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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Health + Wellness

Every person or animal that suffers from ill health and every pathogen that causes disease has its own genome. Research in this area examines how genome function directs the development of healthy bodies and how disorders disrupt that function.

Exploring the genomes of the microbes we live with also allows us to discover the molecular tools they use to aid or attack their hosts or to fight each other, knowledge that can act as a pathway to well-being.

Featured Stories

Researchers used microbes to convert plastic waste into pyruvate, an essential energy source for microbes that use it to generate other useful products. As a proof-of-concept experiment, they converted polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, from plastic bottles into the blue dye indigoidine. Photo by Fred Zwicky
Research
Microbial assembly line makes plastic upcycling programmable
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Soybean cyst nematode. Image credit Esmaeil Miraeiz.
Research
Comprehensive genetic library for soybean cyst nematode could renew resistance, profitability for soybean growers
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Amit Rai, Assistant Professor in the Department of Crop Sciences
Research
Plants speak in chemicals — scientists are learning how to listen
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Biology professor Tong Wang (left) with bioengineering professor Sergei Maslov.
Research
A new ecological model highlights how fluctuating environments push microbes to work together
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Ratnakar Singh, research assistant professor of comparative biosciences, and Michael Spinella (ACPP/EIRH), professor of comparative biosciences,
Research
Researchers Identify Underlying Mechanisms that Help Explain Link Between PFAS Exposure and Testicular Cancer
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Cross sections of breast tumors showing that myeloid cells (green) are able to express the gene ABCA1 (red), which helps activate cancer-fighting properties. Other types of cells are labeled with blue.
Research
Researchers Discover ABCA1 Protein’s Role in Releasing Molecular Brakes on Solid Tumor Immunotherapy
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