 91爆料 affiliate associate professor of genome sciences and microbiology

Bloom studies the evolution of proteins and viruses. He develops experimental and computational techniques to understand the forces that shape evolution at the molecular level. This work provides insight into how viruses such as influenza can rapidly change to evade immune system defenses.

: associate member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and 91爆料 affiliate associate professor of statistics

Matsen is developing computational algorithms to analyze large sets of genetic data from an evolutionary perspective. He also is working to improve the accuracy of analyses used by biologists to infer evolutionary relationships between species or individual organisms.

###

Portions of this post were adapted from provided by HHMI.

For more information, contact James Urton in the 91爆料 Office of News & Information at 206-543-2580 or jurton@uw.edu.

The details of these findings suggest potential targets for treating HCV, according to a research team led by Dr. Ram Savan, assistant professor of immunology at the 91爆料. The study was published in Nature Immunology.

HCV infects more than 150 million of the world’s people. The virus is notorious for evading the body’s immune system and establishing an infection that can continue for decades, despite treatment. A lasting infection can damage the liver, and in some cases produce liver cancer. HCV infection is a major cause of liver failure requiring an organ transplant.

The virus, hiding in other tissues, can return in the transplanted liver. HCV and the human immune system are engaged in a seemingly never-ending duel, each trying to overcome the others latest move. Several HCV mechanisms for defying the body’s immune system have already been uncovered.

Present treatments are about 70 percent effective in curing the infection, Savan said. The triple combination treatments consist of interferon, ribavirin and direct-acting antiviral agents.

He added, however, that resistant strains of HCV are emerging in antiviral treated patients. Also troubling, he said, is that certain patients can undergo almost a year of treatment weeks 鈥� and still be infected. They’ve endured the unpleasant, flu-like side effects of the regimen with little benefit.

After observing that patients of Asian descent reacted better to HCV treatment than did those of African descent, other research teams searched entire human genomes to identify gene clusters associated with response to therapy.

On chromosome 19, the scientists found different, single-letter DNA code changes linked to treatment response and the natural ability to clear HCV infection.

These tiny genetic variations are located near an area that encodes for interferon-lamda3 (IFNL3), also called interleukin-28B. Viruses can trigger blood cells and other cells to produce this potent substance, which is released to protect against virus invasion.

The mechanism aligning this genetic finding with clearance of HCV had been elusive, Savan’s group noted in their paper. His team discovered how the single-letter variation in the IFNL3 gene was responsible for the differences between those who could and those who could not effectively clear HCV.

Individuals who carry the T (for thymidine) variant have an unfavorable outcome in fighting HCV, while those who carry the G (for guanosine) variant have a favorable outcome.

Their data showed that HCV could induce liver cells to target the activities of the IFNL3 gene with two microRNAs. MicroRNAs are silencers: They stop the messengers who transmit information to produce a protein from a gene, in this case the production of the antiviral interferon lambda-3.

These two particular microRNAs are generally turned off in liver cells, until HCV coerces them to act on its behalf. Normally, these so called myomiRs are associated with myosin-encoding genes in skeletal and heart muscle.

“This is a previously unknown strategy by which HCV evades the immune system and suggests that these microRNAs could be therapeutic targets for restoring the host antiviral response,” the researchers wrote in their paper. Adding support to this suggestion is the researchers’ observation that the bad-acting microRNAs in question could not land on and repress interferon lambda-3, if the host carried the favorable “G” variant.

In those cases, the host is able to escape adverse regulation by HCV, the researchers observed. Savan pointed out that this particular escape variant has been found only in humans, and not in other primates. He said it is not yet known if the G variant arose in humans as a response to selective pressure by infection with HCV.

Savan came to the 91爆料 in late 2011 from the National Institutes of Health. The first author on the paper, Adelle McFarland, was a research scientist in Savan’s lab and is now a graduate student in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program at the 91爆料.

Funding for this project came from a start-up grant from the 91爆料 Department of Immunology and from the National Institutes of Health (HHSN261200800001E, AI060389, AI88778, and CA148068)

Other researchers on the project, reported in the article “The favorable IFNL3 genotype escapes mRNA decay mediated by AU-rich elements and hepatitis C virus-induced microRNAS,” were Stacy M. Horner, Abigail Jarret, Rochelle C. Joslyn, all at the 91爆料 Department of Immunology at the time of the study; Eckart Bindewald and Mary Carrington of the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Bruce A. Shapiro of the National Cancer Institute, and Don A. Delker and Curt H. Hagedorn, both of the University of Utah. Michael Gale, Jr., a collaborator in this study, is from the 91爆料 Department of Immunology.

