Every summer, , ĢĒŠÄŌ­““ associate professor of biology, and members of her lab head to northern Botswana to study how large predators, such as lions and African wild dogs, are affected by climate change and other shifts in their environment.

The researchers are particularly interested in understanding how these predators are changing their behavior ā€” including where they go and when they reproduce ā€” as the days get hotter and as the animals are more likely to come into contact with people. One example is a project studying how interactions between lions and wild dogs, which don’t typically get along, might change during heatwaves and droughts.

Abrahms is returning to Botswana again this summer, along with two other researchers in her lab: , a UW research scientist in biology, and , a UW doctoral student in biology. , UW professor of environmental and forest sciences, will also be joining for parts of the season. UW News asked Rafiq and Poulin a few questions about their upcoming work for the occasional series ā€œIn the Field,ā€ which highlights UW field efforts.

Tell us about the trip. Where are you going?

Kasim Rafiq: Our team will be traveling to the fringes of the . We have a long-standing partnership with , which has been operating a long-term monitoring program there since the 1990s. As part of this program, Wild Entrust operates a remote bush camp that we work out of, which we affectionately call “Wild Dog Camp,” or “Dog Camp” for short. This is really just a collection of tents in the middle of the African bush, and everything is non-permanent, meaning it could be quickly taken apart.

The camp is located in an area managed by the local community for wildlife tourism, and it borders the . So, itā€™s a wild landscape with lots of wildlife and lush vegetation. Thereā€™s no fence around the camp, so itā€™s not uncommon for animals to wander through the camp day and night, including lions, elephants, leopards and various species of snakes.

Have you visited this site before?

KR: I first came to Dog Camp in 2013 as a research assistant and then I completed my masterā€™s and doctoral research there studying leopards. For my doctoral project, I stayed at the camp for two years because leopards are pretty tricky to study. I’ve been back to Dog Camp every year since I joined the Abrahms Lab as a research scientist in 2021.

I feel very privileged to have been able to work with the people in camp for such a long period of time. Itā€™s been special to see how the camp has developed over that period, and also to maintain relationships with the Botswana-based teams.

MP: I joined the Abrahms Lab in 2024 and spent time in the field that year to become familiar with the carnivores that we study. I returned in 2025 and I began to learn essential field skills, such as how to track and follow carnivores in the bush. Iā€™m excited for my third visit to the field site this year.

How do you study these creatures?

KR: We use a combination of techniques. We directly watch these predators and use new conservation technologies to monitor animals year-round and during periods when itā€™s just not possible to follow them, such as when it’s too wet.

One key technology we use is wildlife tracking collars that use GPS sensors to let us see where the animals are going and accelerometers and microphones to let us know what theyā€™re doing. We like to think of these collars as Fitbits for wildlife. Just like your fitness tracker helps you better understand your movement and your sleep, these collars allow us to get deep insights into an animalā€™s behavior.

Can you talk about some of the projects you’re working on?

MP: Iā€™m looking at how social structure in wild dogs may influence how they respond to environmental change. Wild dogs live in tight-knit packs, just like grey wolves in North America. In each pack, usually only one lead pair has pups, while the rest of the pack ā€” often aunts, uncles and older siblings ā€” all work together to babysit, feed and protect the pups.

In my research, I am investigating how a packā€™s “social profile,” such as its size, family ties and history, affects how the animals adjust their movement patterns during heatwaves and droughts. I’m also looking at how increasing temperatures affect the timing of these dogs’ reproduction.

Overall, Iā€™m interested in understanding if the benefits of living in a group, such as the higher hunting success, pup care, and reproductive success seen in larger packs, might help buffer the impacts of environmental change on animal populations.

What are your goals for this trip?

KR: This year, our plan is to deploy tracking collars on the long-term lion and African wild dog study populations across our field site. The data that we’ll get from these collars is crucial for helping us understand how behaviors change year after year as a result of environmental change.

A key part of this field season will also involve following animals with these sensors and collecting video recordings of them doing different behaviors, such as where and how they hunt and feed. We will use the video data to train AI models that allow us to better understand how climate change is affecting these behaviors.

Whatā€™s something you really enjoy about doing this field work ā€” especially something that might not occur to most people?

KR: Two of the things I enjoy most are the behind-the-scenes parts of the work that are critical to this type of fieldwork, but that people rarely think about or see.

First, I really enjoy tracking animals. Thereā€™s something quite meditative about following a wild animalā€™s footprints through the grass.

The second is vehicle mechanics. Around 80% of fieldwork is fixing your Land Rover when it breaks down for some unknown reason, and although that tinkering can be frustrating, itā€™s also fun. Some of my favorite memories in the bush come from sitting in the sand and taking apart the engine.

MP: I love tracking animals using radio telemetry. The tracking collars we put on animals send out radio signals that we can detect with an antenna and receiver. By listening for the “ping,” we can tell which direction the animal is in and roughly how far away it is. The carnivores we study roam across huge areas, so tracking them often means a lot of driving on rough roads and not always having successful searches. But, hearing that first ā€” often really faint ā€” “ping” is always super exciting, and finding the animals feels rewarding.

I also especially love being in the field around sunrise and sunset, when the landscape looks golden, feels peaceful and the animals are most active.

More generally, is there anything you find surprising about doing field work?

KR: Although fieldwork is intensive and often the busiest part of the year, itā€™s busy in a very different way from office work. Iā€™m often surprised that, despite the long hours, I feel more energized in the field than I do at my desk. I think part of that comes from being so close to the animals and the landscape youā€™re trying to understand.

Iā€™m also a big believer that, although technologies like GPS collars and audio recorders now allow us to collect huge amounts of data from the comfort of our offices, those data are only as useful as our ability to interpret them. To do that well, you really need to understand your study animal. There are many ways to build that understanding, from reading books to watching documentaries, but for me, nothing compares to spending time in the field. I always come back with a dozen new ideas that have appeared while simply sitting and watching the animals.

MP: Doing field work is really enlightening. Itā€™s extremely valuable because it gives us a better understanding of the animals and their environment. By observing where animals spend their time, how they interact with one another and with other species, and the challenges they face, we can develop more meaningful research questions. Spending time in the field also sparks creativity, because it allows us to see and notice unexpected behaviors and inspires new ideas for research.

For more information, contact Rafiq at rafiqk@uw.edu and Poulin at mpoulin1@uw.edu.

While soccer is the most popular sport globally, it wasnā€™t high on the list in Ron Krabillā€™s home state of Indiana. As a high schooler, Krabillā€™s soccer team often had to travel an hour and a half to find the nearest school with a team. Krabill still became a lifelong fan.

Now a professor in UW Bothellā€™s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and director of the Global Sport Lab in the UW Jackson School of International Studies, Krabill never imagined soccer would become part of his academic work until he found himself conducting research in South Africa in 2010 when the country hosted the World Cup. Heā€™s been intertwining sport and academics ever since.

