A research team conducts an in-depth exploration of cryptic plasmid, pBI143, one of more than 68,000 plasmids found in the human gut and which 90 percent of people in the industrialized world possess, and find that pBI143 is much better at detecting human fecal contamination in water samples than the most current state-of-the-art markers, a crucial finding considering that human fecal pollution is a major global health problem.

In our post-COVID pandemic world, several lingering questions remain pertaining to the culprit, SARS-CoV-2. While we can’t answer the question of, will another SARS-CoV-2 pandemic happen again? We can ensure our offensive game is stronger by striving to answer questions like, how good are the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines? UW Professor of Biostatistics Peter Gilbert is one of two Fred Hutch researchers who led a team that investigated these questions and recently published their findings in Nature Communications.

University of Washington Biostatistics graduate Kung-Yee Liang, Distinguished Chair Professor and Senior Advisor for Office of the President at Feng Chia University and former president of the National Health Research Institutes of Taiwan, was the featured speaker at this year’s Norman E. Breslow Distinguished Lecture.

Bruce Weir, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, was a key part of the case against O.J. Simpson. He spoke to ZB reporter Joel Dwyer today about the historic event and why interest in it has been so enduring.

University of Washington Biostatistics alumni Benjamin French (PhD ‘08) has been elected to the National Council for Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) for a six-year term.