Cancer Center at Illinois

04/02/2026

Researchers are taking a new approach: using spatial mapping techniques to better understand tumor structure and how tumors may respond to treatment.

“This tool is flexible and biologically intuitive, and it’s not limited to one type of cancer.” -- CCIL researcher Aiman Soliman

https://go.illinois.edu/SpatialMapping

04/01/2026

⭐ Get to Know a Cancer Researcher!

Connect with the CCIL's researchers in this new series. This week's installment features Ling-Jian Meng!

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

03/31/2026

Researchers at have developed a 4D model of a living cell, capturing how it grows and divides over time.

This breakthrough provides a powerful way to study cell behavior and could help scientists explore how diseases like cancer alter cells.

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

03/30/2026

🎥 Save the date!

🟠 April 23 | 4 PM
📍 Beckman Institute

Join us for a screening of “Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution." The documentary spotlights Phil Sharp, an Illinois alumnus and Nobel Laureate whose discoveries helped launch the modern biotech industry.

CCIL Director Rohit Bhargava will lead a discussion with Dr. Sharp following the screening.

⚠️ Auditorium seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
🔗 Please register for reception planning purposes: https://go.illinois.edu/CrackingtheCode

03/20/2026

⭐ Get to Know a Cancer Researcher!

Connect with the CCIL's researchers in this new series. This week's installment features Cecilia Leal!

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

03/16/2026

NEW: Researchers are developing AI tools to improve how doctors predict skin cancer outcomes.

“AI’s ability to help predict health care is central to so many things – better therapeutics, better care plans and better patient outcomes.” -- Ravi Iyer

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

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!