Pharmacist

Washington Court of Appeals upholds $21M award to doctor in Seattle Children's racial discrimination case. The Washington Court of Appeals upheld a $21 million jury award for Dr. Benjamin Danielson in his racial discrimination lawsuit against Seattle Children's Hospital. Dr. Benjamin Danielson accused the hospital of racism. The hospital responded to the decision, saying they were "extremely disappointed" with the outcome. SEATTLE - The Washington Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld a $21 million jury award in favor of a doctor who filed a lawsuit against Seattle Children's Hospital for racial discrimination. Dr. Benjamin Danielson, the former medical director of the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic, led the clinic for 21 years, serving a largely Black and low-income community. He alleged he was subjected to a racially hostile work environment and faced retaliation after raising concerns about inequitable treatment of patients. A jury found the hospital liable and awarded Danielson $21 million in damages in 2024. The appeals court affirmed that verdict Tuesday. Danielson resigned from the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic in 2020, citing racism within the organization. Following his departure, he publicly accused the hospital of discriminatory practices and said it failed to adequately address racism during his two decades as medical director. In an interview with KING 5 following his resignation in 2021, Danielson alleged the hospital engaged in racist behavior. Among his concerns were alleged disparities in patient care, the hospital's use of security personnel involving Black families, inadequate language services for non-English-speaking patients and the handling of a racial slur incident involving a colleague. An independent review later substantiated many of Danielson's allegations, including findings that the 2009 racial slur complaint was not properly investigated. In a statement following the appeals court decision, attorney Jennifer Bennett of Gupta Wessler LLP, who represented Danielson before the court, said: "For 21 years, Dr. Danielson faced and witnessed discrimination at Seattle Children's Hospital and was retaliated against for speaking up about it. Today, the Court of Appeals affirmed what a jury of his peers already decided: the hospital must be held accountable." A Seattle Children's spokesperson said in a statement, "We are deeply disappointed by the court's decision but respect the judicial process. Seattle Children's will continue to remain fully focused on providing high-quality, compassionate and equitable care for the children and families relying on us. We thank Dr. Danielson for his years of service to the Seattle Children's community." Following the original jury verdict, Seattle Children's said it was disappointed with the outcome. The hospital said its priority is providing equitable, high-quality care to all children and supporting the mission of the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic. Danielson now works and teaches at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Seattle Children's Hospital picks up USD 2.1m NIH grant for AI nanobody engineering platform. May 15, 2026 An AI-driven approach to nanobody engineering is drawing federal support, with Seattle Children's Hospital receiving a USD 2.1 million NIH R01 grant to develop a platform for designing intracellularly functional, conditionally stable nanobodies - a class of single-domain antibody fragments that has long been constrained by off-target accumulation inside living cells. The four-year award, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, runs through April 2030 and is led by principal investigator Jonathan C. Y. Tang, whose prior work spans Columbia University, the University of Washington, and the Allen Institute. The intracellular nanobody problem. Nanobodies - camelid-derived, single-domain antibody fragments - are genetically encodable and small enough to function inside cells, making them attractive as research tools and potential therapeutic agents. The core limitation is that most nanobodies are constitutively stable, meaning they accumulate regardless of whether they have engaged their target. That background signal degrades specificity and limits their utility for low-noise intracellular detection or regulated protein modulation. Tang's group is addressing this by engineering what the grant terms "conditionally stable" nanobodies, or CS-NBs: variants modified by AI to be inherently unstable, but stabilized only upon binding their intended target. The design logic reduces background accumulation and improves target specificity without requiring exogenous small-molecule switches or complex delivery systems. Platform design and validation scope. The project integrates deep learning, structural bioinformatics, and high-throughput cell-based screening across three stated aims. The first expands an existing AI-based stability prediction tool using data from more than 2,000 nanobody-reporter fusions assayed in human 293T cells via high-content microscopy - a dataset scale that should meaningfully extend the model's ability to discriminate stable from unstable intracellular variants. The second aim systematically maps and mutates non-interface nanobody residues across structural classes to define sequence-level rules governing conditional stability without compromising target affinity. Those findings feed back into the predictive model, generating what the investigators describe as a generalizable "destabilizing switch" applicable to newly discovered nanobodies. The third aim moves to in vivo validation in the mouse retina, testing whether CS-NBs engineered in cell culture retain their low-background, target-dependent behavior under physiological conditions. The retina represents a well-characterized in vivo system for optical