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Meet Kevin Van Bortle, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology
The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology and Department of Cell & Developmental Biology are thrilled to welcome new faculty member Kevin Van Bortle! He joins us from the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he conducted his postdoctoral research. We recently spoke with him about...
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Biochemistry professor Nicholas Wu earns NIH Director's New Innovator Award
Nicholas Wu, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has received a National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, part of the Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program.
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New analytical technique helps researchers spot subtle differences in subcellular chemistry
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign can now rapidly isolate and chemically characterize individual organelles within cells. The new technique tests the limits of analytical chemistry and rapidly reveals the chemical composition of organelles that control biological growth,...
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Antibodies from original strain COVID-19 infection don't bind to variants, study finds
People infected with the original strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 early in the pandemic produced a consistent antibody response, making two main groups of antibodies to bind to the spike protein on the virus’s outer surface. However, those antibodies don’t bind well to newer variants, a...
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In Memoriam: Albert Feng, professor and former head of molecular and integrative physiology
Albert Feng, a passionate and beloved scholar who studied the neural basis of sound communication, has passed away.
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U of I president honors MCB researchers for their work on COVID-19 response
University of Illinois President Tim Killeen on Monday honored 28 key leaders of the system’s COVID-19 response with the Presidential Medallion. The medallion is the highest honor that the system president can bestow.
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Light can trigger key signaling pathway for embryonic development, cancer
Blue light is illuminating new understanding of a key signaling pathway in embryo development, tissue maintenance, and cancer genesis.
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Researchers discover widespread, specific lipid binding by a large family of human proteins
Phospholipid-protein interactions play an essential role in the regulation of many important cellular processes. The largest family of putative lipid-binding proteins contain the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain. Previous studies in the field estimate that approximately 10 percent of the PH protein...
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Meet new faculty member Patrick Sweeney, who explores neural circuitry at the intersection of feeding, motivation, and emotion
The Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is pleased to welcome new faculty member Patrick Sweeney!
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Study offers insight into underlying causes of seizure disorder in babies
Researchers report that infantile spasms, a rare but serious seizure disorder in babies, appear to be the result of a molecular pathway gone awry. In their study of a mouse model of the disorder, the researchers discovered that genetic mutations associated with the disease impair a pathway that is...