blog posts

• Study shows new insight about how our brain and personality provide protection against emotional distress

  Jul 19, 2018 11:30 pm0 views

  Researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology recently examined a sample of 85 healthy college students to see how a number of personality traits can protect an individual’s brain against symptoms of emotional distress, namely depression and anxiety.

• In rats, perinatal exposure to phthalates impairs brain structure and function

  Jul 18, 2018 1:00 pm0 views

  Scientists, including postdoctoral researcher Jari Willing, former graduate student Daniel Kougias, and psychology professor Janice Juraska, found that perinatal exposure to phthalates caused cognitive and neurological deficits in rats. Kougias is now a scientist at Cardno ChemRisk.

• Using an electronic device counteracts benefits of taking a break in nature, researchers find

  Jul 18, 2018 9:00 am0 views

  Using electronic devices substantially counteracts the benefits that nature offers in recovering from mental fatigue and restoring the brain’s capacity to pay attention, according to a new study by William Sullivan, left, the head of the University of Illinois landscape architecture department; Bin Jiang, a professor of landscape architecture at The University of Hong Kong; and Rose Schmillen, not pictured, a former Illinois graduate student.

• New tissue-imaging technology could enable real-time diagnostics, map cancer progression

  Jun 20, 2018 8:00 am0 views

  Illinois researchers developed a tissue-imaging microscope that can image living tissue in real time and molecular detail, allowing them to monitor tumors and their environments as cancer progresses.

• Study: Larger sample sizes needed to increase reproducibility in neuroscience studies

  Jun 7, 2018 4:00 pm0 views

  University of Illinois psychology professor Aron Barbey and his colleagues tested the reproducibility of task-based fMRI studies of various sizes.

• Researchers develop microscopy technique to analyze cellular focal adhesion dynamics

  Jun 1, 2018 3:00 pm0 views

  Researchers at the Beckman Institute and the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Illinois have developed a new form of microscopy that allows them to observe the formation and evolution of cell membrane focal adhesions.

• Study links neighborhood factors, breast cancer rates in African-American women

  Jun 1, 2018 2:00 pm0 views

  Racial disparities in breast cancer diagnosis and survival rates may have more to do with women’s living environments than their races, suggests a new meta-analysis of recent research on the topic by, from left, graduate student Brandi Patrice Smith and professor Zeynep Madak-Erdogan, both in the department of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois.

• Study: Disease-causing stomach bug attacks energy generation in host cells

  May 30, 2018 12:45 pm0 views

  Microbiology professor Steven Blanke, graduate student Ik-Jung Kim and their colleagues discovered how a disease-causing bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, undermines the body’s immune defenses.

• Unusual modifications of neuropeptides play important roles in the central nervous system

  May 29, 2018 4:00 pm0 views

  Understanding how neuropeptides function in cellular communication is important to understanding what happens when cell signaling goes wrong, as is the case in many diseases.

• Future Environments: Doctor's Office of the Future with Stephen Boppart

  May 25, 2018 12:30 pm0 views

  Watch the video of Stephen Boppart, professor of bioengineering and electrical and computer engineering, as he answers a few questions about the future of health care. 

• Workshop on perinatal depression planned for June 1-2

  May 24, 2018 3:00 pm0 views

  Patients who have perinatal depression and their health care providers are serving as investigators on a research project co-led by University of Illinois social work professor Karen Tabb and Brandon Meline, director of the Maternal and Child Health Division at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District.

• 3-D printed sugar scaffolds offer sweet solution for tissue engineering, device manufacturing

  May 23, 2018 4:00 pm0 views

  Freeform printing allows the researchers to make intricate structures, such as this model of a heart, that could not be made with traditional layer-by-layer 3-D printing. The structures could be used as scaffolds for tissue engineering or device manufacturing.

• Optical Imaging Investigates Topical Treatment for Diabetic Wounds

  May 22, 2018 12:15 pm0 views

  A team of Illinois' Beckman Institute researchers demonstrated a label-free and more direct way to observe and quantify microvascular and metabolic healing mechanisms, and the biological response to a topical treatment, utilizing a multimodal microscope equipped with OCT and FLIM.

