2026-02-27
- When graduate students arrive on campus for the first time, many of them coming from distant states or other countries, their first days can feel isolating as they navigate choosing a lab and research focus, deciding where to live, securing employment, and building new friendships. These challenges can feel even more intense within small cohorts and highly specialized departments.“Sometimes we...
2026-02-24 - The task: calculate every movement of every human in New York City and, based on those data, create a picture-perfect map of the city's skyline. Seem impossible?And yet, this resembles what two School of Molecular & Cellular Biology scientists recently accomplished while investigating E. coli membrane transport proteins — a system with billions of more variables and on an atomic...
2026-02-17 - Three faculty of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, including microbiologist Wei Qin, have received Sloan Foundation Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a not-for-profit, mission-driven grantmaking institution dedicated to...
2026-02-16 - The gene most strongly correlated with Alzheimer’s disease also boosts seizure activity by decreasing levels of ions pumps and energy-producing enzymes in neurons, a new study by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found. Furthermore, the energy-making pathway was stimulated and seizures reduced in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease by administration of a blood pressure...
2026-01-22 - In new research, University of Illinois scientists have challenged previously held scientific ideas about loop-C’s functional role within ligand-gated ion channels, deepening biologists’ understanding of the complex neurotransmission process.Their study, “Disentangling the mechanistic role of loop-C capping in Cys-loop receptor...
2026-01-21 - Ask any scientist and they’ll tell you what a joy it is to discover something they didn’t know they didn’t know. “The best parts of science tend to be serendipitous,” said the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology’s Jhewelle Fitz-Henley. “The things that you find out, you’re like, ‘I did not think that was going to happen.’”However, for many new college students, figuring out how to balance...
2025-12-17 - Congratulations to recipients of this year's School of MCB faculty and staff awards!It is a school tradition to recognize outstanding members of the community at our year-end holiday party, and this year we presented awards across seven categories, honoring achievements in research, teaching, and service.Outstanding MCB Graduate Student AwardSihang Zhou, Department of Cell...
2025-12-11 - Imagine a treadmill. As it moves, the track is constantly receding but is replenished at an equal rate on the opposite end. The result is a machine in perpetual motion, but which has its length stay exactly the same. For decades, biologists have regarded “treadmilling” as the standard behavior of actin filaments in cells. That is until three Illinois scientists revealed a more detailed...
2025-12-10 - On Dec. 5, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted to discontinue its decades-long recommendation for universal vaccination against hepatitis B beginning at birth. Public health expert and infectious disease physician Janet A. Jokela is the senior...
2025-12-09 - The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is proud to announce the winners of our 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium, held on November 12, 2025. Sixty-five students presented posters of their research to attendees of the event, which was held at the Illini Union.This annual event showcases the scholarly efforts of our undergraduate researchers, who contribute to...
2025-12-04 - Myotonic Dystrophy type 1, also known as DM1, is a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness, delayed muscle relaxation, and cardiac issues that can often be life-threatening. It is the most common cause of adult-onset muscular dystrophy and affects roughly 1 in 2,000 individuals every year. By uncovering the cellular mechanisms behind DM1, new discoveries by University of Illinois...
2025-12-01 - Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are piecing together how cancer-emergent non-coding RNAs, or ncRNAs, contribute to disease-related cell phenotypes. The Van Bortle lab has focused extensively on RNA polymerase III (Pol III) — an enzyme that produces RNA molecules — and has recently directed its attention to understanding the...
2025-11-25 - Amber Smith, a neuroscience major in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, is president of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Society. She is also an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Catherine Christian-Hinman's neuroscience lab. This fall, the Undergraduate...
2025-11-21 - The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology and Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology are pleased to welcome new faculty member Dr. Michael Schappe. He joins the school as an assistant professor in January 2026. His research lies in the areas of...
2025-11-21 - Though he only completed his postdoctoral work two years ago, the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology’s own Professor Boxuan Zhao already ranks among the world's most influential scientists. Earlier this month, Zhao was one of twelve Illinois professors named to the...