With Seattle scheduled to host World Cup games from June 15 to July 6, Krabill is gearing up to co-lead this yearā€™s UW Summer Institute in the Arts & Humanities with , UW teaching professor of communication, and , doctoral student in the UW Jackson School of International Studies. This yearā€™s theme, Seattleā€™s World Cup: Storytelling Through Community Mapping, will combine community mapping with other methodologies, including photo and video essays and journalistic reporting, to tell stories about Seattleā€™s experience with the World Cup.Ģż

The mapping technology was developed by , associate professor of Urban Studies at UW Tacoma. Kelley is the director of the Action Mapping Project, which works to engage issues of livability, equity, and voice in marginalized neighborhoods through the use of participatory data collection, spatial data analysis, mapping and data visualization.

UW News talked with Krabill about his plans for participating students, his background in sports scholarship, what heā€™ll be watching during Seattleā€™s tournament games and more.

When did your love of soccer and your academic work first intersect and how have you continued that work?

Ron Krabill: I lived and worked in South Africa on and off between 1996 and 2010 doing research on South African media, the late Apartheid Era and the media’s impact on anti-Apartheid politics. And then South Africa hosted the World Cup. I had been to two Womenā€™s World Cups, but never before to a Menā€™s World Cup and I thought, ā€œI canā€™t be in South Africa when this happens and not go.ā€ It just felt too big and too important. It was a momentous thing for South Africa as a nation.Ģż

A lot of debates were happening from the time South Africa was awarded the World Cup about whether it was going to be a good thing or a bad thing and what it meant. My academic work was concerned with a state putting a lot of money into feel-good projects whenĢż itā€™s struggling to provide basic resources for its people. I around 2010 for Social Text, which is an academic journal that covers a wide range of social and cultural phenomena. The piece talked about the challenge for people who love soccer but also see all the problems with soccer, mega-events, the industry, and so on. In that piece, I also talked about loving South Africa, being deeply connected to South Africa and worrying about what the impact of the World Cup would be.

In 2010, I helped lead a UW study abroad program called My World Cup, which was funded in part by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the UW, the Seattle Sounders and Cape Town Community Television. We paired our UW students with University of Cape Town film students and media activists from the Media Workers Alliance to put together short segments on the impact of the World Cup locally. We then aired those during the World Cup on Cape Town Community Television.Ģż

After that, the UW LeĆ³n Center in Spain approached me and I proposed a class about the politics of soccer in Spain and beyond that addresses questions of gender, race, nationalism and migration. For this yearā€™s World Cup, I wanted to create an immersive course much like the study abroad program ā€” something that students can really sink their teeth into.

How will your students study the World Cup and Seattle as a host city?

RK: developed the Action Mapping Project, a community mapping tool that weā€™re excited to use in the World Cup context. This tool will allow us to do both large and geographical analysis alongside more qualitative and traditional arts and humanities methods. Weā€™ll be asking people outside the stadium, at fan zones and at watch parties to reflect on what stories Seattle tells about itself. How do their experiences in Seattle during the Cup ā€” whether theyā€™re from the area, elsewhere in the United States or an international visitor ā€” relate to what they imagine Seattle to be? In other words, does their experience of World Cup Seattle match their expectations?

The first two weeks are going to be very intense. The games are only in town for three weeks and unfortunately, the first of those weeks is the break in between academic terms. So those first weeks, weā€™ll be introducing students to critical sport studies as a field and what it means to think about sports as a site of power and politics, at the same time as training them in research methods and fieldwork.Ģż

Hopefully weā€™ll gather a lot of material to work with, and then we’ll have the rest of the summer to figure out what to do with it. The students will be working in collaborative research teams, looking at different angles of what it means for Seattle to host. They’ll work off whatever material they find really compelling.Ģż

It will be tricky, because they’ll have to collect the data before they’ve decided exactly what they’re going to do with it. They won’t have had the theoretical background to really think about the meaning. That means the teaching team is going to have to be a little more direct about what kinds of research gathering we do on our field days. The first two weeks, we’ll have four pretty long field work days with students. We’re expecting to send teams of students out into different parts of the city and the region to see what the World Cup experience is like.

What are you most interested to observe in Seattle during those three weeks?Ģż

RK: When South Africa hosted the World Cup in 2010, the vibe was incredible. Itā€™s not really clear how much Seattle is going to embrace that vibe. Is the whole city going to be all about the World Cup? Because it was definitely like that in Cape Town. The Women’s World Cup in Paris wasnā€™t like that. You could have easily been in Paris and not had any idea what was going on. I don’t know where Seattle will land. There have also been a lot of stories about the hotel industry downgrading their expectations. The thing about the economic impact is that it’s often named as one big number, but it’s not always very clear where that money’s going and if it’s staying in the city.

People like to say that we should keep politics out of sports. But when we start talking about where the money is going to flow to, whoā€™s going to be able to afford games,Ģż or the pressures FIFA and the federal government is putting on local organizing committees, itā€™s not as hard for people to understand. We should be thinking about: What are the implications of this, and what are the actions that people can take to make it as beneficial as possible for the city and for the people who live in the city? How do you mitigate against the potential harms, and how do you take advantage of the potential benefits?

There is also a lot of evidence that the fan base is going to be more domestic and less international than expected from a World Cup, particularly because President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration will discourage a lot of people from traveling. I do think that’s going to impact Seattle more than most places because of our proximity to Canada. I think we would have had a lot of visitors, both from Canada and from other countries, because they could have gone to Vancouver and Seattle to see matches in both countries.

Iā€™m also super interested in what the will look like. The local organizing committee is super committed to having it. The Seattle committee is also taking really seriously their responsibility to think about what it means to have the U.S. play on Juneteenth. Thatā€™s an opportunity to educate a worldwide audience about what Juneteenth is and why it’s necessary as a holiday.Ģż

Iā€™m following very closely, too. And not just because theyā€™re coming to Seattle. Iā€™m looking at what it means for modern society that two nations can be at war, and yet there is an expectation that one of them will travel to play in the otherā€™s country in a tournament. The idea that thatā€™s even a conversation says something about how detached we are in the United States from the idea of warfare.Ģż

For more information, contact Krabill at rkrabill@uw.edu or globalsportlab@uw.edu.

Is it a doctor’s job to get the best outcomes for their patients or to tell the truth? What happens when these two things are not aligned? These are questions that ĢĒŠÄŌ­““ students have to wrangle with in Biol 180: Introductory Biology. The goal, says , UW assistant professor of biology, is to have students experience a more nuanced side of biology. There is not always one right answer, and issues of power and relationships often come into play.

Theobald aims to connect the biology concepts the students learn in class to real-world issues, something she hopes will help both retain students in the biology major at the UW and help non-majors in the class with their future careers.