• New technique can track drug and gene delivery to cells

  May 21, 2018 9:00 am0 views

  Illinois professor Andrew Smith and graduate student Mohammad Zahid developed a technique to track molecules that deliver drugs and genes to cells.

• Brazilians with less education more likely to report being in poor health, study finds

  May 16, 2018 4:00 pm0 views

  Illinois professor Flavia Cristina Drumond Andrade led a study of education levels and self-reported health in Brazil.

• Sensor study launching at Carle gets national attention

  May 16, 2018 9:30 am0 views

  “I was amazed and humbled. It’s incredible that someone of his stature (NIH Director Francis Collins) is tracking and interested in the research,” Carle Illinois College of Medicine's Dr. Charles Davies said of the recognition of publication in a top scientific journal.

• Paper: Four service features impact demand for physicians’ online bookings

  May 15, 2018 11:00 am0 views

  In health care, four service-quality proxies—bedside manner, diagnosis accuracy, wait time, and service time—disproportionately affect demand for patient care, said Yuqian Xu, a professor of business administration at the Gies College of Business at Illinois.

• Elastic microspheres expand understanding of embryonic development and cancer cells

  May 14, 2018 12:00 pm0 views

  Illinois mechanical sciences and engineering professor Ning Wang, graduate students Erfan Mohagheghian and Gaurav Chaudhary, and postdoctoral researchers Junwei Chen and Jian Sun are measuring mechanical forces within cells to help unlock some of the mysteries of embryonic development and cancer.

• CRISPR tech ‘knocks out’ yeast genes with single-point precision

  May 7, 2018 9:00 am0 views

  The CRISPR-Cas9 system has given researchers the power to precisely edit selected genes. Now, researchers have used it to develop a technology that can target any gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and turn it off by deleting single letters from its DNA sequence.

• Walnuts impact gut microbiome and improve health

  May 4, 2018 9:00 pm0 views

  Diets rich in nuts, such as walnuts, have been shown to play a role in heart health and in reducing colorectal cancer. According to a new study from the University of Illinois, the way walnuts impact the gut microbiome—the collection of trillions of microbes or bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract—may be behind some of those health benefits.

• Prosthetic arms can provide controlled sensory feedback, study finds

  Apr 27, 2018 1:45 pm0 views

  University of Illinois researchers have developed a control algorithm that regulates the current so a prosthetics user feels steady sensation, even when the electrodes begin to peel off or when sweat builds up.

• Is autism a disorder, an identity or both?

  Apr 19, 2018 8:00 am0 views

  Speech and hearing science professor Laura DeThorne, center, and doctoral students Henry Angulo and Veronica Vidal discuss how the neurodiversity movement recognizes autistic individuals’ unique experiences, skills and strengths, and resists the medicalization of autism.

• IHSI, Beckman Institute Launch New Center for Brain Plasticity

  Apr 18, 2018 11:45 am866 views

  A new center is taking shape, championed and supported by both the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Led by co-directors Aron Barbey and Neal Cohen, the Center for Brain Plasticity brings together researchers, university-wide, with the aims of advancing understanding of the brain and the power of the brain to be changed by experience and other external influences.

• New web portal bridges tech tool gap for researchers

  Apr 17, 2018 1:15 pm0 views

  Members of the Research IT team at Technology Services conducted their own research during an initiative called the Year of Cyberinfrastructure and discovered, importantly, that campus researchers often were not aware of technology tools or training opportunities, and that when they did know, those resources were difficult to find.

  The solution was a brand-new portal at researchit.illinois.edu. The website is organized simply by resources, research news and trainings, and is a gateway to those resources, events, and research news that can enhance any researcher’s knowledge and work at Illinois.

• Study explores carbohydrates’ impact on head, neck cancers

  Apr 12, 2018 9:30 am0 views

  University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor Anna E. Arthur found in a new study that a carbohydrate-restricted, higher fat diet may reduce cancer recurrence and mortality rates among people with squamous-cell head and neck cancers.

