2026-02-21 - Plant owners with a so-called green thumb often seem to have a more finely tuned sense of what their plants need than the rest of us. A new “smart lighting” system for indoor vertical farms grants this ability on a facility-wide scale, responsively meeting plants’ needs while reducing energy inefficiencies, clearing a path for indoor farms as an energy-efficient food security strategy.The system...

2026-01-20 - After nearly 15 years of dedicated leadership, Gene Robinson has stepped down as IGB Director to assume the role of Executive Director and CEO of the Discovery Partners Institute. Lisa Ainsworth, Charles Adlai Ewing Chair of Crop Physiology in the Department of Crop Sciences and the Department of Plant Biology, has agreed to serve as interim director of the IGB for the coming year.A long-time...

2025-12-12 - Eight staff members and academic professionals are being honored by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences for outstanding professional contributions.Heather Lash, Kristi McDuffie, and Jamie Thomas-Ward have been selected to receive the LAS Academic Professional Award, which provides a cash award as well as a salary increment funded by LAS alumni.Kevin Armstrong, Anita Kaiser, Heidi Gnadt,...

2025-12-10 - Plant biology professor Tracy Lawson, plant biology professor emeritus Govindjee Govindjee, and the late plant biology emeritus professor Stephen P. Long were all ranked among the top seven highly-ranked...

2025-12-08 - Research by Plant Biology Professor Andrew Leakey was recently highlighted in the Chicago Tribune in a feature story examining the promise of miscanthus, a fast-growing perennial grass with wide-ranging applications. The article explores how Illinois researchers are advancing...

2025-12-03 - A team of plant biologists has made an exciting discovery about how flowers grow and organize themselves, and one of the key authors was Assistant Professor in Plant Biology Ya Min (Minya) from the University of Illinois. Their new study, published in the journal Current Biology, explores how a gene called CYCLOIDEA (CYC) helps shape...

2025-12-01 - A new study in the journal New Phytologist reveals how plants move sugar to get the energy they need to grow, even in challenging conditions. The research was led by the group of Li‑Qing Chen, Associate Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, highlighting the importance of this...

2025-10-30 - Giant, versatile, and genetically complex, miscanthus poses unique opportunities for the farm economy, domestic manufacturing, next-generation biofuels, and the environment. This ancient, highly productive, and resilient grass hails from Asia, where it thrives from the tropics of New Guinea to the cold, temperate lands of eastern Russia. Today, miscanthus is an emerging biomass crop grown on...

2025-09-18 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — One of the great challenges of ecology is to understand the factors that maintain, or undermine, diversity in ecosystems, researchers write in a new report in the journal Science. The researchers detail their development of a new model that — using a tree census and genomic data collected from multiple species in a forest — can predict future fluctuations in the relative...

2025-09-04 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Five professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have been named University Scholars in recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship and service.The program honors faculty excellence and provides $15,000 to each scholar for three years to enhance their academic careers. That money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books or other...

2025-08-27 - In a decisive new study, crop scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service show that soybeans are doubly damaged by drought and ozone pollution, both of which are...

2025-08-14 -   The Department of Plant Biology and the School of Integrative Biology mourns the loss of Dr. Amy Marshall-Colón, an Associate Professor of Plant Biology, who passed away on July 26, 2025. A researcher in systems biology and a devoted educator and mentor, Amy’s passing marks the loss of a scientist whose work bridged...

2025-08-05 - For over five decades, the partnership between the University of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has driven some of the most important advancements in crop science, food security, and sustainable agriculture. From breakthrough developments in soybean and corn genetics to pioneering climate-...

2025-08-05 - As SIB marks its 25th anniversary, the occasion offers an opportunity to reflect on how far the School has come and how much SIB has shaped biology education and research at Illinois. SIB was formally recognized by the university on July 1, 2000, after emerging from a pivotal reorganization of the School of Life Sciences. While other units pursued molecular specializations, SIB was formed around...

2025-07-28 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In a new study, scientists used nearly every tool in their toolkit — genomics, transcriptomics, greenhouse experiments and advanced statistical methods — to gain new insight into the complex chemical interactions that take place in underground root nodules, where legumes like soybeans exchange vital nutrients with soil microbes called rhizobia. Reported in the Proceedings...