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News Archive

Self-driving lab: AI and automated biology combine to improve enzymes

Liz Ahlberg Touchstone

By combining artificial intelligence with automated robotics and synthetic biology, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have dramatically improved…

With AI to guide enzyme improvement and automated synthetic biology to rapidly make and test new variants, Illinois researchers developed a user-friendly system to drastically improve enzyme performance. Pictured, from left: Nilmani Singh, Jingxia Lu, Stephen Lane and Professor Huimin Zhao.

Research

Fruit fly study reveals a gene’s hidden ability to keep regrowth on the right track

Claudia Lutz

Regeneration, the ability to heal damaged or lost tissues, is both everyday and a real-life superpower. Health research inspired by the remarkable regeneration of animals like…

Principal investigator Rachel Smith-Bolton and graduate student Anish Bose are working to identify mechanisms within Drosophila that allow regeneration to come to a successful close.

Research

Study links influenza A viral infection to microbiome, brain gene expression changes

Diana Yates

In a study of newborn piglets, infection with influenza A was associated with disruptions in the piglets’ nasal and gut microbiomes and with potentially detrimental changes in…

In a study of neonatal piglets, Illinois pathobiology professors Christopher Gaulke, left, Ying Fang and their colleagues linked influenza A viral infection to alterations of the nasal microbiome and potentially detrimental changes in brain gene expression. Vaccination of pregnant sows appeared to partially protect their offspring from these effects. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Research

Researchers capture nanoparticle movements to forge new materials

Lois Yoksoulian

Researchers can now observe the phonon dynamics and wave propagation in self-assembly of nanomaterials with unusual properties that rarely exist in nature. This advance will…

Remarkable materials, such as the rugged yet lightweight skeletons of deep-sea sponges, have inspired engineers to develop highly advanced metamaterials that can adapt to extreme environments. A new study is taking this concept to the next level by bridging the knowledge gap between macro- and nanoscale self-assembling materials to advance technologies in multiple fields, including robotics, mechanical engineering and information technology. Photo courtesy NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program

Research

Machine learning method helps bring diagnostic testing out of the lab

Katie Brady

What if people could detect cancer and other diseases with the same speed and ease of a pregnancy test or blood glucose meter? Researchers at the Carl R. Woese Institute for…

Graduate student in electrical and computer engineering Han Lee (left) and Professor Brian Cunningham (right)

Research

Heat-resilient crops are within reach — given enough time and money

Diana Yates

Laboratory and field experiments have repeatedly shown that modifying the process of photosynthesis or the physical characteristics of plants can make crops more resilient to…

In a review in the journal Science, Illinois researchers, from left, Carl Bernacchi, Stephen Long and Donald Ort describe the many field- and laboratory-tested approaches to increasing crop resilience in a warming world. Photos by Fred Zwicky and Craig Pessman

Research

Easy Cowpeasy: RIPE team develops new gene expression tool for cowpea

Allie Arp and Claudia Lutz

A team from the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency project has developed a tool that will enable scientists to better explore cowpea gene expression with the click…

CowPEAsy is an open-access interactive web tool that allows researchers to look at specific genes within three levels of the plant canopy during two points of the growing season.

Research

Study Links Urinary Tract Bacteria to Prostate Cancer

Cancer Center at Illinois

A study led by Jason Ridlon (MME) has revealed that bacteria in the urinary tract can turn corticosteroids into androgens—hormones that help prostate cancer grow. The research…

Jason Ridlon, Associate Professor of Animal Sciences and Joseph Irudayaraj, Professor of Bioengineering. / L. Brian Stauffer

Research

‘Future-proofing’ crops will require urgent, consistent effort

Diana Yates

In a review in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Stephen Long (BSD/CABBI/PFS), a professor of crop sciences and of plant biology at the University of…

In a review, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Stephen Long describes potential methods for “future-proofing” crops against climate change. Photo by Fred Zwicky

Research