Meet MCB: Team Players

A tight shot of a microscope with a soft orange gradient layer.
The Prasanths began a new life as postdoctoral researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. And today, as University of Illinois CDB professors, they continue to work side by side — literally. Their respective labs are next to each other in the Chemical and Life Sciences Building...

K.V. Prasanth lab discovers cancer connections with MALAT1

prasanth2fix_16-9.jpg
Prasanth’s lab published several papers on a particular lncRNA called MALAT1, with significant findings showing an important link between cancer and MALAT1. They found that when MALAT1 is overexpressed in breast cells, the cells form tumors. Conversely, when it is depleted in breast cancer cells,...

Engineering T cells to attack cancer

kranzlab_16-9.png
The Kranz lab and colleagues have recently publish a trio of papers that describe the engineering of receptors that can mediate specific and potent destruction of cancers by T cells.

Employing the Help of the BHPI Molecule to Boost Anti-Cancer Drug Treatments

Headshot of David Shapiro
For decades, MCB and the University of Illinois have been at the forefront of understanding the role of estrogen and the estrogen receptor (ER) in causing breast cancer. This is essential work: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, affecting roughly one in eight women in the...

Hitting the (Moving) Target of Drug Resistant Cancers

Dr. Benita Katzenellenbogan, Swanlund Professor of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and Cell and Developmental Biology. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer
Benita Katzenellenbogen has delved into the causes and treatments for breast cancer and other hormone-dependent cancers for virtually her entire career. Her tireless work in the field has established her as a world-renowned expert.

Progress in Women's Reproductive Health and Fertility

Tight shot of three pregnant women sit side by side, zoomed in on abdominal sections, faces cropped out.
Through the ages, fertility has played a central role in civilizations. Its cultural, socioeconomic, demographic, religious and global implications were and still are incalculable. A Wikipedia search for “fertility gods,” for example, yields a list of 35 cultures with one, and often...