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...

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...

Researchers have developed a new antibiotic that reduced or eliminated drug-resistant bacterial infections in mouse models of acute pneumonia and sepsis while sparing healthy microbes in the mouse gut. The drug, called lolamicin, also warded off secondary infections with Clostridioides...