Welcome
At the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, we study the mechanisms of how cells grow and divide, assemble and function to form multicellular organisms. Using multidisciplinary approaches, we investigate the fundamental biological questions relating to chromatin structure and dynamics; gene regulation; proteostatis; RNA biology; signal transduction in mammalian cell growth and differentiation; cytoskeletal organization and cell adhesion; mechanisms of cell determination, repair, regeneration and developmental patterning. Extensive collaboration with physicists, chemists and engineers have made it possible to investigate the internal workings of cells, and how cells respond to external cues. Our mission is to train and educate undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in the areas of modern molecular and cellular biology, cancer biology, developmental biology and neuro-cognitive sciences.
Supriya Prasanth, Head
CDB News
Three students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been awarded David L. Boren Scholarships, including MCB major Brendan Rattin. The National Security Education Program selects students to add international and language components to their education by studying overseas in world regions critical to U.S. interests. In the 2022-23 academic year, Boren Scholars are slated to study in 29 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East, studying 21 different languages.
Initiation of DNA duplication requires a six-subunit complex, the Origin Recognition Complex (ORC) that binds to the origins of DNA replication. The individual components of ORC also have many roles in other parts of the cell cycle, including heterochromatin organization and cytokinesis.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a link between RNA polymerase III subunit composition and transcription, an advancement that has potential implications for future cancer research. A switch in one individual subunit, which gives rise to alternate Pol III “identities”, affects the ability of Pol III to express specific small RNAs with downstream roles in cancer growth and metastasis.