Just how common is it for biology curricula to include real-world examples? One way to answer this question is to look at educational resources for biology instructors.

In published in Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research, Theobald and her team examined almost 3,000 science guidelines and assessment questions from 16 sources ā€” including MCAT practice questions and questions from the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science and AP biology tests ā€” for any connections to society. Of the approximately 200 elements ā€” about 7% ā€” that had real-world implications, many discussed ethics and public health issues.

UW News spoke with Theobald; lead author , UW postdoctoral fellow in biology; and co-author , UW doctoral student in biology, to find out more about these results and what they mean for biology education today.

Why do you think so few learning objectives and assessment questions were connected to real-world examples?

Carly Busch: One reason is probably that there’s a perception that real-world connections are not a part of the primary purpose of the course, that they only belong as an addendum or an aside.

This perception makes sense in some ways, given how departments and institutions have conceptualized biology and what biology undergraduate students expect to get out of a biology degree. But the lack of these connections to society was also remarkable, because I think they play a really important role in developing undergraduate students holistically and broadly as they continue on in their science careers. Real-world examples can support students’ interest in science and help them develop their scientific identity.

Madison Meuler: I think there is also a belief of, “Oh well, this is an intro biology class. If this person is going to be a scientist, they’ll get training in the societal stuff later.” But I think there’s value in having this type of information even in intro courses.

Students in these courses may or may not go on to major in biology, and may or may not pursue a career in STEM. But even if this is their only science course in college, what could they take away from it that can help them be an informed citizen in the world?

Science plays a huge role in politics and in a lot of decisions that affect people’s day-to-day lives. It’s a missed opportunity if you’re not making those connections in the classroom. We want students, regardless of their future careers, to at least walk away being equipped with some skills to critically analyze the role that science is playing in society.

You found that roughly half of the questions that did mention society only vaguely referenced real-world scenarios. Can you give examples of implicit versus explicit mentions?

CB: So the most vague mention was from the American Association of Immunologists’ recommendations for an undergraduate immunology course. This is one of the advanced subtopics that they list: the implications of Emil Von Behring’s . We coded it as a vague mention because some of those implications could be related to society, not only focused on scientific experiments.

An example of explicit incorporation is from the bioinformatics core competencies. It asks students to explain the implications, good and bad, of being able to walk into a doctor’s office and have your genome sequenced and analyzed, or of being able to obtain genetic information from direct-to-consumer testing services. There we have a very clear example of students being asked to think about how the science concept fits in with society.

Do you think that connecting science to society can help retain students in science?

CB: We haven’t tested this yet, but based on prior research, there is reason to believe that incorporating these connections is going to help students be more engaged in what they’re learning in class. Engagement is closely tied to students’ performance outcomes, which often make or break their decision to persist in a major.

There is also a theory that helping students apply what they’re learning in the classroom to things happening in their lives and in their communities .

This is something I am excited to study in the future ā€” to understand how making these connections expands students’ perceptions of what science is and who does science. The types of research questions that most scientists ask are on topics they personally are interested in. Maybe they study wildflowers in Washington because they love hiking, and they’ve always been struck by how beautiful the flowers are. That’s the beauty of being an academic researcher: You get to explore all of the different things that you’re curious about.

MM: Connecting content to real-world experiences could also increase retention by helping students feel a sense of belonging in the classroom. You’re far less likely to persist in a class if you feel like you don’t belong in that physical space, right? The course content definitely plays a role in that.

I think that making these connections between content and societal issues could help students start thinking things like, “Oh, this is a thing I care about, how could I design a study that could provide evidence to help inform a policy decision?”

Elli Theobald: Students have said to me, “I don’t want to be a scientist because I want to help people.” And that’s a problem. If we’re teaching science in a way that makes it feel like it isn’t helping people, then we’re doing something wrong. It’s just such a huge disservice to biology because we’ll lose so many amazing and capable students who could push our field forward.

This study looked at biology education resources. Do you know if biology instructors are already incorporating more real-world connections in their courses? Ģż

CB: If instructors aren’t getting support but they’re still making these connections in the classroom, it’s because they are putting that onus on themselves and choosing to add it. I applaud all instructors who are making these connections, and I fully expect that more connections are being made than and in these resources. We are currently collecting actual course materials from intro bio courses to see where instructors are making these connections.

But I also think that it would be such a valuable resource for instructors to have more support in making those connections. Here’s where I think really bolstering the amount of resources for instructors could provide more scaffolding for instructors to be able to provide a variety of connections, or to even recognize opportunities to make these connections in the course objectives. One of my hopes for this work is that it helps to provide motivation for those sorts of materials.

ET: Instructors are amazing. They’re working so hard to connect the content in some way to students’ lives, or to find the best, coolest examples. They need to have support from their institutions to be able to do more of this in their classrooms.

This research was funded by The National Science Foundation.

For more information, contact Theobald atellij@uw.edu Busch at cbusch3@uw.edu and Meuler at mmeuler@uw.edu.

Plants may not appear aggressive, but they can still defend themselves while under attack. When caterpillars chomp the leaves of bean plants, these plants release gases that lure predatory wasps. The wasps prey on the caterpillars, saving the plants from further destruction. In a paper , a UW-led team demonstrated that this defense strategy is run by a protein called INR, or inceptin receptor. The researchers grew bean plants with naturally occurring mutations in the INR gene alongside plants with functional INR in an experimental field in Oaxaca, Mexico. The knock-out plants didn’t emit gases and attracted far fewer wasps. This result helps explain a previous study by this team that first identified the biochemical pathway behind this defense mechanism. These results also showcase how the tiny actions of a single protein can affect the behavior of wasps and caterpillars, and in turn, protect the health of the plant. This could benefit nearby plants as well, the researchers said. Beans are often grown alongside “,” such as corn, with the idea that each plant provides a benefit for the others. Beans help make the soil richer for their companions, and, through the actions of INR, could also protect their neighbors from pests.

For more information, contact senior author , UW associate professor of biology, at astein10@uw.edu.ĢżĢż

The other UW co-authors are , , , and . A full list of co-authors and funding is included .

Decades of satellite data show Himalayan rivers migrating rapidly in response to climate change

The movement of rivers is often described in terms of flowing water, but the path a river takes can also change. Some migration is normal, but in the Himalayas, rivers seem to be scrambling faster than scientists anticipated. In a study , researchers show that rivers in the Tibetan Plateau moved twice as much from 2000 to 2020 as they did from 1980 to 2000. As glaciers melt and frozen ground thaws in response to rising temperatures, rivers are inundated with silty meltwater from surrounding glaciers. The water picks the path of least resistance through softening ground. The ā€œmovementā€ includes small lateral shifts, big swings that cut off entire sections of river and occasionally, . The international team attributes their observations to climate change, which is driving temperatures up faster here than many other places. More than 2 billion people rely on these rivers for fresh water and researchers are concerned about communities downstream, as well as the potential for similar patterns that may play out elsewhere.

