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Team Overcomes Major Obstacle to Cellulosic Biofuel Production


A newly engineered yeast strain can simultaneously consume two types of sugar from plants to produce ethanol, researchers report.

Paul Hergenrother: Finding New Targets by Way of Novel Pathways


While there are thousands of drugs on the market for human diseases, they only hit in the neighborhood of 200 targets, says Paul Hergenrother, professor of chemistry and a…

Microbiomes May Hold Key to Better Understanding of Preterm Birth


Microbiomes May Hold Key to Better Understanding of Preterm Birth—A team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mayo Clinic, and the

Bill Metcalf: Tackling Infectious Disease


New Way to Make Malaria Medicine Also First Step in Finding New Antibiotics—University of Illinois microbiology professor William Metcalf and his collaborators

Bryan White: Breaking Down Barriers to Biofuels


Mixing and Matching Microbes for Food and Fuel—What do cows and termites have in common? “Nada, zip, zilch,” most people would say.

Mary Schuler: Targeting Malaria at the Molecular Level


Overcoming mosquito defense systems—Each year, millions of people fall victim to insect-borne diseases-but Mary Schuler, an affiliate in the IGB's Genomic Ecolo

Rachel Whitaker: Geography influences microbe genetic diversity


Most microbiologists sequence genes in order to determine what a given gene does.

IGB Researcher John Gerlt to Lead $33.9 million Grant


A multi-institutional team of researchers, led by John Gerlt, Gutgsell Chair, Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry and a member of the Mining Microbial Genomes Theme at the…

Lisa Stubbs: Exploring What Makes Us Different


Lisa Stubbs, who joined the University of Illinois in March 2008, adds a key new dimension to IGB: an expertise in mouse genetics.

Bryan Endres: The Legal Implications of Biofuels, Other Crops


Bryan Endres’s exploration of the legal issues surrounding biofuels and genetically modified plants is tightly integrated with the efforts of IGB scientists to unlock the key…

Paul Kenis: Engineering Tools to Enable Biological Studies


Many members of the scientific community who know of Paul Kenis’ work in, among other things, microfuel cells, might be surprised to find him affiliated with the Regenerative…

The Energy Biosciences Institute: Realizing Sustainable Biofuels


From media reports, Americans might conclude that surging ethanol production has put the nation well on the road to energy independence – but that is not quite the case.