blog posts

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  Scientists crack upcycling plastics to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

  Oct 6, 2022 2:45 pm

  Scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and its partners developed a breakthrough process to transform polyethylene into polypropylene, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

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  In-development app will help providers spot misinformation

  Jan 6, 2023 10:15 am

  University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign researchers are partnering with healthcare professionals so they're able to dispel incorrect perceptions their patients have based on unreliable sources.

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  Click beetle-inspired robots jump using elastic energy

  Feb 2, 2023 10:00 am

  Researchers made a significant leap forward in developing insect-sized jumping robots capable of performing tasks in the small spaces often found in mechanical, agricultural and search-and-rescue settings.  

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  Eight projects awarded funding for AI research to mitigate COVID-19

  Jun 30, 2020 9:45 am

  Eight University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign projects are among 26 to receive the first C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute awards for artificial intelligence techniques to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

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  UIUC team working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cattle

  Oct 30, 2023 10:00 am

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) animal sciences researchers Rod Mackie and Josh McCann are leading a three-year international effort to reduce methane greenhouse gas emissions resulting from rumen fermentation in beef and dairy cattle.

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  Beckman researchers find exercise releases chemicals that boost brain health

  May 1, 2023 11:30 am

  They studied how chemical signals from contracting muscles promote healthy brains. Their findings reveal how these signals help grow and regulate new brain networks, while also pointing toward ways of improving brain health through exercise.

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  Sunlight polarization patterns may be effective underwater substitute for GPS

  Jul 24, 2023 2:00 pm

  The UIUC team's method uses the polarization angle of incoming sunlight, matched with precise time-of-day and geographic coordinates, to find a location on Earth down to almost 1,000 feet underwater.

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  UIUC professors examine effects of warming planet on beef production

  Aug 7, 2023 2:30 pm

  About 20% of all global greenhouse gas emissions come from animal-based food products, and a 2022 study in the Lancet Planetary Health found that cattle heat stress losses will be far greater in most tropical regions than in temperate regions.

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  Pritzker, stakeholders unveil design for Discovery Partners Institute at The 78

  Sep 23, 2022 2:45 pm

  Located on a one-acre site southwest of the Loop, the new DPI headquarters will provide more than 200,000 square feet of office, classroom, lab, and event space for DPI and its university and industry partners.

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  Team uses digital cameras, machine learning to predict neurological disease

  Oct 14, 2022 10:45 am

  In an effort to streamline the process of diagnosing patients with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, researchers used digital cameras to capture changes in gait – a symptom of these diseases – and developed a machine-learning algorithm that can differentiate those with MS and PD from people without those neurological conditions.

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  Innovate Springfield hub

  Oct 16, 2018 10:00 am

  Innovate Springfield, a downtown Springfield innovation and business incubator, has become part of the University of Illinois at Springfield under an agreement aimed at expanding economic growth, entrepreneurship opportunities and social progress in the capital city. More...

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  Model calculates energetics of piercing fangs and claws

  Oct 25, 2022 1:00 pm

  Researchers have created a model that can calculate the energetics involved when one organism stabs another with its fangs, thorns, spines or other puncturing parts.

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  Artificial intelligence and molecule machine join forces to speed innovation

  Nov 4, 2022 9:30 am

  Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators in Poland and Canada doubled the average yield of a special, hard-to-optimize type of reaction linking carbon atoms together in pharmaceutically important molecules.

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  Revealing path to better rechargeable battery performance

  Nov 17, 2022 8:30 am

  To design better rechargeable ion batteries, UIUC engineers and chemists collaborated to combine a powerful new electron microscopy technique and data mining to visually pinpoint areas of chemical and physical alteration within ion batteries.

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  Carle Illinois Neuroscience Challenge Lab prepares med students for innovation

  Dec 2, 2022 11:30 am

  A new faculty-student research collaboration suggests Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s strategic use of hands-on neuroscience challenges effectively boosts medical students’ innovation and entrepreneurship skills.

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  Third time's the charm for Illinois Space Society student rocket

  Dec 2, 2022 2:45 pm

  A rocket named Intrepid III might imply that it’s the third in a series of successful rockets. But the truth is, Intrepid III was born out of the failed launches of Intrepid I and II. The “III” reflects the determination and resiliency of the students who overcame two devastating failures with one outstanding success.

