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Tech + Society

Tech + Society

New technologies launched the genomic era. Now, progress in genomic research depends on further innovations in the tools that allow us to probe, manipulate, and analyze biological molecules. Whether focused on software or hardware, biomaterials or microfluidics, DNA editors or molecular motors, our technological research pushes the boundaries of the physically possible and paves the way for future discovery.

Featured Stories

After observing that estrogen-treated dogs do not display sexual receptivity to males, Dr. Ko and his team began to investigate the brain regions responsible for sexual behavior. Currently, he is exploring super-resolution ultrasound technology for assessing changes in the hypothalamus, the control tower of the reproductive system.
CABBI Director Andrew Leakey, right, and Postdoctoral Researcher Daniel Lunn with sugarcane, miscanthus, and sorghum plants in the CABBI greenhouse at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
From left: Alex Lipka and Geoffrey Morris
Illinois researchers have opened up the AI "black box" to gain valuable new insight about chemistry for solar energy applications. Pictured, from left: Professor Charles Schroeder, graduate students Changhyun Hwang and Seungjoo Yi, professor Ying Diao, professor Nick Jackson and graduate student Tiara Torres Flores.
Entomology professor Esther Ngumbi studies how two varieties of tomato plants and tobacco hornworm larvae respond to flooding. The hornworm caterpillars are enclosed in plastic bags affixed to the tomato plants.
Researchers in the lab  Inspired by the evolution of some of the earliest lifeforms, University of Illinois professor Angad Mehta, left, Yang-Le Gao and Bidhan De led a proof-of-concept study verifying that natural metabolic processes within cyanobacteria-yeast hybrids can be bioengineered to produce important hydrocarbons and pharmaceutical precursors.