Virology

SHIELD program a model for effective pandemic management, data show

2022-06-10

A student holds up a vial with saliva. The vial is sharply in focus, while the student, who is wearing a U of I face mask, is blurred out of focus.

The SHIELD: Target, Test, Tell program combined frequent saliva tests with modeling and an app to keep the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus and surrounding community safe when on-campus operations resumed in fall 2020.

GIVE to Unconventional Wisdom: Spotting HIV in the Blood

2016-12-31

A mysterious ailment struck Deborah Paul’s younger brother, Tim, in 1982, when lymph glands all over his body suddenly became swollen. He recovered, but it took two years for doctors to finally figure out what had triggered the problem. In 1984, Paul’s brother developed pneumocystis pneumonia—a...

Machine-learning model can distinguish antibody targets

2022-04-21

Different antibodies (green, aqua, pink) attack different parts of the SARS-CoV-2 viral particle (yellow/orange sphere). The virus’s spike proteins (purple) are a key antibody target, with some antibodies attaching to the top (darker purple) and others to the stem (paler zone). Graphic by Yiquan Wang

A new study from the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology shows that it is possible to use the genetic sequences of a person’s antibodies to predict what pathogens those antibodies will target. Reported in the journal Immunity, the new approach successfully differentiates between antibodies...

Researchers explore the molecular mechanisms of a promising antiviral defense system

2021-12-02

In the last decade, scientists have discovered that the antiviral system known as cGAS-STING is an important innate immune system in humans because it senses double-stranded DNA in cytoplasm resulting from viral and bacterial infections. Recent research shows that the cGAS-STING system may have its...

Biochemistry professor Nicholas Wu earns NIH Director's New Innovator Award

2021-10-05

Nicholas Wu, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has received a National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, part of the Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program.

Frequent COVID-19 testing key to efficient, early detection, study finds

2021-06-30

Student spits into funnel tube for saliva sample collection.

The chance of detecting the virus that causes COVID-19 increases with more frequent testing, no matter the type of test, a new study found. Both polymerase chain reaction and antigen tests, paired with rapid results reporting, can achieve 98% sensitivity if deployed at least every three days.

Chris Brooke on The 21st radio show: New variants, vaccines and the future of COVID-19

2021-03-01

Chris Brooke, assistant professor of microbiology, recently spoke with The 21st public radio show about what scientists know about the virus that causes COVID-19, the emerging variants, and what they still have to learn.

Wu and collaborators develop new molecules which attack the virus that causes COVID-19 and resist 'escape' mutations

2021-02-15

An international team of researchers including Nicholas Wu, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, has published a new study which developed highly potent molecules that can neutralize SARS-CoV-2 by simultaneously targeting multiple sites of vulnerability on the virus.

Welcome to Professor Nicholas Wu

2021-01-20

Professor Wu was one of ten new faculty hires made in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the last three years. Wu is an assistant professor of and is an affiliate of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.

Welcome to Professor Beth Stadtmueller

2021-01-20

Professor Stadtmueller was one of ten new faculty hires made in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the last three years. Stadtmueller is an assistant professor of biochemistry, assistant professor of Biomedical and Translational Sciences with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and...

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