2024-12-06
- Researchers from the University of Illinois have discovered a key factor responsible for facilitating signal transduction in Cys-loop receptors, providing insight into a longstanding question in the field of ion-channel physiology and contributing to rational drug design. Their findings appear in Science Advances....
2024-12-03 - The Graduate Student Association in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology has been named the 2024 award recipient for Outstanding Student Organization by Illinois International Student and Scholar Services. This award is traditionally given to an RSO or student organization that has excelled in internationalizing the Illinois campus. “There are a lot of international students in MCB,...
2024-11-20 - The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is proud to announce the winners of the 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on November 13, 2024. This annual event showcases the hard work of our undergraduate researchers, who contribute to advancing knowledge in biochemistry, cell and developmental biology, microbiology, and molecular and integrative physiology. Research experience equips...
2024-11-18 - A University of Illinois student is helping migrant families in her Chicago hometown by harnessing her academic interests and passion for public health. Hannah McGee, a junior pre-med student in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, has teamed up with her friend Sofia Castro, a junior studying Community Health, to co-found Amigos Unidos FC. The free, six-week soccer program is designed...
2024-11-04 - The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is pleased to congratulate the winners of its “Life Inspiring” art competition, which celebrates the intersection of life sciences and art. Earlier this year, undergraduate and graduate students were encouraged to submit original works of art reflecting the joys of their scientific endeavors. Accepted mediums included graphic design, drawings,...
2024-10-31 - The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is pleased to welcome Joe Boise as our new MCB Facilities and Lab Safety Assistant. We sat down with Joe recently to learn more about him and his role in the school. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What led you to this position? I was led to this position by my interest in environmental biology. In 2020, I earned a master’s...
2024-10-28 - The human gut is a diverse and densely populated environment filled with bacteria and other microbes in fierce competition for resources. One major colonizer in the human colon is Bacteroides, a genus of bacteria that can break down a wide variety of complex carbohydrates indigestible by humans. Researchers from the lab of ...
2024-10-24 - A new mouse model mimicking the liver symptoms of myotonic dystrophy type 1 — the most prevalent form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy — provides insight into why patients develop fatty liver disease and display hypersensitivity to medications, making treatment difficult. The new model opens avenues for screening new medications for liver toxicity prior to patient trials, University of...
2024-10-22 - New vaccinations against influenza and the virus that causes COVID-19 are available and arriving at physician offices and pharmacies. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign microbiology professor Chris Brooke is a virologist who studies respiratory viruses. He sat down with News Bureau biomedical sciences editor Liz...
2024-10-15 - The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology and Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology are pleased to welcome Dr. Jason Climer as an assistant professor of molecular and integrative physiology. We recently spoke with him about his research and teaching interests and how he spends his time...
2024-10-15 - The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology and Department of Biochemistry are pleased to welcome Dr. Diana Ranoa as assistant professor of biochemistry. Dr. Ranoa joins us in November 2024. Tell us about your lab and your research focus, including how you...
2024-10-11 - As an MCB major at the University of Illinois, Dr. Paul Donlin-Asp was an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Andrew Belmont’s lab and went on to pursue his PhD at Emory University. A former researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research’s Department of Synaptic Plasticity, he is now the Group leader (ESAT Fellow) at the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain at Centre for Discovery...
2024-10-10 - Investigators from the University of Illinois have created a whole-genome map that charts the occupancies of RNA polymerase enzymes in humans, discovering unexpected patterns in the process. Their findings appear in Molecular Cell. DNA transcription — the process of copying sequences of DNA into RNA molecules —...
2024-10-08 - Preclinical research is an important step of the drug and treatment development process that ensures the safety of a potential treatment modality for human testing. But until recently, most preclinical research studies in animals were only conducted on one sex: typically, male. This tendency to exclude female subjects in preclinical studies had implications for clinical trials and for...
2024-10-04 - Ricardo Diaz still remembers the night chemistry professor Joaquin Rodriguez-Lopez walked into a room full of kids and told them to throw ketchup on a volunteer wearing a special shirt. Soon the room was enveloped in ketchup, laughter, and gasps as they watched the shirt magically repel everything they threw at it. In an instant, they grasped...