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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

News Archive

IGB researchers awe Congress leaders with iBioFAB

Ananya Sen

The Computing Research Association, in collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Carnegie Mellon University, hosted Members of Congress and…

Stephan Lane, left, and Huimin Zhao at the Robotics Showcase and Demo Day.

Research

Researchers enhance efficiency of CRISPR-Cas12a system using base Z

Shelby Lawson

CRISPR, (short for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”), is a groundbreaking gene-editing tool that empowers scientists to finely manipulate DNA,…

From left: Nilmani Singh, Jingxia Lu, Zhixin Zhu, and Huimin Zhao

Research

IGB Profile - Tina Barbasch

Shelby Lawson

Decoding decisions of parental stickleback fish

Growing up in upstate New York, Tina Barbasch spent countless hours catching salamanders and frogs in her backyard woods…

Tina Barbasch

Profile

Nerves prompt muscle to release factors that boost brain health

Liz Ahlberg Touchstone

Exercise prompts muscles to release molecular cargo that boosts brain cell function and connection, but the process is not well understood. New research from the…

The researchers found that muscle with nerves released more of the brain-boosting factors than muscle without nerves. Pictured, from left: Professor Joon Kong and students Kai Yu Huang, Yujin An and Sehong Kang.

Research

Understanding the language of proteins

Stuart Robbins

Architecturally, Large Language Models are the basis for Generative AI popularized by ChatGPT from OpenAI, and similar products from Meta, Google, Microsoft, and C3.AI. …

Stuart Robbins (l to r) John Malcolm Forsyth, Professor Sergei Maslov, Ananthan Nambiar

Research

Engineered increase in mesophyll conductance improves photosynthetic efficiency in field trial

RIPE Communications

It is possible to engineer increased mesophyll conductance in plants according to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Mesophyll conductance plays a…

Coralie Salesse-Smith (right) and Steve Long have proven in a model crop that an increase in mesophyll conductance can be engineered, and that it leads to an increase in photosynthesis.

Research

IGB faculty elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Liz Ahlberg Touchstone

Five University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members, including three from the IGB, have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and…

The five new members are, from left: Nancy M. Amato, Rashid Bashir, Alison Bell, Charles Gammie and Paul Selvin.

Awards

New photonic crystal approach can enable sensitive and affordable detection of biomarkers

Shelby Lawson

Biomarkers are small molecules of interest to researchers, because they can indicate underlying diseases, often even before symptoms even appear. However, detecting these…

The authors of the study, from left to right: Joseph Tibbs, Brian Cunningham, Seemesh Bhaskar and Weinan Liu.

Research

Tibetan plateau had broader social dimensions than previously thought

Ananya Sen

The Tibetan plateau—the world’s highest and largest plateau—poses a challenge to the people who live there because of its extreme climate. In a new study, researchers have…

Using excavated artifacts, Ambrose (pictured) and his team discovered that there was a long-distance cultural exchange between the Tibetan plateau and northern China.

Research