• SUTTON AWARDED BECKMAN’S VISION AND SPIRIT AWARD

  Apr 10, 2018 12:00 pm0 views

  Brad Sutton, a professor of bioengineering, the technical director of the Biomedical Imaging Center at the Beckman Institute, and a faculty member of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, was awarded the 2018 Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology Vision and Spirit Award.

• New Camera Gives Surgeons a Butterfly’s-eye View of Cancer

  Apr 5, 2018 9:00 am0 views

  Postdoctoral researcher Missael Garcia and professor Viktor Gruev led a team that developed a multispectral camera to guide cancer surgery, inspired by the eyes of the morpho butterfly.

• ‘Healthy Beginnings’ Brings Health Care To New Families

  Apr 4, 2018 12:00 pm0 views

  When it comes to improving public health, the most effective interventions begin early in life. That’s why a team of health workers in Champaign-Urbana is reaching out to disadvantaged families, starting at pregnancy.

• Researchers explore link between cancer drug and heart attacks

  Apr 3, 2018 3:00 pm0 views

  There are many anti-cancer therapeutics that are effective at killing cancer, but some can have serious side effects, eventually causing heart attacks.

• Federal Officials Urged to Increase Perinatal Depression Treatment in Minority Women

  Mar 30, 2018 12:00 pm0 views

  Federal funding is needed to increase diagnosis and treatment of perinatal depression in Latina and African-American women, according to a new study by University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo.

• Optimistic Latinos Have Healthier Hearts, Study Finds

  Mar 30, 2018 10:00 am0 views

  Latinos who are the most optimistic are more likely to have healthy hearts, suggests a new study led by University of Illinois social work professor Rosalba Hernandez.

• New NIH-funded research aims to improve prostate cancer outcomes

  Mar 28, 2018 8:30 am0 views

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers recently received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a new assay technology that could determine the effectiveness of cancer drug treatments and aid in disease prognosis. Led by Illinois Bioengineering Assistant Professor Andrew Smith, the team is focusing on detecting nucleic acid-based biomarkers in a single drop of a cancer patient's blood.

• Prenatal Choline Intake Increases Grey and White Matter in Piglets

  Mar 26, 2018 4:00 pm0 views

  Choline intake during pregnancy can influence infant metabolism and brain development, according to a series of studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

• Decision-making is shaped by individual differences in the functional brain connectome

  Mar 16, 2018 1:00 pm0 views

  Illinois postdoctoral researcher Tanveer Talukdar performed an analysis of how individual differences in decision-making are associated with specific regions and networks in the brain.

• Lam Developing Advanced Imaging Techniques to Study Brain Function and Characterize Diseases

  Mar 15, 2018 2:00 pm0 views

  Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Fan Lam is developing and applying advanced magnetic resonance (MR)-based techniques to more accurately map the molecular information in the brain. The ability to map and quantify molecular fingerprints of neural tissues would have significant impact on the study of the physiological basis of brain functions and neurodegenerative diseases, early diagnosis of central nervous system disorders, as well as accurate monitoring of treatment efficacy on these diseases.

• Emotional suppression reduces memory of negative events

  Mar 13, 2018 8:15 am0 views

  Psychology professor Sanda Dolcos and graduate student Yuta Katsumi explore how suppressing negative emotions affects brain function and memory.

• Study Yields More Than a Million New Cyclic Compounds, Some with Pharmaceutical Potential

  Mar 12, 2018 10:15 am0 views

  Chemistry professor Wilfred van der Donk and his colleagues developed a new method for generating large libraries of unique cyclic compounds.

• Paper: Videos help medical students master physiology concepts

  Feb 28, 2018 8:30 am0 views

  Director of assessment and evaluation J. Patrick Grenda, left, and medical information science professor Kashif Ahmad, both in the U. of I. College of Medicine, co-wrote a new study in which they found that creating customized videos that explain complex material presented in classroom lectures can be effective teaching tools – and significant time savers for faculty members and medical students.

