Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered an unexpected reaction within a protein family. Their findings, which were recently published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, could have dramatic implications for the development of future therapeutics.

PhD candidate Ruben Sanchez-Nieves from the Whitaker Lab looks to characterize and sequence plasmids such as Solfolobus Islandicus.

The influenza virus, which causes the flu, is a major public health issue, infecting millions of people and estimated to cost $10 billion in direct medical costs in the United States each year. Like most viruses, influenza mutates rapidly as it spreads, making it difficult to vaccinate against...

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.

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...

Stephen G. Sligar has spent the last 40 years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign applying his expertise in membrane proteins and his nanodisc technology to better understand biological pathways and address diseases including cancer.

The Young Innovator program is designed to help trainees become innovative leaders in their fields. The students attended classes for ten weeks over the summer and, at the end of the program, participated in an idea competition, showcasing the projects.

When one imagines what 6th-8th grade students might be interested in, these projects may not immediately come to mind: studying metabolism in the Minecraft universe, investigating whether toxic frogs know they are toxic, printing 3D corals, building a robot that can deliver snacks or one that can...

A team led by scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tracked the rise and fall of SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva and nasal cavities of people newly infected with the virus. The study was the first to follow acute COVID-19 infections over time through repeated sampling and to compare...

The world around us contains many chemicals that are useful for medicines, crop protection, and animal health. These chemicals—known as natural products—have typically been discovered by sheer luck. Unsurprisingly, traditional techniques often find the same products, like antibiotics, repeatedly...