Cancer Center at Illinois

03/13/2026

⭐ NEW SERIES: Get to Know a Cancer Researcher!

The CCIL has more than 120 members across campus with a variety in backgrounds, research disciplines, and experiences. Get to know them in our new series, with
a first installment featuring Kim Selting!

🔗 Click through to learn more, or click here: https://go.illinois.edu/Selting

03/10/2026

Join the Illini 4000 for opening night of the Portraits Gallery: a window into the American cancer experience!

Join us for the opening night of the Portraits Gallery: a window into the American cancer experience. We’ve curated a series of interviews from 15 years of Illini 4000’s existence, the result of hundreds of conversations with strangers we met on the side of the road as we biked across the country, year after year.

We hope this event can serve as a place for you to share your own story with cancer, understand other people's cancer experiences, and find community in your fellow humans. Free refreshments will be provided.

Learn more about the Portraits Project through the link in our bio, under the “Explore Our Work” section.

📍Gallery Art Bar
📆 Thursday, 3/12, 6-8 PM

03/09/2026

Congratulations to CCIL members Hyunjoon Kong and Xing Wang, who have been named Senior Members by the National Academy of Inventors! 👏

The Senior Member recognition program recognizes “rising stars who foster a spirit of innovation within their communities and institutions while educating and mentoring the next generation of inventors.”

🔗 https://go.illinois.edu/KongWang

03/05/2026

Join us for a special documentary and reception! 🎥

🟠 April 23 | 4 p.m. | Beckman Institute

The CCIL will host a screening of "Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp the Biotech Revolution." The film details the life and work of Nobel Laureate and Illinois alumnus Phillip Sharp, whose discovery of RNA splicing kick-started the global biotechnology revolution. CCIL Director Rohit Bhargava will lead a discussion with Sharp following the screening.

*Auditorium seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

🔗 Please register here for reception planning purposes: https://go.illinois.edu/CrackingtheCode

03/04/2026

The growing female technology, or “femtech,” industry has transformed how women monitor and manage their health - but questions linger about privacy, bias, regulation and more.

CCIL member Sara Gerke is working to navigate those issues by bridging law, ethics, and medicine to emphasize how early collaboration among experts can lead to better outcomes for patients.

🔗 https://go.illinois.edu/Gerke

03/02/2026

🟠 SCIENCE SIMPLIFIED 🔵

Today's topic? Non-coding RNA's role in cancer

Non-coding RNA sequences do not have instructions to make proteins, but they still have important regulatory functions. One of these, called snaR-A, helps regulate how coding RNA sequences are turned into proteins.

CCIL researcher Kevin Van Bortle and his team are uncovering the role that snaR-A plays in disease - including how increased snaR-A levels can drive cancer growth.

🔗 Read more: https://go.illinois.edu/VanBortle

Is there a cancer related term you want to know more about? Comment below!

02/26/2026

CCIL Director Rohit Bhargava joined News-Gazette Radio on to talk about how far cancer research has come, and promising advancements in the works.

🔗 Listen here around the 2 minute mark: https://go.illinois.edu/WorldCancerDay

02/24/2026

Congratulations to Dhanush Gandavadi and Revathi Manoharaan - both members of CCIL research labs - for receiving a Biohub Spark Award! 🎉

This award recognizes projects that showcase the power of cross-disciplinary thinking and the creativity of emerging scientists.

🔗 Learn more about their projects and Biohub: https://go.illinois.edu/SparkAward

02/23/2026

New research from fills in critical gaps when it comes to understanding the relationship between testicular cancer growth and PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances also known as "forever chemicals."

These findings help explain why studies consistently link PFAS exposure to testicular cancer risk.

🔗 https://go.illinois.edu/SinghSpinella

02/18/2026

Congratulations to CCIL member Hua Wang, who earned an Early Career Award from the METAvivor Foundation! 👏

The group is dedicated to fighting metastatic breast cancer and Wang's lab is exploring how cancer vaccines can play a role in helping patients.

🔗 https://go.illinois.edu/HuaWangAward

02/11/2026

🔶🔷 SCIENCE SIMPLIFIED

Today's topic? Artificial Intelligence (AI).

AI tools are helping scientists in the fight against cancer. Cancer Center at Illinois researchers are developing systems that can help pathologists more accurately identify cancer cells and break down complex data.

▶ WATCH the video to learn more.

02/10/2026

We are proud to partner with groups like JJK FAN to introduce new science concepts to young minds!