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Illinois team wins bronze at 2018 iGEM competition

Emily Scott

The Illinois iGEM team won a bronze medal at the 2018 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition for their work

Scientists debunk potential link to crop cold tolerance

Claire Benjamin

When temperatures drop, the enzyme Rubisco that fuels plant growth and yield gets sluggish.

Global Effort to Sequence All Complex Life on Earth Launches


The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a global effort to sequence the genetic code, or genomes, of all 1.5 million known animal, plant

May Berenbaum Named PNAS Editor-in-Chief

Diana Yates

University of Illinois entomology professor and department head May Berenbaum, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and longtime editorial contributor to the Proceedings

Novel quantum dots enhance cell imaging

Laura Schmitt

A team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Mayo Clinic have engineered a new type of molecular probe that can measure and count RNA in cells a

Illinois study provides whole-system view of plant cold stress

Lauren Quinn

When temperatures drop, plants can’t bundle up. Stuck outside, exposed, plants instead undergo a series of biochemical changes that protect cells from damage.

Stem cell proliferation controlled directly by nervous system

Lauren Quinn

Somatic stem cells are microscopic workhorses, constantly regenerating cells throughout the body: skin and the lining of the intestine, for example.

IGB Director Gene Robinson elected to National Academy of Medicine

Diana Yates

Entomology professor and director of the IGB Gene Robinson, an international leader in honey bee research, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine “for pioneering c

Classifying microbes differently leads to discovery  

Emily Scott

Changing the way microbes are classified can reveal similarities among mammals’ gut microbiomes, according to a new study.

Success is sweet: researchers unlock the mysteries of the sugarcane genome

Claudia Lutz

For centuries, sugarcane has supplied human societies with alcohol, biofuel, building and weaving materials, and the world’s most relied-upon source of sugar.

Damaged liver cells undergo reprogramming to regenerate

Steph Adams

In Greek mythology, Zeus punishes the trickster Prometheus by chaining him to a rock and sending an eagle to eat a portion of his liver every day, in perpetuity.