For more information, contact co-author , UW professor of Earth and space sciences at bigdirt@uw.edu.ĢżĢż

A full list of co-authors and funding is .

Researchers shrink eye-catching structure down to the nano scaleĢż

made using a network of freestanding bars suspended by a web of thin, tense cables. The organization of the bars and cables allows the network of tension and compression forces to lock everything into place, creating a lightweight yet stiff structure. Tensegrities of different sizes are common in nature ā€” examples include and the that help living cells maintain their shape ā€” as well as in diverse manmade structures like , and . Now, a team of engineers at the UW have found a way to create tensegrities as small as five micrometers across ā€” roughly a tenth of the width of a human hair. in the aptly-named journal Small, researchers used a specialized and a resin compound to print bar-and-cable structures about 30 micrometers across. They then heated the materials to 900 degrees celsius, causing the structures to shrink by over 80%. As they shrank, the thinner cables constricted more than the bars, resulting in nanostructures with specific, locked-in levels of stress that were up to 250% stiffer than the starting structures. The team is now working on ways to build larger materials composed of tiny tensegrities, which could eventually usher in a new class of stiff, light and impact-resistant materials.

For more information, contact lead author , a UW doctoral student of mechanical engineering.

Other UW co-authors are , , Zainab S. Patel, , and . Funding information is included .Ģż

Scientists find a key water source for atmospheric rivers

In December 2025, brought a seemingly endless onslaught of precipitation to Washington that caused and washed away roads and homes. In published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, UW researchers help explain where all that water came from. They describe a link between the , a weather pattern that brings moisture east across the Pacific, and atmospheric rivers. Hypotheses about this connection have emerged from previous studies, but researchers couldnā€™t physically draw it until now. By tracking precipitation and wind patterns from 2000 to 2024, the UW researchers show that heavy rainfall and flooding are more likely when MJO is active, which happens several times a year. By identifying the MJO as a key moisture source for powerful atmospheric rivers, the researchers hope to improve forecast accuracy and give people more lead time to prepare for incoming storms.

For more information, contact co-author , UW professor of atmospheric and climate science at shuyic@uw.edu.

Other UW co-authors are and . Funding information is .

Maeda also was appointed a professor of American ethnic studies. He succeeds Dianne Harris, who will complete her service this year.

Maeda has previously served as the dean of the University of Colorado Boulder College of Arts and Sciences where he also was a professor of ethnic studies. He is an interdisciplinary cultural historian and is a nationally recognized scholar in Asian American studies and comparative ethnic studies.

ā€œDr. Maeda brings a wealth of experience to all aspects of the role of Katherine and John Simpson Endowed Dean for the College of Arts & Sciences, including a deep commitment to shared governance,ā€ Serio said. ā€œThroughout the selection process, Dr. Maeda repeatedly elevated the broad strengths of the College of Arts & Sciences, and the students, staff and faculty who define them, as foundational to leading the path forward through a framework of opportunity for all.ā€

Since joining CU Boulder as an assistant professor in 2005, Maeda has served as chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, associate dean for student success in the College of Arts and Sciences, and dean and vice provost of undergraduate education. Maeda served as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since June 2024 until he was appointed dean earlier this year. He is returning to the UW where he was an acting assistant professor in the Department of History from 2001 to 2002.

ā€œI am deeply honored to serve the College of Arts & Sciences and grateful for the opportunity to partner with its exceptional faculty, students and staff,ā€ Maeda said. ā€œTogether, we will build on the collegeā€™s distinguished tradition of discovery, creativity and public impact while advancing an inclusive and inspiring vision for the future.ā€

The College of Arts and Sciences at CU Boulder has 1,300 faculty members and 400 staff members. The college also has approximately 15,000 undergraduates in 49 majors and more than 2,000 graduate students in 36 doctoral programs and 35 masterā€™s programs. As dean, Maeda managed an annual budget of more than $250 million and led a collaborative process that created the collegeā€™s budget allocation model. Under his leadership, the college established new records for first-year retention and six-year graduation rates and set a record for highest annual fundraising in the collegeā€™s history.

Maeda has published two books and numerous articles and book chapters on Asian American activism in the 1960s and 1970s. His most recent book, a cultural history of the iconic martial artist and actor ā€” and former UW student ā€” Bruce Lee, was published in 2022.

Maeda earned his doctoral and masterā€™s degrees in American culture from the University of Michigan. He also holds a masterā€™s in ethnic studies from San Francisco State University and a bachelorā€™s in mathematics from Harvey Mudd College.

Come curious. Leave inspired.

The UW offers an exciting lineup of in-person and online events. From thought-provoking art and music to conversations on culture, history, and science, the UW community invites you to explore, learn, and connect across disciplines throughout the University. And you don’t have to wait until June: Take a look at everything still happening in May.

.

ArtSci On Your Own Time:

Through July 24 – Book Club | The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (UW Alumni Association)
Readersā€™ Choice! Bundle up for an historical mystery set in 18th-century Maine. The body of a local man is found in the frozen Kennebeck River. Martha Ballard, the local midwife, suspects that this death is not an accident ā€” and her detailed diaries of local life are full of clues. Will she weather the scandals unleashed by her pursuit of the truth? Inspired by historic events!ĢżFree.

Podcast | (Comparative History of Ideas)
Dr. HōkÅ«lani Aikau is joined by guest co-host and podcast research assistant Melialani Hamilton, a new PhD student in IGOV. Together, they interview Michael Wilson a Tohono Oā€™odham human rights activist, U.S. military retiree, and documentary filmmaker and Dr. JosĆ© Antonio ā€œTonyā€ Lucero, Professor and Chair of the Comparative History of Ideas Department at the ĢĒŠÄŌ­““, Seattle. They are co-authors of, , a powerful memoir tracing Mikeā€™s life journey and the experiences that led him to the controversial and courageous humanitarian work of placing water stations for migrants along the U.S.ā€“Mexico border. The book captures the tension between Mikeā€™s moral obligation to prevent death and the political stance of a nation committed to non-interference. Throughout the narrative, Tony ā€œhyperlinksā€ Mikeā€™s personal story to broader histories and global struggles, illuminating how one life resonates far beyond the borderlands.ĢżFree.

EXHIBITIONS:

June 4 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
A one-night exhibition of furniture, lighting, soft goods, electronics, and experimental work by UW junior industrial design students. Free.

Through June 5 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Celebrate the graduating seniors across the art programs: 3D4M, Photo/Media, Painting + Drawing, and Interdisciplinary Visual Art (IVA) during the 2026 BA in Art Graduation Exhibitions at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Opening nights: Group 1 – April 28, Group 2 – May 12, Honors – May 26. Free.