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  UIS buys future downtown Springfield Innovation Center property

  Dec 12, 2022 7:30 am

  Scheduled to open in 2025, the University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Center will serve central Illinois as part of the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) to drive innovation, economic growth and workforce development across the state.

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  Drug catalyst developed

  Jan 23, 2019 12:00 pm

  A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign team of researchers has developed a new manganese-based catalyst that can change the structure of druglike molecules to make new drugs, advancing the pace and efficiency of drug development. More...

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  Control of soft-molecule synthesis

  Jan 24, 2019 9:30 am

  By gaining control over shape, size and composition during synthetic molecule assembly, researchers can begin to probe how these factors influence the function of soft materials. Finding these answers could help advance virology, drug delivery development and the creation of new materials.  More...

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  New set of chemical building blocks makes complex 3D molecules in a snap

  Feb 9, 2022 8:45 am

  UIUC researchers developed a new class of chemical building blocks and a next-generation molecule-making machine to assemble them into complex small molecules with 3D twists and turns.

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  Gov. Pritzker announces funding for UIS Innovation Center

  Feb 12, 2020 10:15 am

  The UIS Innovation Center will receive $15 million in state funds as part of the $500 million appropriation for the Illinois Innovation Network and the Discovery Partners Institute.

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  Manipulating atoms to make better superconductors

  Mar 2, 2020 2:30 pm

  A new study by UIC researchers shows that it is possible to manipulate individual atoms so that they begin working in a collective pattern that has the potential to become superconducting at higher temperatures. More...

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  New 'biohybrid' machines weave electronics with living cells

  Mar 6, 2023 12:30 pm

  A long-time staple of science fiction, biohybrid tech now appears within reach. UIUC researchers are working towards creating these machines, made from both living and artificial parts, that can behave with similar dexterity to living creatures.

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  Potential new cystic fibrosis treatment

  Mar 30, 2019 12:15 pm

  An approved drug normally used to treat fungal infections could also do the job of a protein channel that is missing or defective in the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis, operating as a prosthesis on the molecular scale. More...

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  UIS Computer Science Department opens high-tech research laboratory

  Apr 3, 2023 10:00 am

  The lab is open to all UIS students, faculty and staff for their research projects and includes 3D printers, CNC machines, laser cutters and engravers, computing, cyber security, and fabrication equipment.

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  Scavenger nanoparticles could make fuel cell-powered vehicles a reality

  Apr 7, 2022 10:00 am

  Engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago are among a collaborative team that has developed a material that could give fuel cell systems a competitive edge over the battery systems that currently power most electric vehicles.

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  Fast, low-cost blood test for detecting liver cancer developed

  Apr 7, 2022 9:00 am

  Cancer Center at Illinois and Mount Sinai researchers have developed a low-cost, portable, point-of-care technology capable of diagnosing early-stage liver cancer within 30 minutes.

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  UIC chemical engineers get 'muddy' to develop renewable fuel cell

  Apr 13, 2020 9:30 am

  University of Illinois at Chicago researcher Vikas Berry and his colleagues built a fuel cell from electrogenic microbes covered in extremely thin graphene sheets.

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  Students build solar-powered home in Rantoul for DOE Decathlon

  Apr 18, 2023 12:00 pm

  The student-led Illinois Solar Decathlon is competing with more than a dozen national and international collegiate teams to design and build the most sustainable, cutting-edge house powered by renewables.

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  $8M to UIC to lead DOE materials research center

  Apr 27, 2020 9:30 am

  The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded $8 million over four years to UIC to lead a multisite, interdisciplinary center focused on research, training and technique development in the study of materials in extreme conditions.

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  NSF visits Urbana to announce two awards totaling more than $40 million

  Apr 27, 2022 8:00 am

  The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign highlights a recent visit from the director of the National Science Foundation, and shares how federally funded research at our nation’s universities creates new companies, industries, opportunities, and jobs—and the tech-savvy, educated workforce needed to fill them. 

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  Promising nanoscale material captured by UIC's Electron Microscopy Core

  May 8, 2023 10:15 am

  Researchers visually captured the structure of MXenes - synthetic compounds with promise for energy storage, sensing, and superconductivity - using the world-class electron microscopy resources and expertise at UIC to reveal novel structures with intriguing properties.

