Research

Thanks to a serendipitous discovery and a lot of painstaking work, scientists can now build biohybrid molecules that combine the homing powers of DNA with the broad functional repertoire of proteins — without having to synthesize them one by one, researchers report in a new study. Using a naturally...

What talks without being seen or heard? It sounds like a riddle, but neuronal communication had perplexed biochemists until a few years ago, when scientists discovered ways in which neurons talk to each other — not with cell phones or instant messaging, but through the exchange of virus-like...

For typical illnesses, the body’s immune system is a robust, pathogen-killing machine. It provides a general defense against harmful germs while also adapting and producing antibodies that target specific bacteria or viruses. After fighting off an infection like the flu, the body produces...

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Illinois has discovered a potential new treatment option for drug-resistant breast cancer. Their findings, published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment,...

A new review article co-authored by Chu-Young Kim, Professor of Biochemistry, discusses the architecture of modular polyketide synthases (PKS), a type of enzyme found in various organisms that synthesize widely...

An AI language model developed by Illinois researchers for sequence-based antibody specificity prediction and published in Immunity will accelerate epitope mapping and improve scientists’ understanding of the B-cell...

The National Institutes of Health has approved the T32 grant, “Interdisciplinary Research Training at the Interface of Reproductive Sciences and Bioengineering." The training program is aimed at predoctoral students who want to work at the interface of reproductive sciences and engineering, two...

A new method of precisely targeting troublesome cells for death using light could unlock new understanding of and treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report...

A group of researchers from the University of Illinois has identified a set of rules governing the reaction preferences of a family of G-protein-modifying toxins. G proteins are proteins that regulate cellular processes through interactions between hormone receptors and downstream signaling...

By giving artificial intelligence simple associative learning rules based on the brain circuits that allow a sea slug to forage — and augmenting it with better episodic memory, like that of an octopus — scientists have built an AI that can navigate new environments, seek rewards, map landmarks and...