readout and has established relevance to gene therapy delivery contexts. Translational and community relevance. The project's outputs are explicitly designed for broad dissemination. The investigators plan to release an open-source bioinformatics tool, large annotated datasets of nanobody variants, and validated CS-NB constructs through platforms including GitHub and Addgene. That distribution model positions the platform as infrastructure for the wider research community rather than a proprietary pipeline. The translational case rests on the premise that low-background intracellular binders would expand the utility of nanobodies in both imaging and protein modulation contexts - areas with downstream relevance to target validation, cell biology research, and potentially therapeutic protein degradation strategies. The grant does not name a specific disease indication, situating the work as enabling technology rather than disease-directed research. NIGMS funding for this type of platform-level tool development reflects the institute's stated mission to support innovative enabling technologies in fundamental biomedical science, and the award adds to a broader pattern of federal investment in AI-assisted protein engineering over recent grant cycles. This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed and edited by the AllSci editorial team Explore more at AllSci News: https://allsci.com/news/

Dispute over Seattle Children's helipad noise sparks public outcry. Published May 5, 2026 6:06pm PDT Noise complaints are forcing medical helicopters to land a mile away from a Seattle hospital. The decades-old agreement restricting flights at Seattle Children's Hospital has sparked outrage and a planned weekend protest. The brief. * * A decades-old rule limits helicopter landings at Seattle Children's to emergencies, sparking renewed backlash online. * Critics say diverting non-urgent flights to a UW landing site could delay care for seriously ill children. * Hospital leaders want to revisit the agreement, while a protest and petition are pushing for fewer restrictions. SEATTLE - Frustration online has thrust a decades-old agreement impacting Seattle Children's Hospital and the Laurelhurst neighborhood back into the spotlight, as critics argue noise complaints are hindering life-saving medical transports. The controversy stems from a conditional use permit established more than 30 years ago. The agreement says helicopters can only land at the hospital's helipad during life-threatening emergencies. In non-urgent cases, aircrafts must land at Graves Field on the University of Washington campus, located roughly one mile away. Graves Field (FOX 13 Seattle) The backstory: A recently deleted tweet and subsequent discussions on Reddit have fueled public anger regarding the restrictions. Critics argue that diverting medical flights, even those deemed "non-urgent," creates unnecessary risks for pediatric patients. In response to the growing online tension, a protest is scheduled for Saturday, May 9 at 11:30 a.m. A flyer circulating online states the protest is scheduled to happen at Sand Point Way and NE 45th St. Additionally, a Change.org petition regarding helipad access has already garnered 2,800 signatures. Rebecca Baldwin, a former cardiac patient at Seattle Children's who underwent four open-heart surgeries there, said the issue is personal. Her daughter is also now a patient at the facility. "I wish these people could try to put themselves in our position," Baldwin said. "How would you feel if this was to your child?" Rebecca Baldwin and her daughter What they're saying: The Life Flight Network, which landed at the hospital helipad on April 26, emphasized the importance of speed in a statement to FOX 13, noting that "every second matters in air medical transport. Direct and rapid access to care is what gives critically ill patients the best chance at a positive outcome. We appreciate and support Seattle Children's and continue to advocate for operational standards that reflect the urgency of our most vulnerable patients." Seattle Children's Hospital officials stated that while most neighbors are supportive, efforts by some to restrict access put an "unnecessary burden" on the medical system. According to the hospital, the facility receives three or fewer helicopter transports per week, and nearly all of those patients are admitted to an intensive care unit. Hospital leadership said they are "eager to revisit" the 30-year-old agreement, welcoming city leaders and community members to join the conversation. Seattle Children's Hospital (FOX 13 Seattle) The Response: The Laurelhurst Community Council (LCC) released a statement, clarifying that the permit is a legal agreement between the hospital and the City of Seattle. The council noted they had not been contacted directly regarding concerns with the current terms. "LCC fully supports helipad landings for all children requiring intensive and lifesaving care, and is fully committed to actively participate in any discussions between the City of Seattle and Seattle Children's Hospital to ensure the hospital continues delivering world class service and care to patients," the statement read. In 2020, the President of the Laurelhurst Community Council, Colleen McAleer, commented on the helicopter service at the Seattle Children's Standing Advisory Committee meeting. According to her public comment, she noted that the "helicopters are louder and always landing on top of the building." She also commented that at that time, "there had been fewer landings in the athletic field; almost all the landings are on top of the building. It seems some of the helicopter pilots are not trained on how air-lift drops are to go." Despite this support for emergencies, the requirement for non-emergency flights to land a mile away remains a central point of contention for those calling for unrestricted helipad access.