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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Biosystems Design theme engineers microorganisms and plants to help overcome hurdles in health and sustainability.

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Stephen Long
Research
Stephen Long recognized as 2025 World Food Prize Top Agri-Food Pioneer
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With AI to guide enzyme improvement and automated synthetic biology to rapidly make and test new variants, Illinois researchers developed a user-friendly system to drastically improve enzyme performance. Pictured, from left: Nilmani Singh, Jingxia Lu, Stephen Lane and Professor Huimin Zhao.
Research
Self-driving lab: AI and automated biology combine to improve enzymes
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In a review in the journal Science, Illinois researchers, from left, Carl Bernacchi, Stephen Long and Donald Ort describe the many field- and laboratory-tested approaches to increasing crop resilience in a warming world. Photos by Fred Zwicky and Craig Pessman
Research
Heat-resilient crops are within reach — given enough time and money
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The research team included, back row, from left, Shih-I (Harry) Tan, Nilmani Singh, Aashutosh Boob, and front row, from left, Teresa Martin, Li-Qing Chen, and Huimin Zhao. / Julia Pollack
Research
Harnessing generative AI to expand the mitochondrial targeting toolkit
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The four new members are, from left: Paul Braun, Antoinette Burton, Aida El-Khadra and Jonathan Sweedler. Photos courtesy University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Research
Four Illinois faculty members elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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From left: Graduate student Matthew Albritton, Prof. Scott E. Denmark, and postdoctoral researcher Tapas Adak.
Research
Researchers discover a way to reduce waste and save energy in making an industrial chemical
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