News Archive
Two IGB faculty members elected AAAS Fellows
Diana Yates
Six faculty members at Illinois, including two from IGB, have been elected 2020 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Evolution, ecology…
Three Illinois scientists rank among world's most influential
Diana Yates
Three faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been named to the 2020 Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list, including two from IGB.…
Cassava may benefit from atmospheric change more than other crops
Claire Benjamin
Carbon dioxide fuels photosynthesis, the process by which plants generate their food in the form of carbohydrates. The atmosphere's carbon dioxide levels are rapidly increasing…
$87M grant will help advance bioindustrial manufacturing
Kimberly Belser
An $87 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense matched by more than $187 million in non-federal cost-share will fund collaborative efforts by a team of private and…
Labor, Health, Equity, Action Project (LHEAP)
The Labor, Health, Equity, Action Project (LHEAP) is a team of interdisciplinary researchers from across University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, coalescing in the Infection…
Biologists shed light on how microbes evolve, affect hosts
Sean Bettam, University of Toronto
The era of COVID-19 and the need to constantly wash one's hands and sanitize things have brought microbes to new levels of scrutiny, particularly for their impact on an…
Acid-tolerant yeast model helps guide industrial organic acid production
Liam Jackson, Penn State
Microbes and other microscopic organisms could serve as sustainable “factories” to create many types of industrial materials because they naturally convert nutrients…
Lassogen raises $4.5M in seed round to develop novel therapeutics
Alisa King
Although small molecule drugs and antibodies continue to be the standard for cancer treatment, a new class of therapeutics — lasso peptides — may prove effective, especially…
30 years of experiments simulate future crop climate response
Claire Benjamin
Five years ago, the United Nations committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030. Since then, however, world hunger has continued to rise.…
Nelson awarded $4.5M to study prevention, treatment of breast cancer
Alisa King
Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Erik Nelson (ACPP) has won a $4.5M Era of Hope Scholar Award from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Breast Cancer…
Illinois study tracks evolution of SARS-CoV-2 virus mutations
Lauren Quinn
Since COVID-19 began its menacing march across Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and then across the world, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has taken a “whatever works” strategy to ensure…
Congress must clarify limits of gene-editing technologies
Phil Ciciora
Genome editing of human embryos represents one of the most contentious potential scientific applications today. But what if geneticists could sidestep the controversy by…