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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

A newly hatched Steinernema carpocapsae juvenile (shown here, scale bar 50 μm) is only about 0.25 mm (less than 1/100 of an inch) long with a gonad only 0.013 mm in length. During development, the worm will increase over 10 times in length (in comparison, the average human only increases about 4 fold in height from birth to adulthood) and its gonad increases almost 500 times in length.

Tiny jumping roundworm undergoes unusual sexual development

Cari Vanderpool

Researchers discover a starring role for chaperone protein Hfq in gene regulation

Estrogen supplements change the bacterial composition in the intestinal tract, affecting how estrogen is metabolized, according to a new study in mice by researchers at the U. of I. From left (front row): postdoctoral research associate Xiaoji (Christine) Liu; Colleen Bushell, National Center for Supercomputing Applications senior research scientist; food science and human nutrition professor Zeynep Madak-Erdogan; epidemiology professor Becca Smith. Back row, from left: Michael Welge, NSCA senior data analy

Long-term estrogen therapy changes microbial activity in the gut, study finds

Lauren Todorov

New Woese Undergraduate Research Scholar Lauren Todorov

University of Illinois psychology professor Aron Barbey and his colleagues tested the reproducibility of task-based fMRI studies of various sizes.

Larger sample sizes needed to increase reproducibility in neuroscience studies

Racial disparities in breast cancer diagnosis and survival rates may have more to do with women’s living environments than their races, suggests a new meta-analysis of recent research on the topic by, from left, graduate student Brandi Patrice Smith and professor Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, both in the department of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois.

Neighborhood, breast cancer rates in African-American women linked

Saif first Koiter Medal winner from Illinois

Saif first Koiter Medal winner from Illinois

U. of I. anthropology professor Ripan Malhi and his colleagues use genomic techniques to understand ancient migration patterns in the Americas.

Two Ancient populations diverged in the Americas later ‘reconverged’

cientists boost crop production by 47 percent by speeding up photorespiration

Scientists boost crop production by 47% by speeding up photorespiration

The technique allows them to count, map and track delivery agents, shown in red, as they enter and move through a cell.

New technique can track drug and gene delivery to cells

Cassava feeds more than one billion people yet its yields have not increased since 1963; new research from the University of Illinois found that breeding efforts have not improved how well the crop photosynthesizes.

Cassava breeding hasn’t improved photosynthesis or yield potential

Illinois researchers created a system using CRISPR technology to selectively turn off any gene in Saccharomyces yeast. Pictured, from left: chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Huimin Zhao, graduate students Mohammad Hamedi Rad, Zehua Bao, Pu Xue and Ipek Tasan.

CRISPR tech ‘knocks out’ yeast genes with single-point precision

Hannah Holchser

Walnuts impact gut microbiome and improve health

associate professor of sociology, African American studies, urban and regional planning, gender and women’s studies and social work

Ruby Mendenhall new Assistant Deanship, Carle Illinois College of Medicine

The Summer internship for INdigenous Peoples in Genomics allows students, professors and scholars of Indigenous ancestry to obtain skills to aid their exploration of their own ancestry and history.

Respect Indigenous ancestors: Scholars urge community engagement