News Bureau

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A buzz being heard around the entomology department these days is a genomic celebration. Three departmental researchers will have key roles in a recently announced federal project to map the some 15,000 genes of a honeybee (Apis mellifera).

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Expectations of higher corn prices are leading some farmers to neglect or ignore integrated pest management strategies, and their behavior could undermine the very technologies that sustain them, University of Illinois researchers report today at the American Chemical Society meeting in Boston.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Sediment samples dating back thousands of years and taken from under the deep water of West Olaf Lake in Minnesota have revealed an unexpected climate indicator that can be factored into future projections.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A lecture on the human genome, scheduled for Thursday at the University of Illinois, has been postponed because of Tuesdays terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Adolescents who think little of themselves tend to shy away from interactions with peers. This uncertainty and withdrawal then draws negative feedback from other students, prompting even more withdrawal and leaving them with few chances to have close friends and as targets for teasing or bullying.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A computer that can recognize users faces, and even their moods. A method of delivering vaccine by a single pill that would eliminate the need for booster shots. An electronic "nose" that could be used by physicians to monitor dialysis patients and diagnose disease and by USDA inspectors to ensure fish is fresh.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Biomedical scientists from around the world will discuss the potential of swine as models for understanding and treating a variety of human diseases when they gather for the Swine in Biomedical Research Conference on

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Two studies of free-ranging cats - one at the University of Illinois South Farms and the other in Allerton Park near Monticello - will allow researchers at the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois to document how cats use the environment and to track the presence of Toxoplasma gondii in local cat populations.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Weather forecasts could become barometers for predicting the potential threat of West Nile virus to humans and wildlife, according to scientists at two state agencies based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A Minute With™...atmospheric sciences professor Don Wuebbles

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Faculty members and students of the neuroscience program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign want children and their families to join them to learn about "Brains in Action" from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., May 24, at the Orpheum Children's Science Museum, 356 N. Neil St., Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Two University of Illinois researchers are among a national group of scientists selected to help leaders in the entertainment industry improve the accuracy of the scientific content of their productions.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Scientists Nick Holonyak Jr. and Susan E. Fahrbach of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are among 291 people selected as 2002 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The complexity and diversity of life, from insects to trees to mollusks to big cats and more, will be the topic of a four-day symposium for scientists converging on the University of Illinois campus Feb. 7-10.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying vaccinia virus, a close relative of smallpox, have determined that a gene necessary for virus replication also has a key role in turning off inflammation, a crucial anti-viral immune response of host cells.

CHAMPAIGN,Ill. - Throughout the scientific literature our collective knowledge, from where an organism lives, to what it eats, to its physical characteristics, is linked to scientific names, such as "Homo sapiens," the name for humans.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois is one of 12 institutions in Illinois to receive funding from the Federal Communications Commission Rural Health Care Pilot Program, an initiative to improve health-related communications infrastructure nationwide. The university will share in the $21 million grant to the state of Illinois. The money will be used to enhance the state's cyber-infrastructure, improving the communications capabilities of health providers all over the state.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Dr. William A. Eaton, the chief of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics at the National Institutes of Health, will give a public lecture, "Searching for a Cure of Sickle Cell Disease," Jan. 31 (Thursday) beginning at 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, 405 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana.

