Illinois Partners in New NSF Center to Investigate Creation of Biological Machines

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $25 million to establish the Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Milan Bagchi Appointed University Scholar

On Monday, February 15th, Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology Milan Bagchi was appointed a university scholar by the chancellor.

Sligar Published in Journal of Cell Biology

Professor of Biochemistry Stephen Sligar and colleagues have successfully recreated integrin activation in vitro, resolving long-standing uncertainties about the cellular mechanisms behind the process.

Steven Blanke finds link between stomach-cancer bug and cancer-promoting factor

Microbiology professor Steven Blanke has found that a factor produced by the bacterium H. pylori directly activates an enzyme in host cells that has been associated with several types of cancer, including gastric cancer.

Morrissey and Colleagues Further Unravel Mysteries of Thrombosis

In a new study published in Cell, and rated "exceptional" by the Faculty of 1000 Biology, Professor of Biochemistry Jim Morrissey and colleagues have determined that polyphosphate, an inorganic polymer of phosphate, secreted by human platelets is an important link in thrombotic diseases and...

Transcription Factors Guide Differences in Human and Chimp Brain Function

Humans share at least 97 percent of their genes with chimpanzees, but, as a new study of transcription factors makes clear, what you have in your genome may be less important than how you use it.

Using Genomics to Look at Microbial Evolution

Most microbiologists sequence genes in order to determine what a given gene does. Rachel Whitaker, a member of the biocomplexity theme at IGB and assistant professor of microbiology, studies gene sequences to answer other kinds of questions. She would like to know, for example, "How do microbes,...

Carvedilol Shown to have Unique Characteristics Among Beta Blockers

In a new study, Kevin Xiang and colleagues report that a class of heart medications called beta-blockers can have a helpful, or harmful, effect on the heart, depending on their molecular activity. The study, which appears in the journal Circulation Research, found that beta-blockers that target...

Associate Professor Jonsook Kim Kemper Published in Cell Metabolism

Dr. Kemper is the lead author on "FXR Acetylation Is Normally Dynamically Regulated by p300 and SIRT1 but Constitutively Elevated in Metabolic Disease States."

Benita Katzenellenbogen Receives 2009 Komen Brinker Award

Swanlund Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Molecular and Integrative Physiology Benita Katzenellenbogen has received the 2009 Susan G. Komen for the Cure Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction for her work investigating breast cancer treatments.