Beckman Institute at Illinois

05/25/2026

We're so pleased to announce the incoming cohort of Beckman Institute postdoctoral fellows.

Read below to find out more about Ana Hoyos, who has already worked extensively with Brad Sutton and Yuhui Chai, and will collaborate with Caterina Gratton and Jozien Goense. She'll be utilizing the 7 Tesla MRI scanner for her research on precision mapping of the prefrontal cortex.

Hugo Bayer Reichmann has been working with Stephen Maren to investigate a novel, noninvasive method to eliminate traumatic memories in the prefrontal cortex. He'll be collaborating with Michael Oelze and Min Jee Jang.

Brains are kind of our thing here.

The Beckman Institute welcomes its newest cohort of Postdoctoral Fellows. Two Postdoctoral Fellows will begin in Fall 2026.

05/23/2026

New Beckman research is shedding light on how stress affects the brain. Scientists discovered how certain brain circuits can disrupt fear and memory processes, offering new clues for understanding PTSD and improving future treatments.

Fear is often thought of as a negative emotion, but is actually a natural protective response to perceived threats or danger. It helps us survive. When we experience a situation that causes fear, it becomes stored in our brain as a fear memory. These fear memories prevent us from touching a hot stov...

05/22/2026

Lisa Johnson’s Beckman journey is all about growth and hard work. She started at the front desk and rose to administrative assistant to the director, all while continuing her education and expanding her career. She’s a star, click below to read all about her!

Honestly, I like that it is on the outskirts of campus. It’s a breeze to get on the road after work and there’s no concern about mowing down an unaware student with their nose in their phone. Aside from that, the people here are great, but that is no different than any place on campus. Having a ...

05/21/2026

Big innovation from Beckman! Researchers have created a new ultrasound method that can activate molecules inside living plants without any genetic modification. This could lead to new ways to control plant behavior and strengthen crop resilience. Read more here:

Imagine being able to control molecular events inside living organisms without genetic modification or invasive manipulations.

05/19/2026

The Speech Accessibility Project, housed here at the Beckman Institute, was recently named to the Forbes Accessibility 200 list. The project, led by electrical and computer engineering professor Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, records people with diverse speech patterns to improve voice recognition technology.

The project’s most recent phase is a collaboration with AImpower.org and Gallaudet University, and is currently recruiting people who stutter and are deaf and hard of hearing for a study.

Forbes included the project and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in its Accessibility 200 list. It includes global leaders in communication, mobility, education, software, consumer products, robotics, sports and recreation, travel, the workplace, entertainment and more.

05/12/2026

Illinois engineers & designers at (dis)Ability Design Studio develop wheelchair light to enhance visibility and safety. 🔆 Learn more at bit.ly/Sol-light

05/08/2026

Get to Know all about Lydia Marteney. From her new role as a post-award specialist in the Beckman Business Office, to her studies in anthropology, accounting, and business administration at Hartwick College, Lydia’s path has been amazing.

Outside of work, she’s a violinist, pickleball champ, sourdough baker, second-hand fashion lover, and proud Swiftie. Read more about her here, including the story behind the Danish bike she shipped to Illinois 🚲

Throughout my life, I’ve been pulled in different directions in terms of my interests and passions. For example, I probably would have told you in high school that math was my favorite subject, but I also really enjoyed music, art and history. Luckily for me, I attended a tiny private liberal arts...

05/07/2026

At the Beckman Institute, MRI innovation runs deep. Recently, a team led by Zhi-Pei Liang developed a new multiplexed imaging technology, using standard clinical MRI systems, that can simultaneously map more than 20 biomarkers in high resolution. This new discovery provides a comprehensive view of the brain with a single scan.

Congratulations to Professor Liang and his incredible team. May the innovations never stop!🧠

New MRI technology provides a comprehensive view of the human brain May 6, 2026 10:37 am by Liz Ahlberg Touchstone Biomedical Sciences Editor Engineering Health and Medicine Life Sciences Share on Facebook Share on X Share via email University of Illinois researchers developed multiplexed MRI techno...

05/07/2026

We’re happy to share that we have a new addition to our team! Welcome Megan Hiubregtse, from the College of Applied Health Sciences at Illinois. She’s thrilled to join Beckman and partner with Professor Brad Sutton and Aaron Anderson, the assistant director of Beckman’s Biomedical Imaging Center.

Megan’s research looks at how brain injuries and psychological trauma affect how the brain is wired, and how those changes show up in symptoms and recovery. She is interested in analyzing how these effects can look different between men and women, including sex-specific risk factors for brain health.

Professor Megan Huibregtse recently joined the Beckman Institute. She plans to collaborate with Professor Brad Sutton and Aaron Anderson, the assistant director of Beckman’s Biomedical Imaging Center. Her work focuses on how neurotrauma and psychological trauma affect neural circuitry and how this...

05/05/2026

We’d like to officially welcome Haohan Wang, an assistant professor at the School of Information Sciences at Illinois to Beckman! His research explores building AI systems that can work together to help with scientific discovery, such as computational biology and trustworthy AI.

He is looking forward to collaborating with researchers who are interested in exploring the world of AI, and treat it as a tool to be understood, tested, and designed with real scientific goals. Read more about his research and role at Beckman below:

“Beckman’s culture of deep interdisciplinarity and methodological rigor aligns closely with how I think about AI for science,” he said “I am particularly excited to engage with researchers who treat AI not as a black-box tool, but as a system that must be understood, stress-tested, and co-de...