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NSF reinvests in Molecule Maker Lab Institute, AI tools to solve chemistry’s challenges
With a new five-year, $15 million award, the U.S. National Science Foundation has renewed its support of the Molecule Maker Lab Institute.
Study identifies gene clusters in rhizobia linked to robust legume growth
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In a new study, scientists used nearly every tool in their toolkit — genomics, transcriptomics, greenhouse experiments and advanced statistical methods — to gain new insight into the complex chemical interactions that take place in underground root nodules, where legumes like soybeans exchange vital nutrients with soil microbes called rhizobia. Reported in […]
Map-making neurons change even in familiar settings, study finds
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Neurobiologists at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found the brain’s internal GPS changes each time mice navigate a familiar, static environment. Even when a mouse walks the same path every day — and the path and surrounding conditions remain identical — each journey activates different “map-making” neurons in the […]
Beyond the mammogram: Study finds differences between benign and cancerous breast calcifications
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Benign and cancerous calcium phosphate deposits that may look identical on a mammogram have distinct differences in their structures and formation processes, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators at the Mayo Clinic and the University of Texas at Austin found in a new study that provides the first detailed […]
What’s missing from our understanding of Illinois history?
A new book from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, the Prairie Research Institute and the Illinois Department of Transportation offers a detailed overview of insights gained from more than a century of archaeological study. Thomas Emerson, the first Illinois State archaeologist and one of three editors of “Archaeology of Illinois: The Deep History of the […]
Flightpath Biosciences licenses microbiome-sparing antibiotic developed at Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Flightpath Biosciences, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of precision therapeutics targeting bacterial pathogens, has licensed a class of antibiotics developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The original antibiotic agent, lolamicin, effectively treated bacterial infections in animal models of disease — without wiping out beneficial microbes in […]
Self-driving lab: AI and automated biology combine to improve enzymes
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — By combining artificial intelligence with automated robotics and synthetic biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have dramatically improved performance of two important industrial enzymes — and created a user-friendly, fast process to improve many more. Led by Huimin Zhao, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the U. of […]
Giving and learning on the job
CHICAGO, Ill. — I wake up at 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning to make it on time to the Medical District Veterinary Clinic in Chicago. After I greet everyone, the volunteers get a quick tour of the clinic. All the rooms and the back area are stacked with supplies. This morning, I am assigned […]
Historical math models recreated by students using 3D printing
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students recreated some of the historical mathematical models owned by the U. of I. math department using a 3D printer. The Illinois math department has nearly 400 mathematical models — one of the world’s largest collections — from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The models demonstrate […]
Model tackles key obstacle to efficient plastic recycling
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Most people who separate their plastic waste for recycling assume the bulk of it will in fact be recycled. But current recycling methods, which “require sorting, grinding, cleaning, remelting and extrusion to obtain plastic pellets, usually lead to lower value materials because of contamination and mechanochemical degradation,” the authors of a new […]
New MRI approach maps brain metabolism, revealing disease signatures
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new technology that uses clinical MRI machines to image metabolic activity in the brain could give researchers and clinicians unique insight into brain function and disease, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report. The non-invasive, high-resolution metabolic imaging of the whole brain revealed differences in metabolic activity and neurotransmitter levels […]
How are veterinarians advancing cancer research in dogs, people?
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — People are beginning to realize that dogs share a lot more with humans than just their homes and habits. Some spontaneously occurring cancers in dogs are genetically very similar to those in people and respond to treatment in similar ways. This means inventive new treatments in dogs, when effective, may also be […]