June 10 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Free.

Through June 14 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
The Henry is pleased to present the ĢĒŠÄŌ­““’s School of Art + Art History + Design Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design Thesis Exhibition. Throughout their programs, fine arts and design students work with advisers and other artists to develop advanced techniques, expand concepts, discuss critical issues, and emerge with a vision and direction for their own work. Henry staff conduct studio visits and work closely with the students to facilitate their projects and prepare them for exhibition at the museum. A digital publication will be produced in conjunction with the exhibition to highlight the studentsā€™ artistic endeavors and the Henryā€™s commitment to this exciting and important step in the students’ development as practicing artists and designers. is on June 5. Related article: . Free.

June 10 – 26 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
will be on June 12. Free.

Exhibition | (Henry Art Gallery)
ojo|-|oĢlĒ«Ģ (pronounced oh-ho hol-ohn) is an exhibition of recent and newly commissioned work by DinĆ© artist Eric-Paul Riege (b. 1994, Naā€™nĆ­zhoozhĆ­ [Gallup, New Mexico]) that includes sculpture, textile, collage, and video, activated by moments of performance. Across this work, Riege combines customary DinĆ© practices of weaving, silversmithing, and beading with contemporary cultural forms, exploring DinĆ© cosmology, the history of Euro-American trading posts in and adjacent to the Navajo Nation, and the notion of ā€œauthenticityā€ as a value marker of Indigenous art and craft. Free.

Week of June 1

Online – June 1 | Ģż(Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Abdullah Al-Arian, Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University in Qatar.Ģż The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Menā€™s World Cup in Seattle. Free.

June 1 | (School of Music)
Phyllis Byrdwell leads the 100-voice Gospel Choir in songs from the Gospel tradition.

June 2 | (School of Music)
The Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band (Erin Bodnar, director) present “Emblems,” featuring music by Aaron Copland, Wim Bex, Kevin Day, Dwayne Milburn, John Mackey and others. With Eden Garza, bass trombone.

June 2 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Nature writers Kathryn True and Maria Dolan discuss their new book Seattle Field Guide: Explore Nature in the City, a guide to 38 outdoor adventures across the greater Seattle area. They will deliver a presentation featuring natural phenomena you can visit yourself around the city. Seattle Field Guide is a fun, accessible, and inspiring guide to 38 nature-filled outings across the greater Seattle area ā€” perfect for all ages and experience levels. Whether you have a free afternoon or a full day to explore, Dolan and True offer seasonal adventures that reveal the wild wonders hidden in the cityā€™s parks, shorelines, greenways, and neighborhoods.

June 2 | (Simpson Center for the Humanities)
What happens to our understanding of relational memory when viewed through queer histories? In this talk, Stirner examines memory art dedicated to often neglected queer and trans histories after National Socialism, from translucent quilts to an installation that melts a concentration camp gate and rewelds it into new forms. Beyond arguing for the inclusion of queer histories in relational frameworks of remembrance, the talk proposes that attending to the distinct shapes and textures of queer relationality reshapes the concept itself, showing how queer memory practices expand and transform what it means to think memory relationally.

Simone Stirner (Assistant Professor, Germanic Languages & Literatures, Harvard University) works on poetry and poetics, memory studies, and the intersections of critical and creative practices. Stirner’s first book Poetic Grief: Form and Remembrance after National Socialism (Fordham University Press, forthcoming) develops a new framework for understanding the relationship between reading poetry and the affective experience of grief by studying how poems in the enduring aftermath of National Socialism and the Holocaust make space for an encounter with the uncontainable dimensions of lossā€”on and off the page.ĢżFree.

June 3 | (School of Music)
A free lunchtime performance featuring UW School of Music students in the North Allen Library lobby. Presented in partnership with UW Libraries.ĢżFree.

June 3 | (School of Music)
The Studio Jazz Ensemble and Modern Ensemble present a shared program of repertory selections, original music, and inspired arrangements.

June 4 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
A one-night exhibition of furniture, lighting, soft goods, electronics, and experimental work by UW junior industrial design students. Free.

June 4 |Ģż(Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Admission to the Burke Museum is FREE and the museum is open until 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month. Get closer to the daily work happening in the Burke Museumā€™s visible collections storage, labs and workrooms during Free First Thursday.ĢżFree.

June 4 | (Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies)
This celebration honors all the Building A Movement interns and 2026 graduating Labor students!

June 5 | (School of Music)
The UW Symphony (David Alexander Rahbee, director) and combined UW Choirs (Giselle Wyers, director) team up for a year-end program featuring music by Ottorino Respighi, Nadia Boulanger, and Francis Poulenc. Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski is featured soloist with the combined ensembles for works by Boulanger, orchestrated by David Alexander Rahbee. Soledad Mayorga-Maldonado is featured soloist for Francis Poulenc’s Gloria, with Giselle Wyers conducting.

June 5 | (Geography)
The Geography Undergraduate Research Symposium spotlights innovative and compelling undergraduate work. Student researchers will share fresh ideas, sharp insights, and standout projects with the community. Free.\

June 5 | Ģż(Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies)
Engage with emerging scholarship in gender, women, and sexuality studies and celebrate the work of our undergraduate researchers. Each student will give a short presentation, followed by responses from GWSS graduate students who will help facilitate discussion. Whether you’re a student, faculty member, or community member, support scholars and take part in the conversation. A reception with light refreshments will follow. Free.

June 5 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Join the Henry and ĢĒŠÄŌ­““’s School of Art + Art History + Design in celebration of the 2026 ĢĒŠÄŌ­““ MFA + MDes Thesis Exhibition. See the diverse work of this year’s graduate students and enjoy a no-host bar. Artists: Stephanie Alacon, Dahae Cheon, Li-Yuan Chiou, Jeff Jiang, Victoria Mackender, Alex Moni-Sauri, Oscar Pearson, Chave Pichardo, Andrew Roibal, and Ryan Walters. Related article: . Free.

June 5 – 6 | Ģż (Dance)
Join the UW Department of Dance Kawasaki Guest Artist Amy O’Neal, 23 UW dance students, and Seattle guest artists for a Spring Hybrid Dance Lab (HDL). This performance plus dance party is a research and performance platform for experimental street dance practitioners to challenge traditional notions of street dance in theater, address creative hybridity, and nurture cultural literacy. Made possible by generous gifts from the Glenn H. Kawasaki Foundation and John C. Robinson. Free.

June 6 | (School of Music)
Emerging and established composers explore unconventional sonic landscapes in this concert of music by students, faculty, alumni, and guests of the UW Composition program. Free.

