News Archive
Hacking evolution, screening technique may improve most widespread enzyme
Claire Benjamin
Plants evolved over millions of years into an environment that has dramatically changed in the last 150 years since the Industrial Revolution began: carbon dioxide levels have…
Study reveals how bacteria steal nutrients from human hosts
Steph Adams, with contributions from Serina Tajula
A new study, published in mBio, exposes a zinc-import system in bacteria that could contribute to their ability to cause infection.
The study looked at how the bacterium…
Expanding Brazilian sugarcane could dent global CO2 emissions
Diana Yates
Vastly expanding sugarcane production in Brazil for conversion to ethanol could reduce current global carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 5.6 percent, researchers report in…
Brief interactions spur lasting waves of gene activity in the brain
Diana Yates.
A five-minute encounter with an outsider spurs a cascade of changes in gene activity in the brain that can last for hours, researchers report in a study of stickleback fish.…
New grant to study fish genomics, behavior
Kathryne Metcalf.
The three-spined stickleback is a funny sort of a fish. They’re somewhat non-distinct: drabbish silver, small, and minnow-like, native to salt- and freshwater bodies throughout…
Giving with Purpose
Gregory Toreev
Along with helping produce innovative medical and pharmaceutical products, Dr. Mark Tracy, PhD, founder and president of Tracy BioConsulting, LLC, strives to introduce…
IGB Announces New Partnership with ZEISS labs@location Program
A new agreement between the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and ZEISS has named the Core Facilities at IGB…
New tool RODEO captures breadth of microbial biosynthetic potential
Claudia Lutz
In an age of booming biotechnology, it might be easy to forget how much we still rely on the bounty of the natural world. Some microbes make us sick, some keep us healthy,…
Microbiome Metabolic Engineering - New Theme at IGB
Susan Jongeneel.
The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology has formed a new research theme, Microbiome Metabolic Engineering (MME). Led by microbiologist and animal scientist Isaac Cann,…