The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) is dedicated to transformative research and technology in life sciences. Team-based themes tackle grand societal challenges in food security, energy, health, technology, and environmental conservation. Its facilities include a microfabrication lab, plant growth facility, and a microscopy suite.

Researchers make new insights into bacterial cell cycle

Three scientists in the Mera Lab, Stephanie Puentes-Rodriguez, Paola Mera, and Inoka Menikpurage, stand together smiling for the camera. They are in the doorway leading from one lab space to additional lab space. They are all smiling.
In a recent paper published in the Journal of Bacteriology, the Mera Lab focused on how the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus coordinates the replication and separation of the chromosome simultaneously. The researchers found that the regulators of those two crucial events communicate with each other...

Illinois to co-lead new CZ Biohub in Chicago

Illustration of an instrumented tissue mimic
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has been chosen to lead the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago – a new biomedical hub – along with the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. The three-university team was selected to lead the new biomedical hub as part of a competitive...

Meet MCB: Ruben Sanchez-Nieves

Ruben Sanchez-Nieves stands smiling in the foyer of Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.
PhD candidate Ruben Sanchez-Nieves from the Whitaker Lab looks to characterize and sequence plasmids such as Solfolobus Islandicus.

MEET MCB: Daniel Castro

Exterior shot of IGB
Castro joined the Department of Biochemistry in 2018 as a graduate student when he joined the Sweedler group to learn more about mass spectrometry. He works on developing new mass spectrometry approaches to measure individual cells and their chemical contents in a high-throughput fashion.

New therapeutic target identified for triple-negative breast cancer

Gloved hands working with a pipette. Person's face can't be seen. They are in a lab coat and the background is a lab.
Breast cancer is categorized into three major subtypes: hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive, and triple-negative. Although there are targeted therapeutic approaches for the first two, there are limited options for triple negative-breast cancer patients. In a new study, researchers have...