ĢżJune 8 – 30

Online – June 8 | (Jackson School of International Studies)
Presented by Jen Barnes, Co-Chair of Pride+ Match Impact Committee SEA2026; Founder, CEO, Rough & Tumble Pub; Salmon Bay FC. The World (Cup) Comes To Seattle 2026 Lecture Series is an online series of talks and discussions hosted by the Global Sport Lab, featuring local and global experts to discuss the geopolitical, local, and sporting implications of the 2026 FIFA Menā€™s World Cup in Seattle. Free.

June 10 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Free.

June 11 | 2026 Awards of Excellence Ceremony
The UW is delighted to announce the recipients of the 56th annual ĢĒŠÄŌ­““ Awards of Excellence! The awards honor outstanding alumni, faculty, staff, students and retirees who contribute to the richness and diversity of our University community. The program includes a one-hour ceremony hosted by President Robert J. Jones and Provost Tricia Serio, followed by a reception with refreshments and community connection. Free.

June 12 | (School of Art + Art History + Design)
Free.

June 12 | Ģż(Speech & Hearing Sciences)
Presentation by Dr. Catherine OffĢż (Ph.D, Speech & Hearing Sciences, ’08). ĢżFree.

Online option – June 13 | ĢĒŠÄŌ­““’s 151st Commencement Ceremony
The ĢĒŠÄŌ­““ will honor the graduating class of 2026 at the Universityā€™s 151st Annual Commencement Exercises. Over 7,400 graduates will take the field at the magnificent Husky Stadium to the cheers and applause of 50,000 family members and friends.ĢżFree.

June 25 | (Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture)
Learn more about the incredible range and diversity of sex, sex-development, gender, and sexuality in the natural world and the many purposes of sex and sexuality for building strong and vibrant communities in the natural world.

ArtSci Roundup goes monthly!

The ArtSci Roundup is your guide to connecting with the UWā€”whether in person, on campus, or on your couch.

Previously shared on a quarterly basis, those who sign up for the Roundup email will receive them monthly, delivering timely updates and engaging content wherever you are. Check the roundup regularly, as events are added throughout the month. Make sure to check out the ArtSci On Your Own Time section for everything from podcasts to videos to exhibitions that can be enjoyed when it works for you!

In addition, if you like the ArtSci Roundup, sign up to receive a monthly notice when it’s been published.

Do you have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).uw.edu).

Burrowing shrimp are small marine excavators native to Washington. They make their homes deep in the sediment by digging, turning the ground to Swiss cheese. This presents a problem for shellfish farmers, whose clams and oysters are often smothered under layers of displaced sediment.

Burrowing shrimp have been a nuisance for at least a century. In 1929, : “Oyster growers have tried various means of defense against these persistent burrowers. But there seems to be as yet no really adequate and at the same time practical method of coping with the marine ‘crayfish.'”

Shellfish farmers used to use pesticides to kill the shrimp, but the chemicals also posed risks to other organisms, such as salmon and crabs, and could be transported in water outside the shellfish growing area. The Department of Ecology in 2018. Since then, family-owned shellfish farms have been losing large portions of their growing grounds to burrowing shrimp.

Research led by the UW, and funded by the state, has yielded a non-chemical, proof-of-principle method for killing shrimp in targeted areas. The method, borrowing from the construction industry, uses a custom-built platform to apply vibration and pressure to a 50-square-foot region of sediment. This compacts the sediment and effectively traps shrimp in their burrows. Starved of oxygen, the shrimp die after a few days.

The researchers tested this method at four sites around Willapa Bay, Washington. It worked just as well as pesticides, reducing the number of live shrimp by between 72% and 98%.

“The challenge of managing burrowing shrimp on private tidelands has many dimensions. There still need to be enough shrimp to serve as food for gray whales and sturgeon, and the whole shrimp population is connected by a long larval phase in the ocean,” said senior author , UW professor of biology. “Once back in the estuary though, these shrimp can live for up to 10 years. Even a moderately sized shrimp, about four inches long, can bring a handful of sediment to the surface every day, dropping that on top of everything. We’re trying to find the balance ā€” how to keep them out of shellfish beds, but let them grow elsewhere.”

The team May 12 in the Journal of Shellfish Research.

“Burrowing shrimp have decimated our farm,” said Ken Wiegardt, a fifth-generation oyster farmer and head of Jolly Roger Oysters in Willapa Bay. “Weā€™ve lost 75% of our nursery ground and, as a result, the farm’s carrying capacity has fallen from 265,000 bushels of market-ready oysters to 75,000 bushels. Last month I had to lay off three oyster shuckers, each of whom had been with me for many years, because I just donā€™t have the oysters to process. The health of the Willapa Estuary as well as my business and all of my employees depend on finding an effective tool.”

Over the years farmers and researchers have toyed with the idea of trying to “mechanicallyā€ control shrimp populations.

“The idea was, ‘Letā€™s crush them underground, or crush them when they come to the surface,'” Ruesink said. “There are old photographs that show people using vehicles, such as repurposed tanks and snow crawlers, to try to target the shrimp.”

This idea resurfaced at a recent conference. Over lunch, Ruesink and shellfish growers decided . After careful analysis, the method proved ineffective.

Ruesink’s co-author, Alan Trimble, who was previously a research scientist at UW and is now volunteering on this project, had an idea for why the “crushing” experiment had failed.

“He told me, ‘You’re thinking like a dirt farmer and you need to start thinking like a concrete engineer instead,'” Ruesink said. “That’s when he mentioned these concrete vibrators in construction. When you pour concrete, if you don’t get all the bubbles out of it, it won’t be as strong. This is a consolidation technique for a wet slurry of particulates, which is exactly what a mud flat is.”

Ruesink and Trimble ran three experiments to test whether a concrete vibrator, a hand-held metal tube with a motor powered by a generator, could kill the shrimp. For each experiment the team compared sediment cores from treated plots to cores from untreated plots. The researchers took core samples on multiple days after treatment and counted live versus dead shrimp.

In an earlier experiment, the team tried using the vibrator while standing in the water. This method was successful in killing shrimp, but also not practical for scaling up. Jennifer Ruesink/ĢĒŠÄŌ­““

The best option was a custom-built floating platform with six vibrators mounted through a hollow part in the middle. Ruesink and Trimble added weights near each vibrator head to provide pressure in addition to vibration, a winning combination that compressed the sediment and killed the shrimp. The specific cause of death was asphyxiation, not the vibration.

While this proof-of-principle experiment seems promising, there’s more work to do before shellfish farmers can implement it. Right now it’s a time-consuming and labor-intensive process because everything is manually operated. Also, more studies need to be done to determine the long-term impacts to the ecosystem, from the shrimp in neighboring non-shellfish farm mudflats to other creatures living in the area.

“What we’ve done so far is introduce a novel control mechanism. No one had thought that you could trap the shrimp underground,” Ruesink said. “But this research wouldn’t have happened without the investment from the state and the private landowners and growers. I have such a deep appreciation for the opportunity to work with folks on something that is clearly affecting their lives.”

