Expanding Horizons
First cohort of Villa Cisse Scholars excited to gain new science perspectives in this new QCB undergraduate program.
October 9th, 2024


Written by Barbara Jewett | Photos by Molly Fried
The first cohort of QCB’s Villa Cisse Scholars program visited the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign July 15-26 for an immersive orientation into biophysics research. Participants were taught to use digital tools like optical tweezers (a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner similar to tweezers) and nitrogen vacancies (a new technology being developed that researchers are hoping to use for more differentiating between different states of the molecule or of the surrounding molecules themselves). They also explored avenues of potential research through reading and reporting on assigned scientific papers and visiting some QCB members’ labs in preparation for selecting a research team to join.
This visit was just the first step on these budding scientists’ journey with QCB. They’ll spend the upcoming academic year reading journal articles, participating in regular VC program and lab meeting session, and return to Illinois next summer for a 10-week research experience for undergraduates where they’ll participate in research activities with their chosen lab.
Meet the 2024-25 Villa Cisse Scholars




What they hope to learn
At the end of their first week at Illinois they sat down with QCB’s Communication Director Barbara Jewett and Communications Intern Molly Fried to discuss the program. The following discussion has been edited for length and clarity.
What attracted you to apply for the program, and what do you hope to gain by participating?
I know we’re only at the end of week one, but what has been the coolest thing you’ve done so far?
Anything else you’d like to share?
ABOUT THE VILLA CISSE SCHOLARS PROGRAM
The Villa Cisse Scholars program at the Center for Quantitative Cell Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign is named for two well-known biophysicists who earned their doctorates at Illinois. Elizabeth Villa, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology, University of California San Diego, was a graduate student in the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the Beckman Institute at Illinois. The TCBG is a QCB collaborator, and the Beckman Institute is QCB;s home base. Ibrahim Cisse, director of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, studied under QCB researcher Taekjip Ha, who is now at Harvard.
Sharlene Denos, QCB Broader Impacts team leader, says the program is designed to promote Black and Hispanic undergraduate students by offering research opportunities they might not otherwise have.
“Elizabeth and Ibrahim are both pioneers in their respective fields and in diversity. They’re both doing a mix of experimental and theoretical work, and they’re doing quantitative biology and biophysics types of research. As they have ties to Illinois, I decided to name the program after them to honor them.”