Welcome
The Department of Microbiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been consistently ranked as one of the best microbiology departments in the United States. There are 21 research laboratories, approximately 80 graduate students, and 20 post-doctoral fellows in the department. Thus, it is large enough to provide a stimulating research environment but small enough to allow close interactions between the faculty and graduate students.
The Department of Microbiology is a part of the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB), which includes the Departments of Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology, and Molecular and Integrative Physiology. The department is part of an umbrella program in MCB that encompasses 80 different research laboratories. Students admitted into any of these departmental graduate programs can select faculty thesis advisors from over 60 active research laboratories in the school. Close ties are also maintained with the School of Integrative Biology, the School of Chemical Sciences, the College of Medicine, and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
John E. Cronan, Head
Microbiology News
Unexpected functions for D-amino acids continue to emerge, microbiology professor Steven R. Blanke says in a “Perspective” essay in this week's issue of Science. Read more...
In the eighth essay in Science’s series in honor of the Year of Darwin, Carl Zimmer describes one of the most important transitions in the history of life: the origin of cells with a nucleus, which gave rise to every multicellular form of life. Read more...
Professor of Microbiology William Metcalf, Associate Professor of Biochemistry Satish Nair, and Affiliate Professor of Biochemistry Wilfred van der Donk have identified and analyzed an iron-containing enzyme involved in a bond-breaking reaction. Read more...
Microbiology professor Rachel Whitaker has released a study of Sulfolobus islandicus, a microbe that lives holds clues to evolution. Read more...
Steven Blanke, a University of Illinois professor in the department of microbiology and Institute for Genomic Biology, has helped discover how the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is able to get into cells in the acidic, inhospitable human stomach. Read more...