Health/Life Sciences

UW Medicine ramps up new coronavirus lab test; Gates Foundation pledges $5M for detection

The University of Washington School of Medicine is moving forward with a new clinical lab test for the COVID-19 coronavirus,… Read More

XR experts see health care as the killer app for VR, AR, MR … or whatever you call it

Virtual reality? Augmented reality? Mixed reality? Today at a Seattle symposium, experts settled on extended reality, or XR, as the… Read More

For the first time, Allen Institute records the activity of a rare, mysterious kind of brain cell

Researchers at Seattle’s Allen Institute for Brain Science have captured the first-ever recording of electrical spikes from von Economo neurons… Read More

High school student near Seattle builds website to serve as a leading place for coronavirus information

Along with his concern for the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Avi Schiffmann was concerned about the spread of misinformation.… Read More

Genetic analysis suggests coronavirus infections double every six days, spreading to hundreds

Update for 5:50 p.m. PT May 28: An updated analysis proposes a different scenario for the origins of the U.S.… Read More

F5 Tower in Seattle closes for cleaning after employee had contact with coronavirus patient

F5 Networks closed its downtown Seattle office building on Monday for cleaning after an employee came in contact with someone… Read More

University of Washington coronavirus puzzle game aims to crowdsource a cure

The University of Washington is taking a novel approach to combat the spread of coronavirus around the world. A new… Read More

Health tech company Accolade files for $100M IPO, shows revenue of $95M and loss of $57M

Accolade, the Seattle-based health benefits platform led by former Concur president Raj Singh, filed Friday to raise as much as… Read More

‘No time to waste’: Bill Gates outlines actions to combat coronavirus now as well as future crises

While governments and citizens across the globe prepare and react in assorted way to various stages of the coronavirus pandemic,… Read More

Wellpepper acquired by Caravan Health in sign of growing market for digital patient treatment plans

Seattle-based health technology startup Wellpepper has been sold to Caravan Health in a deal that promises to expand the reach… Read More

Portland startup aims to treat opioid addiction with tech as it raises $10.5M and partners with Premera

In taking on the opioid epidemic, one of the biggest challenges in U.S. health care today, Stephanie Papes is facing… Read More

Scientists create atomic-scale map of coronavirus’ deadly weapon, pointing out a path to fighting it

Biochemists have created the first 3-D, atomic-scale map of key proteins in the killer coronavirus, opening up new possibilities for… Read More

Vote for Health Innovation of the Year: Tech and life sciences unite at the 2020 GeekWire Awards

Editor’s note: The GeekWire Awards are now virtual on July 23. Watch live below. Technology is increasingly influencing the science… Read More

Bill Gates warns that coronavirus impact could be ‘very, very dramatic,’ outlines long-term solutions

Bill Gates spoke with broad optimism about the potential for technology to address some of the globe’s biggest challenges, but… Read More

Cardiac Insight raises $8M as sales of its wearable heartbeat sensor spike 100%

Cardiac Insight, a Bellevue, Wash. startup that makes lightweight disposable electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors and software to monitor patients’ heartbeats, has… Read More

What Bill and Melinda Gates learned giving out $53.6B over 20 years, and what they’re doing next

Over the past two decades, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given out $53.6 billion, most of it seeking… Read More

Researchers halt ‘ineffective’ HIV vaccine trial led by Fred Hutch with Gates Foundation backing

A three-year-long clinical trial of an HIV vaccine in South Africa, funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates… Read More

Amazon and Microsoft restrict employee travel to China as tech giants react to spread of coronavirus

Amazon, Microsoft and other tech giants are restricting employee travel to and from China in the wake of concern over… Read More

New UW center to match biomedical discoveries with resources to help bring products to market

The University of Washington is launching a new center intended to match biomedical discoveries and technologies with the resources needed… Read More

Microsoft launches $40M initiative to solve global health challenges with AI

Microsoft launched a major health research initiative Wednesday to address some of the medical world’s most confounding challenges using artificial… Read More

Ventec Life Systems raises $20M for multi-function ventilator

Ventec Life Systems has raised more than $20 million to fuel commercialization of its unique portable ventilator. The Bothell, Wash.-based… Read More

Robot is helping to treat man with coronavirus in special isolation room at hospital north of Seattle

The man being treated for what was initially the first known case of coronavirus in the United States is being… Read More

Seattle healthcare tech company SCI Solutions acquired for $190M

SCI Solutions, a Seattle company that operates an online marketplace for patients and healthcare providers, just got acquired for $190… Read More

Healthcare tech company Accolade reportedly hires banks ahead of potential IPO

Accolade is taking steps toward going public later this year, according to a new report. CNBC reported that the healthcare… Read More

Scientists link mysterious snippets of DNA to cell growth and tumor suppression

Why do some strings of genetic code remain virtually unchanged despite tens of millions of years of evolutionary divergence? A… Read More

Fred Hutch names Thomas Lynch new president: ‘We’re going to make remarkable leaps’

Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found its next leader, announcing Tuesday that Dr. Thomas J. Lynch Jr. will… Read More

TwinStrand raises $16M from Madrona and others for next-gen DNA sequencing, promising early cancer detection and other breakthroughs

TwinStrand Biosciences, a Seattle startup developing next-generation DNA sequencing technology that promises to lead to early cancer detection, rapid identification… Read More