Latest news with #Sundquist
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- General
- Chicago Tribune
When siding comes off, ‘true Italianate beauty' of historic Elgin house exposed
On a recent weekend earlier this month, 20 volunteers helped strip the aluminum siding that covered a 137-year-old home at 27 Rugby Place in Elgin's Gifford Park neighborhood. 'What we uncovered left us speechless — beautiful original details and brackets that had been hidden for over 50 years,' said owner Christen Sundquist, who's also the city of Elgin's historic preservation planner. 'It's a true Italianate beauty, and we're ready to bring it back to life with care and accuracy.' Sundquist is undertaking the monumental task with her husband, architect Matt Martin. The couple moved into the home in December 2021 and live there with their two young children. To help pay for the exterior renovations, the couple received a $5,000 matching grant from a Gifford Park Association program that assists Elgin Historic District property owners in covering the cost of aluminum siding removal so the original facade and missing architectural features can be restored. Association board member Paul Bednar said the money the nonprofit provides for such projects comes from funds it raises with its annual Historic Elgin House Tour, which this year will be held Sept. 6 and 7. According to association President Dan Miller, the nonprofit has awarded grant money for such work to 22 homeowners. Another 20 have done it without their financial help. Prior to the Rugby Place project, the last 'great unveiling' — as the they call such projects — took place more than three years ago on North Porter Street, he said. 'In the spirit of an old-fashioned barn raising, we typically get all the siding off before noon and then have lunch together,' Miller said. The association also recently used $5,000 in money from its house tour to pay a contractor to plant 11 magnolia trees at seven different locations on city-owned park land in the district. Magnolia trees are the variety residents commonly planted when the old neighborhoods were being built in the mid- to late-1800s, Bednar said. 'That's the start of a program to try to entice homeowners to add them into their yards as well,' Bednar said. Sundquist noted there's still a lot of work to be done to the exterior of the house, which was built in 1888 for William Kerber, cofounder of Kerber's Meat Packing Co. in Elgin. 'The aluminum removal was the easy part,' she said. 'The hard but most rewarding part will be removing the paint down to bare wood, sanding, priming and painting. We also have 30 brackets to make and crown molding and trim details to do. But the wood clapboard siding is in impeccable condition.' The cost of the exterior project, from siding removal to prepping, painting and recreation of missing features, could be between $20,000 and $40,000, depending on how much work is done by contractors, Sundquist said. Bednar said Sundquist's and Martin's home might also qualify for another $3,000 in association program funding to help pay for recreation of the original porch balcony balustrade. 'That's the next project, as we have a door that leads out to the porch, which would be another wonderful spot to entertain guests and drink a cup of coffee in the morning,' Sundquist said. Elgin has a Historic Rehabilitation Grant program that provides up to $20,000 in matching grant money for qualifying work on historic district and landmark properties but because Sundquist oversees the program, she is not eligible to apply for what it offers, she said. The Rugby Place house has been a project for the couple, who have installed central air conditioning, buried the electrical line into the property, added an upstairs laundry room, removed carpeting, sanded the wood floors, restored plaster, refinished the dining room, added first-floor casement windows and restored the front and side doors, Sundquist said. 'And way down the line, likely when our kids are in college, we hope to rebuild the belvedere on top of the roof as we found a recent historic photograph that showed that we had one,' she said.
Axios
22-04-2025
- Health
- Axios
University of Utah researcher makes TIME100 list
Wesley Sundquist, a biochemist at the University of Utah, was recently featured in Time's annual "100 Most Influential People" list for his yearslong research to treat HIV. The intrigue: Sundquist was mentioned alongside Tomas Cihlar, a virologist at biopharmaceutical company Gilead. Both worked together to develop a drug called lenacapavir to protect against HIV. What they're saying: Sundquist and Cihlar "have labored for more than a dozen years to turn one antiviral treatment, lenacapavir, into a twice-a-year therapy to prevent HIV infection in those at high risk," according to the magazine.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Elon, Serena, Joe Rogan ... and University of Utah health researcher Wesley Sundquist among Time's '100 Most Influential People of 2025'
It's not often that health researchers find themselves numbered on 'influencer' lists with folks such as Elon Musk, Serena Williams, Joe Rogan, Demi Moore and Donald Trump. But that's exactly where University of Utah biochemist Wesley Sundquist can be located on Time Magazine's '100 Most Influential People of 2025.″ Sundquist is the first to admit his inclusion alongside the Musks, Williams and Rogans of the world is not what he ever expected while laboring in the medical research community. 'It was really a surprise that came out of the blue,' Sundquist told the Deseret News. 