Block I logo
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

News Archive

Team discovers naturally occurring DNA-protein hybrids

Diana Yates

Thanks to a serendipitous discovery and a lot of painstaking work, scientists can now build biohybrid molecules that combine the homing powers of DNA with the broad functional…

Illinois biochemistry professor Satish Nair and his colleagues discovered a new class of DNA-protein hybrids and determined the mechanisms by which they are formed in bacterial cells. The findings will speed the process of finding and developing new DNA-protein hybrid molecules for therapeutic use.

Research

Report: Conscientiousness, not willpower, is a reliable predictor of success

Diana Yates

According to two psychologists, the field of psychological science has a problem with the concept of self-control. It has named self-control both a “trait” — a key facet of…

U. of I. psychology professor Brent Roberts, pictured, and his co-author, University of Toronto psychology professor Michael Inzlicht, argue that psychological science sometimes overemphasizes the role of willpower in human success and well-being. The personality trait “conscientiousness” is a better predictor of success, they write in a new review. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Research

Novel nonsurgical sterilization methods developed for animals

Chris Beuoy

Surgeries to remove healthy reproductive organs are often a time drain for veterinarians and farmers. In the latter case, the process also causes animal suffering and economic…

After observing that estrogen-treated dogs do not display sexual receptivity to males, Dr. Ko and his team began to investigate the brain regions responsible for sexual behavior. Currently, he is exploring super-resolution ultrasound technology for assessing changes in the hypothalamus, the control tower of the reproductive system.

Research

CABBI Team Designs Efficient Bioenergy Crops That Need Less Water to Grow

Julie Wurth

Drought stress has long been a limiting factor for crop production around the world, a challenge exacerbated by climate change.

For more than a century­, scientists have…

CABBI Director Andrew Leakey, right, and Postdoctoral Researcher Daniel Lunn with sugarcane, miscanthus, and sorghum plants in the CABBI greenhouse at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Research

Illinois scientists to test modernized genetic model for optimized crop breeding

Megan Allen

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign research that aims to connect the dots between quantitative and molecular genetics and…

From left: Alex Lipka and Geoffrey Morris

Research

NSF funds new iBioFoundry at Illinois

Diana Yates

A newly funded U.S. National Science Foundation iBioFoundry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will build on more than a decade of research at the U.…

Chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Huimin Zhao will lead a National Science Foundation iBioFoundry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Research

Breaking open the AI black box, team finds key chemistry for solar energy and beyond

Liz Ahlberg Touchstone

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool for researchers, but with a significant limitation: The inability to explain how it came to its decisions, a problem known as the “AI…

Illinois researchers have opened up the AI "black box" to gain valuable new insight about chemistry for solar energy applications. Pictured, from left: Professor Charles Schroeder, graduate students Changhyun Hwang and Seungjoo Yi, professor Ying Diao, professor Nick Jackson and graduate student Tiara Torres Flores.

Research

Drowning tomatoes for science

Diana Yates

I can barely hear Esther Ngumbi over the roar of greenhouse fans as she shows me around her rooftop laboratory in Morrill Hall. The benches are full of tomato plants, and the…

Entomology professor Esther Ngumbi studies how two varieties of tomato plants and tobacco hornworm larvae respond to flooding. The hornworm caterpillars are enclosed in plastic bags affixed to the tomato plants.

Research

Scientists use evolution to bioengineer new pathways to sustainable energy, pharmaceuticals

Lois Yoksoulian

Using evolution as a guiding principle, researchers have successfully engineered bacteria-yeast hybrids to perform photosynthetic carbon assimilation, generate cellular energy…

Researchers in the lab Inspired by the evolution of some of the earliest lifeforms, University of Illinois professor Angad Mehta, left, Yang-Le Gao and Bidhan De led a proof-of-concept study verifying that natural metabolic processes within cyanobacteria-yeast hybrids can be bioengineered to produce important hydrocarbons and pharmaceutical precursors.

Research