Biochemistry

Biochemistry graduate student wins NSF pre-doctoral fellowship

2015-05-06

The Department of Biochemistry congratulates first-year graduate student Mara Livezey on winning a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship provides three years of pre-doctoral funding, which will support her work in Professor David Shapiro’s lab.

A new RNA repair complex employing a “one-stop shopping” repair mechanism

2015-04-17

Biochemistry graduate student Pei Wang and Associate Professor Raven Huang have discovered a new bacterial RNA repair complex. The structure of the 270-kDa RNA repair complex revealed that it is built like a shopping mall, and RNA repair can be achieved having the damaged RNA visiting four active...

New drug stalls estrogen receptor-positive cancer cells and shrinks tumors

2015-04-06

Biochemistry researchers in Dr. David Shapiro's lab, and a study team including researchers from the department of food science and human nutrition, the department of molecular and integrative physiology, the College of Medicine and the Cancer Center, have developed a new drug that kills estrogen...

Team discovers how microbes build a powerful antibiotic

2014-12-05

From left, University of Illinois graduate research assistant Manuel A. Ortega, chemistry professor Wilfred van der Donk, graduate student Yue Hao, biochemistry professor Satish Nair, and postdoctoral researcher Mark Walker solved a decades-old mystery into how a broad class of natural antibiotics...

Professor Tajkhorshid Awarded Supercomputing Capacity at DOE National Laboratory

2014-11-19

Large-scale simulations will develop a greater understanding of cellular membrane transporters, which could allow drug developers to design more targeted drugs for major pathophysiological conditions such as psychological disorders, cancer, and multi-drug resistance.

In Memoriam: Lowell P. Hager

2014-10-30

"Lowell created an environment where creativity was fostered, scientific standards were high and doing science was fun. He left his mark on the department that remains to this day."

Scientists engineer human T cell receptors against cancer antigens

2014-11-07

Graduate student Sheena Smith and Professor David Kranz of the Department of Biochemistry have developed an approach to discover T cell receptors that could be therapeutically useful against different cancers. In collaboration with graduate students Yuhang Wang and Javier Baylor and Professor Emad...

Scientists discover a new role for estrogen in the pathology of breast cancer

2014-10-02

Biochemistry professor David Shapiro, M.D.-Ph.D student Neal Andruska, graduate student Xiaobin Zheng and their colleagues discovered a new mechanism by which estrogen contributes to the pathology of breast cancer. The findings are published in the journal Oncogene.

Biochemistry notes the passing of noted former faculty member, J. Woodland "Woody" Hastings

2014-08-22

Dr. Hastings was a biochemistry faculty member at the University of Illinois from 1957 to 1966. His groundbreaking research focused on communication among bacteria. An endowed chair his name, donated by George and Tamara Mitchell, is currently held by Professor Robert Gennis.

How Heat-Loving Organisms Are Helping Advance Medicine

2014-08-20

One of the fascinating things about this world are organisms that live (and thrive) in extreme conditions. Dr. Robert Gennis leads an NIH-funded team that is studying membrane protein from thermophiles.

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