Decoding the molecular clock that controls neurogenesis in visual center of Drosophila

The nervous system is made up of diverse cells that arise from progenitors in a specific time-dependent pattern. In a new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers have uncovered the molecular players involved and how the timing is controlled.

Circadian rhythm and the blood-brain barrier

Beckman faculty members Martha Gillette and Hyunjoon Kong received an NIH/DOD grant to study how circadian rhythm affects the blood-brain barrier’s permeability to small molecules and susceptibility to blood leakage. Their team will design a microfluidics-based chip from human stem cells to model...

Meet MCB: Temirlan Shilikbay, cell & developmental biology PhD student

The School of MCB is proud to highlight our graduate students, including Temirlan Shilikbay, now in his third year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is a PhD candidate in professor Stephanie Ceman's lab in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. The lab's goal is to study...

Study identifies key regulator of cell differentiation

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.

Meet MCB: Professor Brian Freeman brings molecular chaperone expertise to Illinois

Brian Freeman, a professor of cell and developmental biology and Cancer Center at Illinois scientist, has focused his research on the study of molecular chaperones (MCs) since the beginning of his career as a graduate student when chaperones were thought to have no medicinal purpose. Now, the...

Brian Freeman elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Fourteen University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty members, including Brian Freeman, professor of cell and developmental biology, have been elected 2021 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Janhavi Kolhe: Recipient of the Tom and Cynthia Cycyota Research Scholarship

The Department of Cell and Developmental Biology profiles PhD student Janhavi Kolhe, recipient of the Tom and Cynthia Cycyota Research Scholarship.

Faculty selected for Big Ten Academic Alliance leadership development programs

Faculty and staff members from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been chosen to participate in the Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program and the Big Ten Academic Alliance Department Executive Officer Seminar.

Where are they now? CCIL scholarship awardee You Jin Song

You Jin Song, a third year Ph.D. candidate in Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) researcher Kannanganattu Prasanth’s lab, is studying the effects of MALAT1, a long-noncoding RNA that is believed to play an important role in many cancers including breast and lung cancer. This project is supported by a...

New "Cryo-EM" technology illuminates life

Thanks to the installation of a cryogenic electron microscope at the University of Illinois, researchers are exploring what was once hidden or difficult to study at the molecular level.