March The University of Washington Board of Regents on March 10 approves a development plan for the construction of an 11-story building that will include BBI’s laboratories and offices. The building will also house the UW the Institute for Protein Design, among other tenants, and will be located in the university’s Portage Bay Crossing area on the west side of campus. Learn more at: https://brotmanbaty.org/news/uw-regents-approve-new-building-for-bbi-labs-and-offices
BBI launches Viruses and Vaccines seminars, a monthly one-hour presentation hosted by Dr. Helen Chu, offering participants observations and insights from leading researchers and clinicians. BBI’s Trevor Bedford presents on “SARS-CoV-2 Evolution in Light of Omicron” in the inaugural seminar on March 15. Watch that presentation and subsequent ones at https://brotmanbaty.org/events
April BBI’s Dr. Evan Eichler and more than 90 colleagues from numerous countries publish a series of papers April 1 on the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome. This extraordinary achievement by a consortium, the Telomere-to-Telomere, obtain complete sequences of all 23 human chromosomes, end-to-end. TIME magazine later names Eichler and three other senior authors among its Most Influential People of 2022. Learn the backstory behind the paper here: https://brotmanbaty.org/news/the-backstory-of-the-first-complete-sequence-of-the-human-genome
June The fifth annual Mutational Scanning Symposium is held June 13, 14, and 16 in Toronto and online. Among the highlights were discussions with and presentations by younger scientists, says BBI’s Dr. Doug Fowler, one of two keynote speakers. For more highlights, see: https://brotmanbaty.org/news/q-and-a-highlights-of-the-2022-mutational-scanning-symposium
July The Seattle Flu Study (SFS) and Greater Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network Study (SCAN) end their recruitment and research on July 31, following years of contributing to scientific discovery and improving public health in Seattle. Researchers and principal investigators are continuing their analyses of respiratory viruses through the Seattle Flu Alliance, in collaboration with other organizations. Learn more: https://brotmanbaty.org/news/uw-medicine-bbi-scan-program-sunsetting-seattle-flu-study-becomes-seattle
September In a pre-print paper published September 9, BBI’s Dr. Danny Miller, in collaboration with other BBI faculty, explains the use of whole-genome sequencing to assess genetic risk of a newborn three hours old. This was an unprecedented procedure on such a young infant and an important milestone in advancing precision medicine. Other BBI members were co-authors, including: Drs. Michael J. Bamshad, Evan Eichler, Christina M. Lockwood, and Andrew B. Stergachis. In addition, three representatives of Oxford Nanopore Technologies participated in the study. Miller explains the sequencing at: https://brotmanbaty.org/news/dr-danny-miller-leads-bbi-project-sequencing-a-child-within-3-hours-of-birth
October BBI Scientific Director Dr. Jay Shendure is honored October 13 as "Inventor of the Year" by UW Medicine and UW’s CoMotion. Shendure commented that, “Part of the reason for my coming to the UW was the opportunity to explore new innovations in the area of sequencing…. We so appreciate the funding support from the Brotman and Baty families, flexible funding to go into areas of research we did not necessarily anticipate.” Past recipients of the award include: Drs. David Baker, Irwin Bernstein, Michael Cunningham, Alex Greninger, Bruce Montgomery, and Bonnie Ramsey. Learn more at: https://brotmanbaty.org/news/inventor-of-the-year-jay-shendure-thanks-donors-whose-flexible-funding
