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Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

News Archive

Climate-ready crop: RIPE team shows increase in food mass through photorespiratory bypass in elevated temperatures

Allie Arp

A team from the University of Illinois has engineered potato to be more resilient to global warming, showing 30% increases in tuber mass under heatwave conditions. This…

Katherine Meacham-Hensold led work looking to improve the photorespiratory bypass of potato as a postdoctoral researcher in Don Ort’s lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Research

Study offers insight into chloroplast evolution

Diana Yates

One of the most momentous events in the history of life involved endosymbiosis — a process by which one organism engulfed another and, instead of ingesting it, incorporated its…

From left, postdoctoral researcher Bidhan Chandra De, chemistry professor Angad Mehta and their colleagues found evidence indicating that chloroplasts may have originated as energy-generating organelles and later evolved to support carbon assimilation in plant cells. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Research

Timothy Fan Awarded BEAT Cancer Grant to Mitigate Cancer Recurrence and Metastasis

Chloe Zant

The Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) recently embarked on the first year of its Breakthrough Engineering and Advanced Treatment (BEAT) Cancer Initiative—a collaboration with…

A newly established partnership between the OSF Healthcare Cancer Institute in Peoria, IL and the Cancer Center at Illinois, called Breakthrough and Advanced Treatment of (BEAT) Cancer Initiative, facilitates collaboration to improve cancer diagnostics, treatment, and prevention. Dr. Timothy Fan, fourth from left, is shown here at the BEAT Cancer kickoff, hosted by the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Research

IGB researchers leverage team science to develop InSTAnT Toolkit

Katie Brady

In a new study published in Nature Communications, a team of researchers at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology report a new, robust computational toolset to…

Spatial transcriptomics data from osteosarcoma cells. Left) A spatial map of the transcriptome segmented into individual cells using machine learning, with each dot representing a RNA transcript and each color indicating a different gene. Right) Genes associated with cytoskeleton and robunucleoprotein complexes are frequently colocalized.

Research

Researchers discover new photosynthesis gene that boosts plant height

Ananya Sen and Stephanie Seay

A team of scientists from the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at…

From left, ORNL’s Biruk Feyissa holds a five-month-old poplar tree expressing high levels of the BOOSTER gene, while colleague Wellington Muchero holds a tree of the same age with lower expression of the gene. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Research

Prominent global change scientist joins crop sciences, plant biology

Lauren Quinn

Globally recognized as one of the most influential modern scientists, Elizabeth “Lisa” Ainsworth has been named Professor and C.A. Ewing Chair of Crop Physiology in the…

Professor and C.A. Ewing Chair of Crop Physiology Lisa Ainsworth / L. Bran Stauffer

Research

Nanorobot hand made of DNA grabs viruses for diagnostics and blocks cell entry

Liz Ahlberg Touchstone

A tiny, four-fingered “hand” folded from a single piece of DNA can pick up the virus that causes COVID-19 for highly sensitive rapid detection and can even block viral…

Illinois researchers developed a nanorobotic hand made of DNA that can grab viruses for detection or inhibition. In this artist’s rendering, three “NanoGripper” hands wrap around a COVID-19 virus. Image courtesy of Xing Wang

Research

New Greenhouse Will Accelerate CABBI Bioenergy Research

Julie Wurth

A new greenhouse custom-designed to support research at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) is now open at the University of Illinois Research…

Researchers start the first experiment with sugarcane in the greenhouse. Credit: John Hodge/CABBI

Research

Kellner Center launch: Interdisciplinary research to improve mental health

Rose Keane

On November 12th, the University of Illinois celebrated the launch of The Kellner Center for Neurogenomics, Behavior and Society. Hosted by the IGB, the Center for Social…

The Kellner Center for Neurogenomics, Behavior and Society

Research