It doesn’t take an environmentalist to realize that plastic bags are an environmental hazard. They are notorious for tangling the throats and limbs of animals, and it’s nearly impossible to dispose of them properly since they don’t biodegrade. A new method developed by researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign does one better than disposal: it converts the bags straight into biofuel.
Tags: 2014, University of Illinois, Illinois, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Chicago, IL, UIChgo
Often the development of new green technology can seem like a fruitless struggle. This is especially true when a green solution is less powerful and more expensive than its “dirty,” fossil fuel-based counterpart. That’s why it’s so exciting when bioresearchers from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign develop a new supercapacitor that actually matches the potency of today’s leading supercapacitors at a significantly lower financial and environmental expense.
Tags: 2014, Midwest, 2013, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, UIUrbana, BioResearch Product Faire Event, IL
To many people, cholesterol is one of those trigger words that indicates that a food is unhealthy. A diagnosis of high cholesterol brings to mind images of clogged arteries and a straining, overworked heart. However, professor from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign contends that contrary to popular belief, cholesterol is actually a healthy part of the human diet.
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Depending on who you ask, antibiotics are the best and worst defense against disease-bearing bacteria. On the one hand, they are very effective and easy to administer. Unfortunately, the more we use them, the more bacteria learn to thrive in a so-called “antibacterial” environment, culminating in a worst-case scenario where all bacteria are entirely resistant to antibiotics. Fighting against that future are bioresearchers from the University of Illinois, Chicago, who are pursuing more clever ways to prevent microbes from diseasing us.
Tags: 2014, Midwest, 2013, University of Illinois, University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Chicago, IL, UI Chicago, UIChgo
Modern-day farmers are locked in a constant arms race with hungry pests, trying to develop methods of deterring bugs and plants faster than these organisms evolve to resist their attacks. As evolution is a fairly slow process, this usually allows the farmers to come out on top, or at least enough to make a profit on their crop yields. However, there is one particularly crafty bug that seemed to evolve at a much faster rate than normal- an anomaly which bioresearchers from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign set out to explain.
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Dr. Sidonie Lavergne, a researcher at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, has undertaken research investigating drug hypersensitivity reactions in animals to better understand the serious nature and frequency of drug reactions in the veterinary field. Lavergne believes there is a lack of awareness in this field, so she is leading a study on the nature of allergic reactions to medications in both dogs and humans.
Tags: 2014, Midwest, 2013, University of Illinois, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, UIUrbana, BioResearch Product Faire Event, IL
With plans to spend $23 million on a new research facility, the University of Illinois is a great market for lab suppliers hoping to increase laboratory equipment sales and market university lab equipment at life science marketing events. Construction will begin on the University of Illinois’s biofuel research lab this fall, and the lab will be used to research biomass-derived biofuels like cellulosic ethanol. According to Biomass Magazine, funding will come from the Illinois Capital Development Board. The lab is expected to be completed in 18 months after construction begins.
Tags: 2014, Midwest, 2013, University of Illinois, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, UIUrbana, BioResearch Product Faire Event, IL
Bioresearchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have invented an ingenious method for shining light on one of the most mysterious organs we have: the brain. Their tool of choice is a thin, flat LED that can be seamlessly and innocuously injected, causing minimum invasiveness and disturbance. The LEDs will help advance our understandings of bodily organs like the brain through the field of optogenetics.
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When it comes to developing drugs for disease prevention and treatment, sometimes it is best not to reinvent the wheel- especially when nature holds so many solutions to those enterprising (or fortunate) individuals who know where to look. One such researcher, Professor Brian Murphy of the University of Illinois, Chicago, collects hundreds of possibly curative species of bacteria from one of nature’s least explored resources: the floors of lakes and oceans.
Tags: 2014, Midwest, 2013, University of Illinois, tuberculosis, biochemicals, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Chicago, IL, UIChgo, actinomycete
A microscopic worm by the name of Schistosoma mansoni has been long credited with a long lifespan and an uncanny knack for regeneration. Thanks to recent research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the worm’s secret is out: it utilizes adult stem cells to restore and replace itself at will.
Tags: 2014, Midwest, 2013, University of Illinois, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, UIUrbana, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Stem Cell, IL, parasite, laboratory product, UI Urbana