'It was kind of a thrill.' But colleagues in the medical science community believe that Sundquist's spot on the magazine's eclectic list is well-deserved. Sundquist is included in the magazine's annual list for his lab's research leading to a drug that prevents HIV infections. The drug, lenacapavir, was developed at the biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, and is 'exceptionally effective' at preventing HIV. A single dose provides protection for six months, according to a University of Utah Health release. Sundquist consulted with Gilead Sciences, which developed lenacapavir. His collaborator at Gilead, Tomas Cihlar, is a co-recipient of TIME's 'influential' honor. The Time 100 list, which is slated for the April 28, 2025 issue, includes Sundquist and Cihlar in the list's 'Pioneers' category. The magazine's short essay on the two men noted that today's antiviral medications can turn HIV, a once fatal disease, into a chronic condition. However, the cocktail of pills remains inaccessible for many — and lapses in the daily regimen make them less effective. Sundquist and Cihlar, the essay adds, 'have labored for more than a dozen years to turn one antiviral treatment, lenacapavir, into a twice-a-year therapy to prevent HIV infection in those at high risk. Sundquist, according to the magazine, laid the groundwork in studying one of HIV's proteins, the capsid, which creates a protective shell around the virus' genome. 'Cihlar visited his labs and was impressed enough to take his discoveries to Gilead. There, his team found ways to extend the effect of the drug over six months, meaning infected patients only receive two injections a year to treat HIV.' The Time essay concludes saying researchers are now studying lenacapavir in people who are not HIV positive but are at high risk of exposure. 'If approved, it would be the first twice-a-year injected drug to prevent HIV. Early results show great promise.' In multiple clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people, lenacapavir has shown 99.9 to 100 percent efficacy in preventing HIV — results that Sundquist describes as 'spectacularly successful', according to the university release. If distributed broadly, the drug reportedly has the potential to dramatically decrease infection rates worldwide. 'It feels like our work has made a difference,' Sundquist adds. The scientist told the Deseret News on Wednesday that his 'real excitement' is found in the drug's potential in protecting against new infections. 'Worldwide, there are still 1.3 million new infections ever year,' he said. 'This has the promise to help prevent that and really change the course of the pandemic, especially in the developing world.' Lenacapavir's story began decades ago 'with basic, curiosity-driven research in Sundquist's lab,' according to the university. The lab wasn't specifically aiming to discover new therapies — they were simply trying to understand how the HIV virus particle is put together. They discovered that one of the key components of the virus is extremely sensitive to change: a prime target for drug development. 'Today, we recognize Dr. Sundquist for his work that began more than 20 years ago as a quest to understand the structure of HIV and has now led to a medication that could prevent the spread of HIV worldwide,' says Dr. Rachel Hess, Associate Vice President for Research at University of Utah Health in the university release. 'This is an amazing example of fundamental research creating the environment to improve health around the globe.' Added Dr. Bob Carter, CEO for University of Utah Health and Senior Vice President for Health Sciences: 'We're honored that the global impact of his work has been recognized and incredibly proud that his work continues at U of U Health.' Next week, Sundquist and fellow Time 'influencers' will be honored at New York's Lincoln Center. 'It's supposed to be a black tie, red carpet kind of thing, which is not my style,' he said, laughing. 'But I think it'll be a lot of fun.' On a serious note, Sundquist hopes the Time magazine honor brings attention to the importance of continued medical research support and funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 'We're a basic research lab, and as you may know, that's under considerable turmoil right now,' he said. 'So labs like mine function because we have sustained support from the NIH.' Delivering to patients the sorts of drugs that Sundquist and his colleagues have worked decades to develop requires resources. 'And that's also under threat right now.' The scientist added he is a supporter of 'basic research'. 'We never know how it's going to result in important advances, but inevitably, across the field and across time, it does result in important advances,' said Sundquist. 'If we support it, it has a very strong track record — and if we don't, we'll (risk) losing our feedstocks for new ideas in medicine.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tomas Cihlar and Wesley Sundquist Are on the 2025 TIME100
Credit - Photo-illustration by TIME; Cihlar: Gilead Sciences, Inc.; Sundquist: University of Utah Today, antiviral medications can turn HIV, a once fatal infection, into a chronic condition. Nonetheless, the cocktail of pills remains out of reach for many—and lapses in the daily regimen make them less effective. Wesley Sundquist, a biochemist at University of Utah, and Tomas Cihlar, a virologist at Gilead, a biopharmaceutical company, have labored for more than a dozen years to turn one antiviral treatment, lenacapavir, into a twice-a-year therapy to prevent HIV infection in those at high risk. Sundquist laid the groundwork in studying one of HIV's proteins, the capsid, which creates a protective shell around the virus' genome; Cihlar visited his labs and was impressed enough to take his discoveries to Gilead. There, his team found ways to extend the effect of the drug over six months, meaning infected patients only receive two injections a year to treat HIV. Researchers are now studying lenacapavir in people who are not HIV positive but are at high risk of exposure. If approved, it would be the first twice-a-year injected drug to prevent HIV. Early results show great promise. Park is a TIME senior correspondent Contact us at letters@