A Minute With™... Thomas O'Rourke, an emeritus professor of community health

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Baggage screeners have just seconds amid loud airport noises and the pressure of rushed airline travelers to scan X-rays of carry-on items for weapons. How good they are at finding one may depend on the specificity of their training, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Two of 10 state grants announced April 24 bring more than $841,000 to two UI scientists – Matthew B. Wheeler and Stephen J. Kaufman – for research involving two forms of adult stem cells.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The West Nile virus is the focus of a dozen research papers to be presented Aug. 9 (Saturday) during the 121st Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, Aug. 5-9, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - One of the most damaging crop pests, the corn earworm, may be outwitting efforts to control it by making structural changes in a single metabolic protein, but new insights uncovered by molecular modeling could pave the way for more efficient insecticides, say researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Alejandro Lleras, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois and an affiliate of the Beckman Institute, is a recipient of an Early Faculty CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. The $400,000 award will be distributed over five years, beginning in 2008.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - Researchers report that study subjects sometimes read meaning into the words "nice" and "act," in ways that can influence the subjects' willingness to cooperate with others on simple tasks.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - What can parents do to help children doing poorly in school? Two new studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggest that supporting their children's autonomy and refraining from being controlling will help kids do better on their homework and raise their grades.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With a four-year, $450,000 grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are working to develop an immunotherapy that would be a safe alternative to surgery for brain cancers.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The founder of a global company that helps turn breakthrough ideas in biotechnology into moneymaking businesses will speak this week at the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A longtime leader and promoter of biotechnology will speak about the potential for state and regional development of the industry at 2 p.m. Wednesday (March 17) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Campers across Illinois are being asked to be firewood wary. There could be an unwanted pest hidden inside that could be devastating to the state's 118 million ash trees if it emerges later this summer from unburned wood.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Carla E. Cáceres, a professor of animal biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is among 57 young researchers named today as recipients of the 2003 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Three scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have leading roles in a multi-institution quest funded by the National Science Foundation to determine how life emerged on Earth.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. University of Illinois researchers have major roles in a newly announced $43.8 million National Science Foundation-funded initiative to define the function of the genes in a plant considered a model for understanding all plants. Eventually, their findings could have dramatic implications for all agricultural crops.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The landmark $500 million biofuels research partnership that created the Energy Biosciences Institute has been named a "Deal of Distinction" by the Licensing Executives Society, an organization of U.S. and Canadian technology transfer professionals.

Using energy for transportation, to power appliances and to make interiors comfortable is nearly impossible to avoid. Although there are energy-saving steps that can be taken, leaving a carbon footprint is inevitable. UI students in a carbon registry class created a website with tools that help in understanding what contributes to carbon output and suggest ways to offset the damage.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Pups of female rats exposed to a combination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and methylmercury (MeHg) slip and fall more often trying to maneuver on a rotating rod than do pups from non-exposed moms, scientists say.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - One of the five newly named research themes of the Institute for Genomic Biology under construction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has landed the institute's first major federal grant.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - A new study of the sense of smell lends support to a controversial theory of olfaction: Our noses can distinguish both the shape and the vibrational characteristics of odorant molecules.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine has established a Web page with information about canine influenza, which has spread to pet dogs in 10 states after first being diagnosed in January 2004 at a Florida greyhound track. No cases have been reported in Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, lll. - University of Illinois Vice President for Research Lawrence Schook has been named a council member of the National Research Council's Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), which evaluates the use of animals in research and seeks to identify viable alternatives to the use of animals in non-agricultural research.

Researchers can get their inspiration from a mentor, or colleague, or perhaps even a lecture that strikes a chord. Psychology researcher Kara Federmeier got hers from her younger brother when she was still in high school.

A Minute With™... plant biology professor Evan DeLucia

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Renée Baillargeon, the University of Illinois Alumni Distinguished Professor of Psychology, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced today. She and the other 226 newly elected fellows will be honored at the annual Induction Ceremony on Oct. 6 at academy headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Chemist Peter Beak and entomologist Gene E. Robinson of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are among the 202 newly elected fellows and foreign honorary members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Keep pet cats inside, stop feeding strays, cook meat sufficiently and reconsider the way the veterinary profession and public health agencies think - and teach - about the zoonotic pathogen Toxoplasma gondii.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Using high-performance computing and genetic engineering to boost the photosynthetic efficiency of plants offers the best hope of increasing crop yields enough to feed a planet expected to have 9.5 billion people on it by 2050, researchers report in the journal Cell.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The culture of a school can dampen - or exacerbate - the violent or disruptive tendencies of aggressive young teens, new research indicates. A large-scale study from the University of Illinois found that while personal traits and peer interactions have the most direct effect on the aggressive behavior of middle school students, the school environment also influences student aggression.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have uncovered the molecular activity of an enzyme responsible for naturally turning a small protein into a potent antibiotic known as a lantibiotic.

A Minute With™... Stephen P. Long, Illinois' lead investigator on a new Energy Biosciences Institute

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The world's latest most-feared technological nightmare comes true Feb. 28, but only for about six hours. Genetically engineered insects will be running amok - though just on the big screen - during the 21st annual Insect Fear Film Festival at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.