Veterinary Medicine News | University of Illinois

University of Illinois veterinary biosciences professor Paul Cooke co-led the research that may prove to be an effective alternative to the medical use of embryonic stem cells.

An international consortium has found that wild chimpanzees naturally infected with Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses (SIV) – long thought to be harmless to the apes – can contract an AIDS-like syndrome and die as a result.

Researchers studying a critical stage of pregnancy – implantation of the embryo in the uterus – have found a protein that is vital to the growth of new blood vessels that sustain the embryo. Without this protein, which is produced in higher quantities in the presence of estrogen, the embryo is unlikely to survive.

Forest fragmentation threatens biodiversity, often causing declines or local extinctions in a majority of species while enhancing the prospects of a few. A new study from the University of Illinois shows that parasites can play a pivotal role in the decline of species in fragmented forests. This is the first study to look at how forest fragmentation increases the burden of infectious parasites on animals already stressed by disturbances to their habitat.

Human sperm cells travel up to 6 meters in their transit from testes to penis, and most of that journey occurs in the epididymis, a tightly coiled tube that primes the cells for their ultimate task: fertilization. In a paper released this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Illinois report that they have discovered a gene - and related mechanism - essential to the embryonic development of the epididymis.