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  Green roofs are worth the cost for urban residents

  May 18, 2022 3:00 pm

  A new study from UIUC, Reed College, and Portland State University explores the benefits of investing in rooftop gardens, which can reduce the impact of stormwater runoff. 

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  Scientists work on new metals for everything from cars to lightpoles

  May 19, 2022 3:15 pm

  CBS Chicago goes inside the UIC Advanced Materials and Microstructures Lab, where researchers are researching how to make stronger metals.

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  Study pushes design limits on rotary blades in quest for quieter copters/drones

  May 19, 2022 3:30 pm

  Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign tested the limits of rotary blade design to find an efficient, but quieter option.

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  DPI and UIC leading IDPH initiative to monitor wastewater for COVID-19

  May 24, 2021 11:00 am

  The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Discovery Partners Institute today announced a statewide system to monitor the virus that causes COVID-19 and its variants in wastewater, providing public health officials with early warnings of a potential outbreak on a county-by-county basis.

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  Humanities research program elevated to institute status

  Jun 11, 2020 9:30 am

  The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities has been formally recognized for its leading role in fostering humanities research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with an elevation to institute status.

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  Robotic pancreas transplant offers hope

  Jul 10, 2019 11:45 am

  Surgeons at UI Health have demonstrated that obese patients with Type 1 diabetes can safely receive a pancreas transplant when the surgery is performed robotically. More...

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  New antiplatelet drug shows promise for treating heart attack

  Jul 15, 2020 9:30 am

  Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a new drug that prevents blood clots without causing an increased risk of bleeding, a common side effect of all antiplatelet medications currently available.

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  VR to help prepare for life after prison

  Jul 16, 2018 3:00 pm

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign design students created immersive reality scenarios to help people who are soon to be released from prison meet certain challenges, such as learning to pay at the pump for gas. More...

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  Advanced microscopy technique

  Jul 17, 2018 3:00 pm

  A new microscopy technique developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago allows researchers to visualize liquids at the nanoscale level — about 10 times more resolution than with traditional transmission electron microscopy — for the first time. More...

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  All-species SARS-CoV-2 test created by UIUC researchers

  Jul 17, 2023 12:15 pm

  In an advance that will help scientists track coronavirus variants in wild and domesticated animals, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign team report they can now detect exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in any animal species.

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  UIUC, UIC part of new $15.5M mathematical institute

  Jul 21, 2020 9:15 am

  NSF has awarded $15.5 million to four universities in Illinois to create an institute to bring powerful mathematical ideas to bear on key contemporary scientific and technological challenges.

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  Trustees approve purchase of new UIS Innovation Center home

  Jul 22, 2022 9:45 am

  The University of Illinois Board of Trustees has approved the purchase of a property in downtown Springfield that will become the new University of Illinois Springfield Innovation Center.

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  Imaging of exotic quantum particles

  Jul 29, 2019 11:00 am

  Researchers at UIC, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Hamburg, have imaged an exotic quantum particle that can be used as a building block for future qubits and eventually the realization of quantum computers. More...

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  NSF grants $10M for collaborative data science institute in Chicago

  Aug 4, 2022 1:00 pm

  A multidisciplinary team representing five Chicago-area university research centers will unite as part of a new data science institute backed by a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

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  Developing tech to eliminate ‘forever chemicals’ from water

  Aug 4, 2022 1:15 pm

  UIC engineers have been awarded just over $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Alliance for Water Innovation to build a system that selectively removes and destroys poly- and perfluorinated substances, commonly called PFAS, from industrial and municipal wastewaters.

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  Hich-tech gel aids delivery of drugs

  Aug 28, 2019 2:30 pm

  Eben Alsberg, UIC, and colleagues report on a hydrogel-based carrier that can deliver small interfering RNA molucules directly to where they are needed. More...

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  New UIUC ACES dean Bollero points college towards innovative future

  Aug 28, 2023 10:15 am

  “What allures me is the curiosity of learning new things. I’m still curious about the future — and that really drives me to do better,” says Germán Bollero, dean of the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

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  Why the U of I is a top college for entrepreneurs

  Sep 1, 2022 3:15 pm

  This Forbes article breaks down why the University of Illinois is a top college for entrepreneurs.