10/3/2018

I am extremely excited to share an incredible news with my current and former group members: my former Ph.D. thesis advisor Frances Arnold just won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry today. I am very happy and proud that my Ph.D. thesis research played an important role in helping her win this Nobel prize. It is a great news for everyone in the protein engineering field in specific and the synthetic biology field in general.  

8/16/2018

Yajie's Nature paper was highlighted in a news release: https://cabbi.bio/unique-combination-of-catalysts-opens-doors-to-making-useful-compounds/. Next to this article, there is a story about Tony: https://cabbi.bio/tong-si-bioengineering-is-in-his-genes/. Congratulations to both of them. 

7/12/2018

Yajie has been selected as a recipient of the 2018-2019 Glenn E. and Barbara R. Ullyot Graduate Fellowship from the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. Congratulations!    

5/7/2018

Zehua's Nature Biotechnology paper titled "Genome-scale Engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with Single Nucleotide Precision" was highlighted by U of I News: https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/647765. Congratulations! 

5/3/2018

Mason received the best poster award in the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology Fellows Symposium. Congratulations! 

3/19/2018

Dr. Zhao received the 2018 Marvin Johnson Award from American Chemical Society (ACS) and delivered an award lecture during the ACS Spring annual meeting in New Orleans on March 19, 2018.

9/21/2017

Tony received the 2nd tier 2017 Baxter Young Investigator Award on his biofilm work and became the second Zhao group member to receive this prestigious award. Congratulations!

5/4/2017

Tony's recent work on the development of a multiplex automated genome-scale engineering tool for yeast metabolic engineering was published by Nature Communications. This work was highlighted by the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (Researchers Develop New Capabilities for Genome-wide Engineering of Yeast). Congratulations!

4/20/2017

Yuhao has been selected as a 2017 Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology Undergraduate Research Scholar. Congratulations!

4/11/2017

Mingzi, Yajie, Shangwen and Behnam's recent work on the development of a CRISPR based promoter knock-in strategy to activate silent natural product biosynthetic gene clusters was published by Nature Chemical Biology. It was selected as a headline news by Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (CRISPR Awakens Sleeping Genes, Brings Drug Candidates to Light) and was also featured by UI News Bureau (CRISPR Mines Bacterial Genome for Hidden Pharmaceutical Treasure). Congratulations!

4/7/2017

Both Scott and Sherri have been chosen as a recipient of 2017 MCB Summer Research Award. Congratulations!

2/10/2017

Behnam's recent publication on the engineering of artificial restriction enzymes has been featured as the top headline news by the most popular trade journal in the biotechnology industry, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (Revolutionizing Biotechnology with Artificial Restriction Enzymes). Congratulations!

Travel Awards

Yajie has been awarded a Harantty travel award. She will give a presentation in the upcoming ACS annual meeting in San Francisco. Congratulations!

Travel Awards

Both Hengqian and Sam have been selected to receive a Hanratty Travel award. They will present their work in the upcoming AIChE meeting in San Francisco. Congratulations!

Departmental Fellowships:

Jiazhang received the prestigious Shen Postdoc Fellowship, while both Yajie and Behnam received the 3M fellowship. Congratulations!

Ran's Good News

Ran received the second-place award for oral presentation at the 14th Annual ChBE Graduate Research Symposium. Congratulations! 

Multiple Awards

Yajie, Behnam, and Ran received the Dow Chemical Fellowship, 3M Fellowship, and Hanratty Travel award from the chemical and biomolecular engineering department, respectively. Congratulations to all of them!

Yuhao's good news

I am very pleased to announce that Yuhao Min (supervised by Tony) has been awarded the prestigious John E. Gieseking Scholarship ($3000) for Summer 2015 semester from the department of chemistry at UIUC.

Outstanding Student Award

Tong Si has received the 2014 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad.  It is a highly competitive award which is sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Education and recognizes the academic excellence of self-financed (non-government sponsored) Chinese students pursuing a PhD across all fields of study overseas.