A new study finds parallels between the brain architecture that drives locomotion in sea slugs and that of more complex segmented creatures with jointed skeletons and appendages. 

University of Illinois scientists have identified the phosphorylation site and its consequence on the function of MOV10, an RNA helicase expressed in early brain development and required for embryo viability, illuminating this RNA binding proteins’ relation to microRNA pathways and its effect on...

Researchers at the Beckman Institute, with help from the Champaign Public Library, investigated the potential benefits of reading in improving memory. They found that regular, engaged leisure reading can strengthen memory skills in older adults, laying the groundwork for better practices in...

Xin Li is an assistant professor of cell and developmental biology and was recently named a Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors (LEAP) Scholar. The Department of CDB caught up with Xin Li for its annual newsletter.

The brains of all higher order animals are filled with a diverse array of neuron types, with specific shapes and functions. Yet, when these brains form during embryonic development, there is initially only a small pool of cell types to work with. So how do neurons diversify over the embryo’s...

As she viewed the radiograph in Decatur Memorial Hospital’s Radiology Department’s reading room, Jeanne Bullock Goldberg was fascinated by what she saw: the bones and innermost details of a hand. It was 1965, and having just graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School, she had applied for a...

A new study from the University of Illinois further helps explain links between epilepsy and reproductive comorbidities. The Christian-Hinman laboratory's findings were published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.

Interdisciplinary researchers at the Beckman Institute, including Molecular & Integrative Physiology Professor Dan Llano, received federal funding to develop ultrasound imaging methods for studying the neurovascular changes underlying Alzheimer's disease. Their low-cost, widely accessible...

Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, the most common form of focal epilepsy, often have seizures that start from one side of the hippocampus and not the other. Such patients may also experience complications such as cognitive impairment and reproductive endocrine disruption. Although it’s been...

Researchers at the Beckman Institute developed a technique for producing super-resolution ultrasound images of tissue microvasculature in just a fraction of the time previously needed. Their work could enable future research into the neurovascular mechanisms behind conditions like Alzheimer’s...