Beckman Institute News

Lu Project Uses Nature as Guide for Design of Proteins

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:05:15 GMT

U of I News Bureau -- A project led by Beckman Institute faculty member Yi Lu is using insights gained from natural processes to aid in the design of tailor-made proteins with numerous applications.

Pop Receives Young Investigator Grant

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:13:24 GMT

PhysOrg -- Eric Pop, a Beckman researcher and U. of I. professor of computer and electrical engineering, is one of 38 scientists and engineers who will receive a 2010 Young Investigators Research Program grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Language Projects Have a Different Take on Learning a Language

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Researchers Gary Dell, Cynthia Fisher, and Jennifer Cole from the Biological Intelligence research theme are showing that language learning never stops.

Physical Activity and Cognition

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:12:25 GMT

KABC Los Angeles -- Studies by Charles Hillman, a Beckman affiliate and U. of I. professor of kinesiology and community health, found physical activity can improve students’ cognitive control – or ability to pay attention – and also result in stronger performance on academic achievement tests.

Ha Finds Protein is Dynamic, Critical to DNA Repair

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:15:53 GMT

U of News Bureau -- Beckman Institute faculty member Taekjip Ha and his colleagues discovered that a single-stranded DNA-binding protein that was thought to be static is in fact dynamic, and plays a critical role in repairing DNA.

Boppart Wins Award for Undergraduate Research Efforts

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:10:08 GMT

Beckman Institute faculty member Stephen Boppart has been honored with the 2009 Paul F. Forman Engineering Excellence Award for his contributions to undergraduate research. The award is given by the Optical Society of America.

Small Mechanical Forces Have Big Impact on Embryonic Stem Cells

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:51:48 GMT

U of I News Bureau -- Researchers at the University of Illinois including Beckman affiliate Ning Wang report that applying a small mechanical force to embryonic stem cells could be a new way of coaxing them into a specific direction of differentiation. Applications for force-directed cell differentiation include therapeutic cloning and regenerative medicine.

Nobel Laureate to Discuss Future of Nanoelectronics

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:22:56 GMT

The Beckman auditorium will be the setting for a talk by Nobel Laureate Klaus von Klitzing on a topic that involves numerous researchers at the Institute and the University of Illinois: nanoelectronics.

Pop Now Part-time Faculty Member at Beckman

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:11:16 GMT

Eric Pop has gone from affiliate status to become a part-time faculty member at the Beckman Institute. Pop is a member of the Nanoelectronics and Nanomaterials research group in the Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures research theme at Beckman. He is a faculty member in the University of Illinois Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Magic, Illusion and the Science of the Brain

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Illusion and magic are not only the province of magicians but also of well-known neuroscience researcher Stephen Macknik, who will be bringing his unique perspective on those subjects to the University of Illinois. Macknik will be speaking Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Beckman Institute on the topic “Illusions and illusionists: How to fool the brain with magic and other tricks.”