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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.
Welcome to Professor Collin Kieffer
Professor Kieffer was one of ten new faculty hires made in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the last three years. Kieffer is an assistant professor of microbiology, and is also an affiliate of Infection Genomics for One Health (IGOH) theme at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic...
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Microbiology professor Rachel Whitaker named a University Scholar
Congratulations to Rachel Whitaker for being chosen as a University Scholar. Whitaker, a professor of microbiology...
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Erik Nelson receives $4.5M grant to study prevention and treatment of metastatic breast cancer
Erik Nelson, professor of molecular and integrative physiology, has won a $4.5 million Era of Hope Scholar Award from the United States Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program.This prestigious award supports individuals early in their careers who have demonstrated significant potential...
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Cholesterol metabolite causes immune system to attack T cells instead of breast cancer, study finds
In breast cancer tumors, a molecule produced when the body breaks down cholesterol hijacks the myeloid immune cells that normally arm T cells to fight cancer, a new study in mice found. Instead, the hijacked myeloid cells disarm the T cells and even tell them to self-destruct.
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Collaborative team awarded $12.5 million for new NSF Biology Integration Institute
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a five-year, $12.5 million grant to integrate biology to a collaborative team based in the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The new institute, Genomics and Eco-evolution of Multi-scale...
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Volunteers at Illinois produce supplies for 200,000 COVID-19 tests
A collaborative effort at the University of Illinois to support COVID-19 testing is winding down, but not before it produced enough materials to support some 200,000 coronavirus tests across the state.
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Engineered immune cells recognize, attack human and mouse solid-tumor cancer cells
A method known as CAR-T therapy has been used successfully in patients with blood cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia. It modifies a patient’s own T-cells by adding a piece of an antibody that recognizes unique features on the surface of cancer cells. In a new study, researchers report that they...
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Bacteria show their metal: An evolutionary path to survival
An investigation of two closely related proteins from a pathogenic bacterium has illustrated for the first time how evolution can shape the use of essential metals by enzymes.
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University of Illinois partners with Carle Health and the state to increase COVID-19 testing
Back in early March, when the COVID-19 pandemic began shuttering businesses and schools across the United States, Chris Brooke wondered how he’d teach his classes online. As the virus spread with astonishing speed, however, and it became frighteningly clear that COVID-19 threatened something far...
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Infection Genomics for One Health: Where Research Realms Collide
“Between the realms of agriculture, nature, and humans, the unifying factor is the microbes that exist in each and the specific genes those microbes carry.The IGOH theme at the IGB allows research to be contextualized, and to exist in a space where lab work becomes immediately relevant and...