Research Publication

MCB researchers uncover a novel mechanism of STAT3 activation in cancer

2026-04-22

Pallob Barai and Reean Abdullah at the lab bench

One day, on assignment researching non-canonical functions of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases — housekeeping enzymes essential for protein synthesis — Pallob Barai noticed an intriguing pattern.“A particular AARS enzyme, TARS1, was found to be correlated with poor patient survival in different cancers,...

MCB scientists’ discovery begets new insights into cancer tumor growth

2026-04-07

New research from the K.V. Prasanth lab, in collaboration with scientists across the University of Illinois and other institutions, has revealed that gene positioning near nuclear speckles — key nuclear domains that promote gene expression — along with the mechanistic functions of the non-coding...

Illinois scientists play key role in discovering new family of membrane transport protein

2026-02-24

The task: calculate every movement of every human in New York City and, based on those data, create a picture-perfect map of the city's skyline. Seem impossible?And yet, this resembles what two School of Molecular & Cellular Biology scientists recently accomplished while investigating E....

Grosman lab clarifies ‘mechanical link’ behind inter-neuron communication

2026-01-22

In new research, University of Illinois scientists have challenged previously held scientific ideas about loop-C’s functional role within ligand-gated ion channels, deepening biologists’ understanding of the complex neurotransmission process.Their study,...

MCB researchers unveil new actin filament behavior in the cellular cytoskeleton

2025-12-11

Imagine a treadmill. As it moves, the track is constantly receding but is replenished at an equal rate on the opposite end. The result is a machine in perpetual motion, but which has its length stay exactly the same. For decades, biologists have regarded “treadmilling” as the standard...

Researchers uncover the molecular basis of mitochondrial dysfunction in myotonic dystrophy type 1

2025-12-04

Myotonic Dystrophy type 1, also known as DM1, is a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness, delayed muscle relaxation, and cardiac issues that can often be life-threatening. It is the most common cause of adult-onset muscular dystrophy and affects roughly 1 in 2,000 individuals...

Long-term alcohol use suspends liver cells in limbo, preventing regeneration

2025-09-11

Excessive alcohol consumption can disrupt the liver’s unique regenerative abilities by trapping cells in limbo between their functional and regenerative states, even after a patient stops drinking, researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators at Duke University and the...

Fruit fly study reveals a gene’s hidden ability to keep regrowth on the right track

2025-06-26

four damaged and undamaged drosophila wings

Regeneration, the ability to heal damaged or lost tissues, is both everyday and a real life superpower. Health research inspired by the remarkable regeneration of animals like starfish or the salamanders axolotls asks how future therapeutics could promote the regrowth of hard-to-heal tissues, limbs...

Colorectal cancer treated with cholesterol inhibitor in U. of I. study

2025-06-23

University of Illinois researchers have successfully treated a common type of colorectal cancer tumor with a cholesterol inhibitor drug, demonstrating a promising treatment for the disease in animal experiments.The study,...

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