The Beckman Institute at Illinois is a world-class interdisciplinary facility devoted to ground-breaking research in the physical sciences, computation, engineering, biology, behavior, cognition, and neuroscience.
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Research at the Beckman Institute is categorized into four broad themes to provide faculty with a loose organizational framework. Beckman's interdisciplinary approach allows areas of study to overlap within the themes. The research themes are:
Biological Intelligence,
Human-Computer Intelligent Interaction,
Integrative Imaging,
Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures
Scientists work across the themes to both advance our knowledge of science and for real-world applications. Many at Beckman focus on cognitive and brain health, as well as linguistics and language learning studies, which have a beneficial impact on people. Bioimaging work seeks to advance imaging technology and biomedical applications, including in another area of focus, cancer research. Others use bioengineering principles to create new technologies, while Beckman has been home to breakthrough innovations in the fields of electronics and advanced computational methods since it opened.
Beckman faculty member Klaus Schulten and postdoctoral researcher Juan Perilla report that they have determined the precise chemical structure of the HIV capsid, a protein shell that protects the virus’s genetic material and is a key to its virulence. The capsid has become an attractive target for the development of new antiretroviral drugs.
Beckman Institute professor Emad Tajkhorshid and student Giray Enkavi were co-authors of a paper examining aquaporin-water interactions.
The CheckLight, a washable beanie created jointly by MC10, a startup company founded by Beckman Institute professor John Rogers, and Reebok, can register a blow to a player’s skull and immediately signal the news by blinking brightly.
Beckman faculty member John Rogers doesn’t look like a cyborg yet, but his transformation has begun. His research team has been able to track arm motion, allowing researchers to control a toy helicopter’s flight path with a wave of the arm. Through a startup company that he founded called MC10, Rogers has teamed up with NBA and NFL stars such as Grant Hill and Matt Hasselbeck to use the technology to monitor head impacts during sports. Working with the stars “is pretty cool,” Rogers says. “It gives you a lot of credibility with your 10-year-old son.”
The interdisciplinary research in cognitive development that Chris Corea performed while an Illinois student working at the Beckman Institute prepared him for his current position as the baseball development manager for the St. Louis Cardinals. “I would say that was one of the things I took away from my experience at Illinois was to appreciate looking at the world through interdisciplinary lenses, that was sort of what the Beckman Institute was all about. That’s been pretty influential in my life and even my work here. Our research group has a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds so we can approach every problem from a lot of different ways.”
The HIV virus is housed inside a protective shell called a capsid. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to creating truly effective therapies to combat the virus is that no one knows the exact structure of the HIV capsid. Until now. Researchers Klaus Schulten and Juan Perilla at the University of Illinois have successfully used the power of one of the fastest supercomputers in the world to create a detailed molecular map of the HIV-1 capsid. The study offers a first look at the structure of the HIV capsid in 8 Angstrom resolution and offers a basis for research into new pharmacological interventions that could disrupt the capsid function and perhaps derail the virus's ability to infect cells. The researchers were able to combine experimental results from Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, electron microscopy, and X-ray crystallography and, through molecular dynamics flexible fitting (MDFF) techniques, modeled the capsid using the NSF-funded Blue Waters supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois. Schulten is Swanlund Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and directs the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the Beckman Institute. Perilla's research focus is Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry and he is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the TCB group at Beckman. To read the press release about this research, please visit: http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0529HIVcapsid_KlausSchulten.html
Neuroscientist and evolutionary biologist Justin Rhodes explains the difference between traits that are the result of evolutionary adaptation and others that are genetic spillovers. Rhodes discusses how biologist and author Stephen J. Gould first used an architectural term to help describe these genetic side effects. Rhodes is a professor in the University of Illinois Department of Psychology, Neuroscience Program, Institute for Genomic Biology and a full-time faculty member in the Beckman Institute NeuroTech Group.
Neuroscientist and evolutionary biologist Justin Rhodes explodes the myth behind why males are better at navigation than females. Most people, including many evolutionary biologists, believe that men are slightly better navigators than women because of the division of labor in early human Hunter-Gatherer societies. The story goes that those with superior navigation skills were more likely to return home to pass on their genes and evolution took care of the rest. But Rhodes and his team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a way to put this long-held theory to the test. Rhodes is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience Program, Institute for Genomic Biology and a full-time faculty member of the Beckman Institute's NeuroTech Group. To read more about this research, please visit the University of Illinois' News Bureau Press Release here: http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0219spatial_ability_JustinRhodes.html
Beckman Institute Open House 2013 Mar 8, 2013 - Mar 9, 2013 The Beckman Institute Open House is a biennial event, held in conjunction with the University of Illinois College of Engineering Open House. The open house features a variety of exhibits and demonstrations on leading edge research that is happening at the Beckman Institute. The event is Friday, March 8 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 9 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Beckman Institute is located on the University of Illinois campus at 405 North Mathews Avenue in Urbana, at the intersection of Mathews and University Avenue. Metered parking available in the parking deck across from the Institute. Schools, clubs, and other large groups are welcome.
Beckman Institute Open House 2013 Mar 8, 2013 - Mar 9, 2013 The Beckman Institute Open House is a biennial event, held in conjunction with the University of Illinois College of Engineering Open House. The open house features a variety of exhibits and demonstrations on leading edge research that is happening at the Beckman Institute. The event is Friday, March 8 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 9 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Beckman Institute is located on the University of Illinois campus at 405 North Mathews Avenue in Urbana, at the intersection of Mathews and University Avenue. Metered parking available in the parking deck across from the Institute. Schools, clubs, and other large groups are welcome.
