Study identifies key regulator of cell differentiation

Research team members pose together in the School of MCB's CLSL atrium, where banners for each department hang in the background. The research team includes, from left, undergraduate student Darya Asoudegi; graduate students Neha Chetlangia and Fredy Kurniawan; and Supriya Prasanth, a professor of cell and developmental biology at the U. of I. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.
Embryonic stem cells and other pluripotent cells divide rapidly and have the capacity to become nearly any cell type in the body. Scientists have long sought to understand the signals that prompt stem cells to switch off pluripotency and adopt their final functional state.

Simulated sea slug gets addicted to drug

Cyberslug was modeled on Pleurobranchaea californica, a sea slug with a simple nervous system.
Rhanor Gillette and his colleagues simulated a sea slug brain in a computer model, added a few extra circuits, and gave it access to food and an intoxicating drug. The work offers insight into the process of addiction and will be a useful tool for further studies, Gillette said.

Spinal cord gives bio-bots walking rhythm

Martha Gillette
Miniature biological robots are making greater strides than ever, thanks to the spinal cord directing their steps. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers developed the tiny walking “spinobots,” powered by rat muscle and spinal cord tissue on a soft, 3D-printed hydrogel skeleton....