• Study links responsible behavior in high school to life success 50 years later

  Feb 26, 2018 8:15 am0 views

  University of Illinois psychology professor Brent Roberts and his colleagues found that, above and beyond other factors known to influence life success, responsible behavior and interest in high school correspond to economic and career success 50 years later.

• Would replacing food stamps with food boxes reduce hunger?

  Feb 22, 2018 8:30 am0 views

  The Trump administration’s idea for reducing hunger in the U.S. – a meal-kit procured, packaged and delivered by the government – would be both inefficient and ineffective, said Craig Gundersen, the Soybean Industry Endowed Professor of Agricultural Strategy at the University of Illinois College of ACES.

• Neuroimaging reveals lasting brain deficits in iron-deficient piglets

  Feb 20, 2018 4:30 pm0 views

  Animal sciences professor Ryan Dilger, left, graduate student Austin Mudd and their colleagues used neuroimaging to study how iron deficiency influences piglet brain development. The findings may have implications for human infant brain development.

• Powerful Supercomputer Unlocks Possibilities for Tinier Devices and Affordable DNA Sequencing

  Feb 19, 2018 12:00 pm0 views

  Since its discovery in 2004, graphene has captured imaginations and sparked innovation in the scientific community. Perhaps rightly so as it is 200 times stronger than the strongest steel but still flexible, incredibly light but extremely tough, and conducts heat and electricity more efficiently than copper.Professor Jerry Bernholc of North Carolina State University is utilizing the National Center for Supercomputing Applications’ Blue Waters supercomputer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to explore graphene’s applications, including its use in nanoscale electronics and electrical DNA sequencing. 

• Sleep problems in menopause linked to hot flashes, depression - and may not last

  Feb 19, 2018 9:15 am0 views

  Illinois professors, from left, Jodi Flaws, Megan Mahoney and Rebecca Smith found that sleep problems in menopause are closely correlated with hot flashes and depression, but that they may not last after menopause.

• Many applied to be in inaugural Carle Illinois College of Medicine class

  Feb 18, 2018 7:00 am0 views

  Despite an abbreviated recruiting season that began last October, the college received almost 1,100 applications, and 533 followed through with the more rigorous secondary application process.

• Social media as good a barometer of public health attitudes as traditional phone polling

  Feb 15, 2018 3:45 pm0 views

  Social media data can be used as an additional source of information to gauge public opinion about health issues alongside traditional data sources like phone-based polling, says new research co-written by U. of I. psychology professor Dolores Albarracin.

• Examining Bone Regeneration: Microscopy Suite Tools Assist Researchers in Skull Injury Repair

  Feb 14, 2018 2:00 pm0 views

  With funding from the United States Army, researchers at the University of Illinois are looking for ways to repair complicated skull injuries with biomaterials—substances that can interact with or guide the body’s natural healing processes—instead of using artificial materials like titanium plates or grafting bone from other areas onto the head.

• Doctors Played a Role in Ideas About Racial Differences

  Feb 13, 2018 1:00 pm0 views

  UI history professor Rana Hogarth’s research focuses on the history of both medicine and race, and the connections between.

• Tiny Drug-delivering Capsules Could Sustain Transplanted Insulin-producing Cells for Diabetics

  Feb 12, 2018 2:00 pm0 views

  llinois professor Kyekyoon ”Kevin” Kim, graduate student Benjamin Lew and research scientist Hyungsoo Choi developed a method to make it easier to transplant pancreatic islet cells from pigs to treat type I diabetes.  

• A Powerful Supercomputer is Helping Scientists to Understand Epilepsy

  Feb 2, 2018 11:00 am0 views

  The Soltesz lab at Stanford University is using NCSA's Blue Waters to create realistic models of the hippocampus in rat brains. The hippocampus is thought to be the site of origin of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), which is the most common variant of the disease.

• How Do Sexual Assault Survivors Fare?

  Jan 31, 2018 12:00 pm0 views

  Sexual trauma can lead to feelings of fear and shame. Healing occurs best in the context of a supportive therapeutic relationship, says U. of I. kinesiology and community health professor Robyn L. Gobin.