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IGB Profile: Seemesh Bhaskar

Katie Brady

"Without photons, there would be absolutely no knowledge of anything,” said Seemesh Bhaskar between sips of coffee at the Etc. Coffeehouse—a place he frequents for a break from…

Brian Cunningham (left) wrote the foreword for IGB Fellow Seemesh Bhaskar’s (right) recently published book, “Nano-engineering at Functional Interfaces for Multidisciplinary Applications.” / Isaac Mitchell

Profile

Scientists and faith leaders discuss gender at Genomics for Faith

Katie Brady

The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology recently hosted its latest workshop in the Genomics for Faith series. Supported by the Wayfarer Foundation, Genomics for Faith…

Regional Outreach Program Manager Dan Urban led discussions regarding gender at the latest Genomics for Faith workshop.

Outreach

Gene editing tool reduces Alzheimer’s plaque precursor in mice

Liz Ahlberg Touchstone

A new gene editing tool that helps cellular machinery skip parts of genes responsible for diseases has been applied to reduce the formation of amyloid-beta plaque precursors in…

A new gene editing tool helps cells skip gene regions with problematic mutations. From left, graduate student Shraddha Shirguppe, Professor Pablo Perez-Pinera, and graduate student Angelo Miskalis led a team that applied the tool to reduce proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease in mice. / Fred Zwicky

Research

Rubisco's role in global food security

David Hong

As global food demand continues to grow, researchers are exploring multiple strategies to boost crop productivity. While engineering plant enzymes and biochemical pathways that…

As part of the Tansley Review, the trio discuss their own research in increasing Rubisco in sorghum, as shown in these 2023 field trials. The authors believe improving rubisco could be part of short-term, and long-term efforts to meet the growing global food demand. Credit: Coralie Salesse-Smith

Research

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…

Prominent global change scientist joins crop sciences, plant biology

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

IGB Profile: Sabrina Abdulla

Katie Brady

Sabrina Abdulla is inspiring and supporting the next generation of scientists. As the Molecule Maker Lab Institute’s Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator, she brings MMLI…

Sabrina Abdulla is a microbiologist working in education and outreach. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, baking, and doing aerial sports.

Profile