The researchers performed field trials on the private tidelands of Pacific Shellfish, Bay Center Farms and John Heckes. This research was funded by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

For more information, contact Ruesink at ruesink@uw.edu. For more information about Jolly Roger Oysters, contact Wiegardt at oysterman73@hotmail.com.

Sunbirds may look similar to hummingbirds ā€” small, iridescent birds with thin bills ā€” but it turns out the two are only distantly related. Sunbirds live primarily in Africa, Asia and Australia, and have a unique way to slurp up nectar. Unlike hummingbirds, which use minute movements in their bills to sip nectar, sunbirds use their tongues as a straw. published in Current Biology, a team led by researchers at the ĢĒŠÄŌ­““ showed that these long-billed birds can change the pressure at the base of their tongues to create suction that moves nectar through their tongues and into their mouths, a novel mechanism never before seen in vertebrates. The researchers used multiple techniques ā€” including high-speed video of sunbirds drinking red-dyed nectar from transparent artificial flowers ā€” to demonstrate this phenomenon across multiple sunbird species as well as build a mathematical model that describes how it works. Sunbirds pollinate the flowers they drink from, and researchers are interested in understanding how different sunbird species’ plant preferences affect the plant-pollinator networks across continents.

For more information, contact lead author , who completed this research as a UW doctoral student in biology, at david_cuban@brown.edu.ĢżĢż

The other UW co-author is . A full list of co-authors and funding is included . Related stories in and .Ģż

Seattle Fault gets 5,000 more years of sleepĢż

Just over 1,100 years ago an on the Seattle fault rocked ā€” and reshaped ā€” the Puget Sound region. It lifted the sea floor and sent a powerful tsunami through the sound. Researchers have estimated that this fault, which runs east to west beneath the middle of the city, will produce a large earthquake every 5,000 years or so. However, , recently published in Geology, pushes that estimate back to 11,000 years. The researchers extended this window by scouring submerged shorelines for evidence of significant elevation changes. The geological record at these sites dates back 11,000 years, but they only found evidence of one major earthquake. This information could be useful to those making seismic hazard maps, which help people understand the risks associated with different regions. Although other regional faults and the imposing pose more imminent risks to residents, the main Seattle fault doesnā€™t appear to be ready for rupture anytime soon.

For more information, contact lead author , UW research scientist of Earth and space sciences, at edav@uw.edu.

The other UW co-author is . A full list of co-authors and funding is included in the paper. Related story in .

The PNW has many rivers, but no system for gauging landslide dam risk

Scientists have a new tool for estimating lesser known hazards in the Pacific Northwest: and outburst floods. Landslides along rivers can block the flow of water downstream, creating a lake just above the slide area. Most landslide dams fail within 10 days, releasing trapped water in an outburst flood, which can be devastating. Last fall, 20 people died after in Taiwan. published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, UW researchers debut a mathematical approach to mapping landslide dam hazards based on valley width and projected slide size. When they applied the tool to a mountain range in Oregon, they found that roughly one-third of rivers in the study area were susceptible to landslide dams, with risk increasing in mountainous areas. If a landslide dam does form, alleviating pressure by for water to escape can help prevent flooding. Identifying high risk areas can help guide emergency response efforts following storms, earthquakes and other events that increase landslide risk.

For more information, contact lead author , UW doctoral student of Earth and space sciences, at pmmorgan@uw.edu.

The other UW co-author is . A full list of co-authors and funding is .

Rubin observatory expected to spot many ā€˜imminent impactorā€™ asteroids

Small asteroids ā€” those 1 to 20 meters in diameter ā€”Ģż hit the Earth 35-40 times per year, though theyā€™re very rarely spotted by telescopes before impact. That could soon change: published in The Astrophysical Journal, UW astronomers calculate that the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory could discover one to two Earth-impacting asteroids annually , roughly doubling the number currently logged. The researchers expect Rubin to discover these asteroids an average of 1.5 days before impact, which is more warning time than ever before. Advance notice is extremely valuable in the case of larger asteroids that could be a threat to people or infrastructure. Because the Rubin Observatory is located in the Southern Hemisphere, it will likely discover many Earth impactors that existing asteroid surveys ā€” concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere ā€” miss.

For more information, contact lead author Ian Chow, a UW graduate student of astronomy, at chowian@uw.edu.

Other UW co-authors are Mario Jurić, Joachim Moeyens, Aren N. Heinze and Jacob A. Kurlander. A full list of co-authors is included .

Many marine microbes share a genetic toolbox for fixing supper at sea

Researchers have now identified a set of genes that allow some bacteria to process a compound, called homarine, that is abundant in the ocean and appears to play a key role in nutrient cycling. Phytoplankton produce loads of homarine, but scientists werenā€™t sure what became of it until now. In a recent study published in Nature Microbiology, researchers found a set of genes present in common and far-flung bacteria that convert homarine into glutamic acid, an essential building block for life. This suggests that homarine may be a vital and overlooked resource and highlights the importance of bacteria in stabilizing marine ecosystems. Previous studies also found that homarine serves as and helps small crabs . The UW team will continue studying homarine to better understand how it fits into the broader ecological landscape.

For more information, contact senior author , a UW professor of oceanography, at aingalls@uw.edu.Ģż

The other UW co-authors are , , , , , and Ģż A full list of co-authors and funding is

Mammals and dinosaurs coexisted on Earth until . Despite the devastation, some animals survived, including rodent-like mammals in the Cimolodon genus. These creatures are part of , a group that arose during the Jurassic Period and survived over 100 million years before going extinct. Studying these animals helps researchers better understand how mammals survived the mass extinction event and then diversified into the variety of mammals around today.

A research team led by the ĢĒŠÄŌ­““ has identified a new species in the Cimolodon genus from a fossil the team discovered at a research site in Baja California. The researchers estimate that this fossil is about 75 million years old. The new species, named Cimolodon desosai, was about the size of a golden hamster, the researchers said. It likely scampered on the ground and in trees and ate fruits and insects.

The researchers April 22 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

“The genus Cimolodon was a pretty common mammal during the Late Cretaceous, the last epoch of the Age of Dinosaurs. Cimolodon fossils have been found throughout western North America, from western Canada down through Mexico,” said senior author , a UW professor of biology and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum. “This new species, Cimolodon desosai, was ancestral to the species that survived the extinction event. It and its descendants were relatively small and omnivorous ā€” two traits that were advantageous for surviving.”

When Wilson Mantilla and his team discovered the fossil in 2009, they found teeth, a skull, jaws and parts of the skeleton, including a femur and an ulna.

“It’s very hard to find fossils at this site compared to other areas,” Wilson Mantilla said. “At first, my field assistant found just a little tooth poking out. If he had just found that, I would have been over the moon. But then when we looked inside the crack of the rock, we could see there was more bone.”

