U.S. Senator Dick Durbin visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Thursday to see the impact federal funding has had on research into the genetics of bees.
Durbin brought $8 million to the school for the initiative over the last five years.
The funding has helped U of I researchers sequence the DNA of 150 species of bees to better understand how to protect the pollinators.
Entomology professor Alexandra Harmon-Threatt said corn and soy don’t need bee pollination to grow, but pumpkins, watermelons and strawberries do.
“We would have a diet without pollinators, but it’d be very boring. There’d be little color, there’d actually be pretty low nutritional value. You’d keep your meats, you’d keep your carbs, but you wouldn’t keep many of the micronutrients and vitamins that you need to live a healthy and productive life,” Harmon-Threatt said.
In addition to learning about the threats to bees through their DNA, U of I entomologist Adam Dolezal has been working with solar farms to grow pollinator-friendly plants under solar panels. Emily Hays/Illinois Public Media
U of I professor Adam Dolezal is also involved in the bee genome sequencing project. He said this project differs from others in its focus on getting high-quality DNA – better than the DNA that is starting to break down after a bee dies.
“We try to capture a bee and then instantly freeze it in liquid nitrogen – so make it super cold, super fast, to preserve as much of its DNA as possible in as complete strands as possible,” Dolezal said.
He said one of the challenges is finding the more endangered species of bees that live in remote areas.
The university researchers then send the DNA to a US Department of Agriculture sequencing facility to read the genetic makeup of the bee.
Dolezal said his lab has been looking into the genes that indicate whether a bee is particularly vulnerable to toxins, like honeybees are, or not. That helps them learn how different bees will respond to pesticides without having to conduct an experiment on a thousand bees.
The University of Illinois Bee Research Facility opened a tub of baby bees for Sen. Dick Durbin’s visit on Sept. 26, 2025. At an hour old, these bees cannot fly or sting yet. Emily Hays/Illinois Public Media
During his visit, Durbin said cuts to federal research grants make it harder for America to address its current and future challenges.
He said voters can decide whether they want that funding restored during the midterm elections.
“Now we know what the values of this president will be. We know the things that are important to him and things he doesn’t care about. He’s cutting back dramatically in areas of research that I think really challenges us, whether it’s basic medical research, agricultural research, across the board,” Durbin said.
Durbin said Congress has control over spending, and if Democrats control the House or Senate, Republican lawmakers will have to compromise more.