A major project launched in early 2024 features the renovation of a 6,000 square foot area on the second floor of Noyes Laboratory where the School of Chemical Sciences is leading the modernization of undergraduate labs, including advanced organic and inorganic lab facilities, equipment and...

Wilfred A. van der Donk has won the 2025 Alfred Bader Award in Bioorganic or Bioinorganic Chemistry, a national award administered by the American Chemical Society. His research focuses on the discovery and design of new antibiotics and natural products, focusing on projects that combine synthetic...

With a natural enzyme as inspiration, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have designed an artificial enzyme that converts methanol to formaldehyde in a process that has the potential to massively reduce energy use in the commercial production of this prevalently used...

At the University of Tokyo, Dinh Thanh Nguyen participated in undergraduate research on the discovery of enzymes that enhance the cell membrane permeability of cyclic peptides. That experience, Nguyen said, sparked his interest in enzyme discovery and led him to discover the work of Illinois...

Today the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the creation of two new Energy Innovation Hubs. One of the national hubs, the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), is led by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory and co-led by DOE’s...

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool for researchers, but with a significant limitation: The inability to explain how it came to its decisions, a problem known as the “AI black box.” By combining AI with automated chemical synthesis and experimental validation, an interdisciplinary team of...

A newly funded U.S. National Science Foundation iBioFoundry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will build on more than a decade of research at the U. of I. to integrate synthetic biology, laboratory automation and artificial intelligence to advance protein and cellular engineering. This...

The Department of Chemistry is welcoming three new tenure-track faculty members this academic year. Joomyung “Vicky” Jun joined the department as an assistant professor in August, and Xiaotang Lu and Mayuko Isomura will officially start as assistant professors in January 2025. Jun, Lu, and...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Using evolution as a guiding principle, researchers have successfully engineered bacteria-yeast hybrids to perform photosynthetic carbon assimilation, generate cellular energy and support yeast growth without traditional carbon feedstocks like glucose or glycerol. By engineering...

A doctoral candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois, Archana Verma, exemplifies the characteristics of an inclusive leader within her research group, her department, and across campus.Verma is not only committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, but is passionate about...