The fact that the researchers uncovered more than just teeth for C. desosai means that they can better understand its size and shape and how it likely moved. It also helps fill out the picture of this genus and the habitat in which it lived, and contributes to a better understanding of the multituberculate group in general.

The researchers used digital imaging and a tool called micro-computed tomography, or micro-CT, to get high resolution images of the fossil. Then the team compared the teeth of C. desosai to those of its cousins in the Cimolodon genus to establish it as a new species.

“That far back in time everything is named based on their tooth characteristics,” Wilson Mantilla said. “If you find a skeleton that’s missing teeth, sometimes it’s hard to attach it to a name.”

The team named this species after Michael de Sosa VI, the field assistant who first found it, because de Sosa died while they were still analyzing the fossil.

“He was a great field assistant, and he was like a little brother to me,” Wilson Mantilla said. “It’s a great specimen to be associated with.”

Additional co-authors are , UW doctoral student in biology, at the University of Rhode Island; Yue Zhang, who completed this research as a UW postdoctoral fellow in biology; Meng Chen, who completed this research as a UW doctoral student in biology; and and at the Universidad Nacional AutĆ³noma de MĆ©xico.

This research was funded by UC MEXUS-CONACYT, DirecciĆ³n General de Asuntos del Personal AcadĆ©mico PAPIIT IN111209-2, the UW College of Arts and Sciences, the UW Department of Biology and the American Philosophical Society.

For more information, contact Wilson Mantilla at gpwilson@uw.edu.

As far as research subjects go, itā€™s not always easy to find common ground with a single-celled bacterium. Yet the more studies his model bacteria, , the more he sees surprising commonalities between their behavior and our own as humans.

ā€œIt was mortifying to be stumped for so long by what appeared to be completely counterintuitive behavior only to realize that I engage in exactly the same behavior everyday,ā€ said Wiggins, an associate professor of both physics and bioengineering at the ĢĒŠÄŌ­““.Ģż

Scientists in use experiments and modeling to understand the global principles that govern gene expression, and protein abundance in particular. In in Science Advances, Wigginsā€™ team discovered that A. baylyi cells amass huge surpluses of essential proteins, rather than taking the seemingly more efficient approach of making just enough to survive. UW News chatted with Wiggins to learn about the remarkably relatable reason for this puzzling behavior.

This work grew out of a mystery you and your team uncovered. Tell us about that mystery.

Paul Wiggins: Genes are the blueprints for proteins ā€” we say they ā€œcode for proteins.ā€ A. baylyi has a number of genes that code for proteins that we know are essential for cell growth. But we didn’t know exactly what each of these proteins do. In 2016, we were attempting to uncover these proteins’ specific functions in collaboration with the . To do this we disrupted each gene so that the cells couldn’t make any more protein ā€” they were left with a now dwindling supply of whatever theyā€™d previously made. Then we would watch the cells under a microscope to determine when and how cellular processes would fail.Ģż

As an example, we knocked out a gene that coded for a protein that we found was responsible for cell wall synthesis ā€” it makes the protein-sugar chainmail that prevents the cells from rupturing, or lysing. And you can watch the video we recorded to see what happened: The cells grew and divided for a while, but then all of a sudden they inflated and just popped.

In that example, something strange happened. We would expect the cell walls to start to fail almost immediately after the disruption happened because every time the cells divide, the remaining protein is divided among the offspring cells, so pretty quickly there wouldnā€™t be enough to sustain the new cell walls. However, growth continued, one generation after another, before the cells finally failed after four rounds of division!

Why did it take so long? Gene after gene showed the same pattern. We realized that each cell must have made a ton of extra proteins ā€” far more than it needed. So after we knocked out that essential gene, the cell was able to run on fumes for a while ā€” and was even able to pass stores of that protein on to its offspring. That finding was initially a huge surprise. We all expected, naively, that if a cell only needed a few copies of a protein to function, it would only make a few ā€” anything more would be a waste of resources and energy. Itā€™d be like taking a seven-day trip and packing 30 pairs of socks. And yet, this behavior seemed to be common for lots of essential genes.Ģż

What do you think is the cause of this protein overabundance?

PW: Baking is a good analogy. If you want to make an apple pie, you probably only buy as many apples as you need for that recipe. But you keep a large quantity of salt in your pantry. You might only need a teaspoon of salt to make any given meal, but none of us go to the store and buy salt a teaspoon at a time. Salt is so cheap and easy to store that, relative to the cost of other ingredients in your meal, itā€™s basically free to keep in large quantities. And critically, you donā€™t want to run out of salt when youā€™re cooking.Ģż

We demonstrated that something analogous is happening in A. baylyi cells for most of the essential genes. Only about 30% of a cellā€™s essential genes code for proteins that are “expensive” in that the cells need these proteins in large numbers. It would be very costly to, say, double an already large number. These are the apples in our apple pie analogy ā€” the cell makes just enough of those proteins to get by.Ģż

The remaining 70% of essential genes, however, code for proteins that the cell does not need in large numbers. In fact, relative to that other 30%, the cell needs so few of these proteins that itā€™s basically free to produce a bunch of extras. Doubling the production of those proteins, say from 30 to 60 copies, is a drop in the bucket if the cellā€™s overall budget is three million proteins. So the cell says, ā€œScrew it, itā€™s virtually free. Letā€™s make extra so we donā€™t run out.ā€ In some cases a cell might make 10 times more protein than it will ever need.

Why is this strategy useful for the cells?

PW: This overabundance strategy is important because otherwise a cell might fail to produce enough of something critical. Protein synthesis is an imprecise process ā€” cells sometimes make a little more or a little less of things than theyā€™re programmed to make. Some essential proteins are made at such low numbers that any deviation from the plan could leave a cell with zero copies of that protein. This is less of a problem for essential proteins that are made in much higher numbers.Ģż

How do these findings support or challenge previous ideas about how cells function?

PW: Depending on who you talk to, this is either definitely wrong or completely obvious. On the one hand, itā€™s a really ingrained idea that organisms are always optimizing everything, which would naively suggest that cells should make exactly what they need ā€” no more, no less. However, this is clearly not the case. Other studies have observed these kinds of protein surpluses in cells before, but it wasnā€™t appreciated quite how wide-spread this phenomenon was. Previously researchers proposed that overabundance might be a hedge against changing conditions ā€” maybe cells are stockpiling proteins in case times get tough. Weā€™re suggesting that itā€™s a hedge against the cells failing to make the right number of essential proteins.

Co-authors include , a UW postdoctoral researcher of physics; Teresa W. Lo and , former UW doctoral students of physics; , a UW graduate student of physics; and , a UW postdoctoral researcher of laboratory medicine and pathology.

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

For more information, contact Wiggins at pwiggins@uw.edu.Ģż