It can be challenging to explain why public funding of basic research is so important - The media broadcasts the end results from private companies, but early work is left unheralded. But folks at the Fred Hutch, WSU, UW, PNNL, and other local research institutions are turning out game-changing, and in some cases, life-altering, research. We work to showcase that early work as well as the stunning breadth and depth of Washington state research.

Join us for lunch on the second Friday of almost every month (Sept-June, except December) to get educated, inspired, connected. Designed to bring together the state's preeminent researchers, innovative leaders, and elected officials who want to stay on top of important advancements being made in our state, each Discovery Series program will include lunch, networking time, a Q&A session, and an opportunity to meet the speaker.

2021-2022 Season

All events run between 11:30am-1pm.

Events will resume in-person as the public health situation allows.

September 10, 2021 @ Seattle Chamber: Dr. Joanna Kelley, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, WSU

GRIZZLY GENES - Join us as we discuss how genetic adaptations to extreme environments may hold secrets to treating human diseases.

October 8, 2021 via Zoom: Dr. Hans Van Dongen, Director, Sleep and Performance Research Center, WSU

SLEEP & HEALTH - Night and shift workers, who make up more than 15% of the US work force, are faced with elevated risk of chronic disease - including metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and various types of cancer. Dr. Van Dongen will show evidence from cutting-edge "multi-omics" research yielding profound new insights into the pivotal roles of the biological clock in the brain, rhythms in other organs and cells, and novel signaling mechanisms within the body, for the long-term health of shift workers. This presentation will lay out the basic principles underlying new discoveries that provide a foundation for the development of interventions and treatments, and is relevant to all whose schedules are affected by the 24/7 society.

November 12, 2021: Dr. Nick Jikomes, Director of Science & Innovation, Leafly

THE CHEMISTRY OF COMMERCIAL CANNABIS - The rapid growth of this multi-billion dollar industry has fueled a proliferation of cannabis products. According to industry professionals, there are thousands of distinct Cannabis strains offering specific psychoactive effects and health benefits; it is common practice to recommend "Indica" strains as having reliably relaxing effects and "Sativa" strains as energizing. Are these claims true, or just folklore? Dr. Jikomes will share data from the largest study to-date of the chemistry of commercial Cannabis. He and collaborators at the University of Colorado analyzed the chemistry of tens of thousands of commercial cannabis samples. They studied the cannabinoid and terpene content of commercial Cannabis from six US states, using modern data science techniques to algorithmically define groups of cannabis based on chemical content. They compare these results to the "strain names" and "Indica/Sativa" nomenclature routinely used to label cannabis products to see how well those labels reflect product chemistry. Are strain names reliable indicators of product chemistry, or nonsensical marketing tricks? Do "Indica" and "Sativa" samples reliably display distinct chemical makeup? Is there a significant amount of chemical diversity in commercial Cannabis, or is it all pretty much the same? These and related questions will be illuminated.

January 14, 2022: Steve Davis (CEO-PATH, 2012-2020), Chris Elias (CEO - PATH, 2000-2011), and Nikolaj Gilbert (CEO - PATH, 2020-Present)

25 YEARS OF GLOBAL HEALTH - As the Technology Alliance celebrates their 25th anniversary, we are proud to welcome three generations of PATH CEOs! Join us for this special event as we reflect on what the last two and a half decades have meant for the health of our world.

February 11, 2022 via Zoom: Dr. David Hertzog, Director of CENPA - Professor, UW

DID THE MUON HELP DISCOVER NEW PHYSICS? - This year, Dr. Hertzog and the Muon g-2 Collaboration team of more than 200 researchers reported a single number representing the magnetism of an elementary particle – the muon. It followed more than 10 years of effort and represented an investment of approximately $100 M. In parallel, scientists around the world collaborated to predict what Dr. Hertzog and the Muon g-2 Collaboration team would find. They found something different and the world has been buzzing about what it might imply. Dr. Hertzog plans to give a non-experts account of these efforts and let you in on the disciplined process in making measurements at fractions of a part per million in precision.

March 11, 2022: Dr. Charmayne Lonergan, Materials Scientist, PNNL

TRAPPING NUCLEAR WASTE USING VITRIFICATION - Over 50 million gallons of legacy nuclear waste from WWII need to be contained in a stable form. The preferred approach to prevent contamination of the environment and local communities is turning the waste into glass, or vitrification. Glass is an interesting material with properties (such as color, how it flows, density, and others) that are controlled by its chemistry and processing. Work is on-going at PNNL and around the world to understand how we can optimize glass chemistry to solve real world problems! Dr. Charmayne Lonergan, a Materials Scientist at PNNL, will describe why glass is an ideal approach for trapping nuclear waste.

April 8, 2022: Dr. Vishal Nigam, MD, Seattle Children’s Hospital

SAVING CHILDREN’S HEARTS - Congenital cardiac abnormalities are the most common form of birth defects. Severe cardiac defects require open heart surgeries that are associated with significant risks of complications and death. Furthermore, these surgeries are very costly. Dr. Nigam will discuss how translational research, an animal that heals without scarring, and new uses of technology are being used advance the care of these children.

May 13, 2022 @ Northeastern University, Seattle: Dr. Nathan Baker, Lab Fellow - Data Scientist, Computing & Analytics Div, PNNL

QUANTUM COMPUTING - A beginners guide to the future of quantum and what it means for Washington State. Quantum computing is expected to revolutionize the ability for science to solve difficult problems that are beyond the scope of today’s computers. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is working to advance quantum computing, simulation, communication, and sensing, and is a founding partner in the Northwest Quantum Nexus (NQN), a regional coalition of research and industrial organizations. Dr. Nathan Baker, a Laboratory Fellow in the National Security Directorate at PNNL and a Distinguished Faculty Fellow with the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Washington, will describe how the Pacific Northwest is becoming one of the top regions in the United States for developing Quantum computing.  

June 10, 2022 @ Perkins Coie Seattle (POSTPONED): Dr. Ed Kelly, Associate Professor - Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Washington

ORGAN ON A CHIP - Dr. Kelly will talk about “organs on chips” (OoC) which are 3D microfluidic “avatars” of human organs. The current paradigm of drug development results in 90+% failure rates in clinical trials. Moving a drug into human clinical trials is predicated on preclinical animal safety data. The high clinical trial failure rate calls into question the predictability of animal studies. It is the hope that these revolutionary OoC models will bridge this gap in preclinical and clinical testing.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Interested in Sponsoring our 2021-2022 Season? - Full Details Available Here.

PRESENTING SPONSORS:

PARTICIPATING SPONSORS:

Aerospace Futures Alliance (AFA)

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Alaska Airlines

Cambia Grove

Clark Nuber

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