A Nature Immunology News & Views commentary, “Outflanking HCV.” by Zhigang Tian of the University Of Life Sciences Of China in Hefei, gives a perspective on the research findings.

These findings are reported Dec. 16 in the advanced online edition of the journal Nature. The research was a collaboration between the 91爆料 and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute.

Dr. Lalita Ramakrishan, who studies how TB evades the body’s immune system and manipulates the body’s defenses for its own ends, is the senior author. She is a 91爆料 professor of microbiology, medicine and immunology. The lead author is C.J. Cambier of the 91爆料 Department of Immunology.

Ramakrishnan noted that the recent study suggests an explanation for the longstanding observation that tuberculosis infections begin in the comparatively sterile lower lungs. In the upper respiratory tract, resident microbes and inhaled microbes of a variety of species signal their presence.

These tip-offs alert and attract many infection-fighting cells to the upper airways. The presence of other microbes in the upper airway may thereby help to keep TB infections at bay by creating a hostile environment.

Their presence may explain why TB is less contagious than diseases caused by several other respiratory pathogens.

To produce an illness, TB bacteria must sneak through this well-patrolled area and head for parts of the lungs where fewer microbiocidal cells are policing.

Like most other bacteria, TB pathogens have telltale molecular patterns that should activate an immune response. However, TB pathogens have evolved mechanisms to circumvent tripping the alarm. Almost like home intruders wearing a stocking over their faces, the TB pathogens produce particular types of fatty substances, or lipids, on their cell surfaces.

These lipids, abbreviated as PDIM, are already known to be associated with bacterial virulence. The researchers showed that PDIM lipids function by masking the underlying molecular patterns that would reveal their dangerous nature to infection-fighting cells.

At the same time, a related lipid – called PGL – on the bacterium’s cell surface promotes the recruitment of clean-up cells that engulf but don’t kill the TB pathogens. Instead, they take them across the lung lining, deep into the lung tissue where the bacteria can establish an infection.

The TB pathogens then use the other lipid molecule, PGL, to co-opt a host chemical pathway that triggers the recruitment of the permissive macrophages.

The present study expands on earlier work in the Ramakrishan and collaborative labs, which helped describe the strategies by which TB pathogens manipulate host pathways for their own purposes after they enter certain host cells.

These include the secretion of proteins that expand the niche for TB by recruiting macrophages to the early lung tubercles characteristic of the disease. The present study describes earlier stages in infection, when the pathogens first come in contact with their potential host at the surface of the lung lining.

“The current study suggests the manner in which the TB pathogens manipulate recruitment of the first responding macrophages to gain access to their preferred niche,” the researchers noted.

“The choreographed entry involves two related TB cell lipids acting in concert to avoid one host pathway while inducing another,” they wrote. The findings link the previously known, absolutely essential virulence factor on the surface of TB cells, PDIM, to the evasion of immune cell detection. On the other hand, PGL is not required on the surface of TB cells for them to infect the body.

Ramakrishnan noted that globally, a lot of samples of TB taken from infected patients do not have PGL. “However,” she and her research team noted, “the importance of PGL in mediating TB virulence or transmission is underscored by its presence in many of the W-Beijing strains” of TB which are starting to appear in more patient samples, and which have predominated in outbreaks in North America.

Ramakrishnan explains that their findings suggest how PGL may be important in increasing TB’s infectivity.

“The presence of PGL in ancestral strains of TB suggest it played an integral role in the evolution of TB infectivity,” the researchers noted. “TB is an ancient disease and the enhanced infectivity conferred by PGL may have been essential for most of its history before human crowding, with its increased opportunity for transmission, made it dispensable.”

The study findings, and previous work on TB, might also explain why smaller droplets of TB are more infectious than larger ones. Only the smaller droplets can make their way down into the lower airways. All it takes is 3 or fewer TB mycobacteria with PGL-producing ability to enter the lower lungs and start an infection.

###

The other researchers on the study, in addition to Cambier and Ramkrishnan, were Kevin K. Takaki, David M. Tobin, and Christina L. Cosma, all of the 91爆料 Department of Microbiology; Ryan Larson and Kevin N. Urdahl of the of the 91爆料 Department of Immunology and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. Urdahl also is from the 91爆料 Department of Pediatrics.

The research was supported by training and research grants from the National Science Foundation, American Lung Association, National Institutes of Health, and American Cancer Society. Tobin is an NIH New Innovator and Ramakrishnan is an NIH Pioneer.