Gene Robinson

Scientific and technological advancements, particularly in the area of genomics research, continue to penetrate nearly all areas of society. Yet most of the public do not have access to the knowledge or tools necessary to understand how this new research may affect them, both in their lives and in their careers. As such, Genomics for Professionals, otherwise known as Genomics forTM, was developed as a series of educational programs designed to teach basic concepts in biology and genomics to professionals within different public sectors.

Collective behaviors are present across many different animal groups: schools of fish swimming in a swirling pattern together, large flocks of birds migrating through the night, groups of bees coordinating their behavior to defend their hive. These behaviors are commonly seen in social insects where as many as thousands of individuals work together, often with distinct roles. In honey bees, the role a bee plays in the colony changes as they age.

UPDATE: The Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has selected six papers published by PNAS in 2022 to receive the Cozzarelli Prize, an award that recognizes outstanding contributions to the scientific disciplines represented by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Papers were chosen from more than 3,200 research articles that appeared in the journal last year and represent the six broadly defined classes under which the NAS is organized.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has committed another round of funding to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to lead the second phase of its Bioenergy Research Center — one of four large-scale DOE-funded research centers focused on innovation in biofuels, bioproducts, and a clean energy future for the country.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has been chosen to co-lead the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago—a new biomedical hub—with researchers from Illinois, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. The three-university team was selected as part of a competitive application process (https://www.czbiohub.org/) for a research initiative explicitly focused on measuring human biology.

The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology recently held a town hall meeting to introduce new changes to improve diversity and inclusion at the IGB. Attendance was high, with faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, and students alike filling both meeting rooms to capacity in order to ask questions and weigh in on proposed changes.

In light of long-standing inequities in STEM representation, many universities are now recognizing the value of diversity in higher education. Achieving such diversity involves creating an inclusive campus that welcomes scholars from different backgrounds, not only to foster a healthy intellectual environment, but also to provide role models to aspiring students. Faculty cluster hiring is an emerging practice in higher education, involving cross-campus collaborations to hire faculty working on interdisciplinary research topics.

On February 25^th 2022, the Illinois General Assembly adopted House Resolution 0690, commending the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology on its 15^th year of societal, scientific, and scholarly contributions at the intersection of science and society.

The Earth BioGenome Project, launched in November 2018, is an ambitious undertaking with the goal of sequencing all the existing, named eukaryotes—about 2 million species of fungi, plants, and animals—in a 10-year timeframe. The project was highlighted in “The Earth BioGenome Project: The Launch of a Moonshot for Biology Special Feature” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The chronic stress of living in neighborhoods with high rates of violence and poverty alters gene activity in immune cells, according to a new study of low-income single Black mothers on the South Side of Chicago.