Join us for this Molecular BioMedical Research Group Seminar. This week's talk is presented by Claudia Alvarez Carreno from the Williams Lab in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
This seminar series is sponsored by Fisher Scientific and ThermoFisher Scientific.
Event Details
Gary Borisy, Ph.D.
Senior Investigator
Forsyth Institute
ABSTRACT
The concept that different sites within the mouth support distinctive microbiotas was introduced almost 50 years ago. Subsequently, high-throughput profiling of microbes using culture-independent, DNA sequence methods showed that sites within the mouth could be distinguished by the composition of their resident microbiota. We suggest a stronger conclusion is warranted which we term the site-specialist hypothesis: that each microbe in the mouth is specialized for one habitat or a cluster of related habitats, so that the microbiota at one oral site are different from the microbiota at other oral sites not only in overall composition and proportions of common taxa but also in specific membership.
We evaluate the site-specialist hypothesis by a combination of imaging and genomics approaches. Our imaging approach employs multiplexed fluorescence in situ hybridization to localize individual taxa at the micron scale. Our genomics approach employs the construction of multispecies pangenomes and read recruitment from metagenomic samples collected from individual oral sites to evaluate the presence of individual strains at different sites within the mouth.
Host: Juan P Barraza, Ph.D. student, Whiteley Lab
Event Details
Hannah Choi, Ph.D.
School of Mathematics
Georgia Institute of Technology
ABSTRACT
The complex connectivity structure unique to the brain network is believed to underlie its robust and efficient coding capability. One of many unique features of the mammalian cortico-thalamic network is its hierarchical organization. I will discuss functional implications of the hierarchical structure of mammalian cortical network in the framework of predictive coding. Specifically, I will focus on a hierarchical predictive coding model of visual cortex to understand how robust encoding of noisy visual stimuli emerges, and further discuss distinct computations carried out by layer-specific feedforward and feedback connections in the cortical hierarchy. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss how various visual stimuli shape the complexity of functional networks of neural activity by analyzing their network properties.
Event Details
Motile organisms have developed strategies to move through natural environments, which are often variable in both time and space. I will discuss two (quite different!) broadly successful locomotive modes: flagellated motility in bacteria and locomotion at the air-water interface in geckos. (1) A bacterium’s life is complicated: it interacts with different fluids, and may need to switch between swimming and surface attachment. We used magnetic tweezers to manipulate the flagellar apparatus and characterized the dynamics of mechanosensitive adaptation in the bacterial flagellar motor (BFM). Our model for the dynamics of environmentally-regulated assembly in the BFM illustrates how bacteria sense and adapt to changes in their surroundings. (2) Animals in areas that periodically flood must deal with seasonal fluctuations in their habitat. In the field, we showed that tropical geckos can run across the water’s surface as fast as they can on land. In the lab, we showed that these geckos use multiple modalities, including surface slapping and surface tension, and take advantage of their superhydrophobic skin, to transition between terrestrial and semi-aquatic locomotion.
Event Details
Alexander "Sasha" Gimelbrant, Ph.D.
Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences
Alexander “Sasha” Gimelbrant is an Investigator at Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences. He has earned his PhD in biochemistry at Moscow State University. After postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital, he started his laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His lab is interested in the epigenetic mechanisms controlling allele-specific expression in development and disease, and the role of these mechanisms in biological variability.
Event Details
To help answer Scientific American's question, the authors seek the expertise of Joshua Weitz, Patton Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences in the School of Biological Sciences. Two tools built by Weitz's team are included: the Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool that estimates the probabilty of infection in groups of all sizes, given the rates of infection in an area; and a guide for estimating what proportion of each state's population has Covid-19 immunity, either through vaccination or natural infection.
At the first ever CMDI-CDC Meeting on Infectious Disease Dynamics, held on June 10, 2021, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection at Georgia Tech (CMDI) came together virtually to discuss ecological and evolutionary perspectives on infectious disease dynamics.
“The mission of the CMDI is to transform the study and the sustainable control of microbial dynamics in contexts of human and environmental health,” notes Sam Brown, director of CMDI and professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech. “In keeping with this work, the CMDI-CDC Meeting on Infectious Disease Dynamics brought together these scientists as neighbors in Atlanta, and as organizations committed to the research of disease prevention and control.”
“In addition to showcasing the overlapping research interests of the CMDI and the CDC, the symposium also offered members of the Georgia Tech and CDC communities an open platform to ask questions of researchers in real time, as well as an opportunity to make new connections and encourage collaboration,” says Jennifer Farrell, a Ph.D. student studying microbiology at Georgia Tech who helped organize the meeting.
Farrell shares:
The online symposium drew 178 participants from across Georgia Tech and the CDC, setting the stage for continued communication and collaboration between the two institutions. The day kicked off with opening remarks from Brown and Juliana Cyril, director of the Office of Technology and Innovation, Office of Science, CDC. Cyril and Brown each highlighted the unique relationships and collaborative potential between the two organizations.
Talks spanned pathogen systems, from the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pneumoniae (Rich Stanton and Davina Campbell, CDC; Pengbo Cao, CMDI; Bernie Beall, CDC), to colonization dynamics of the fungal pathogen, Candida auris (Joe Sexton, CDC), to shield immunity in SARS-CoV-2 (Adriana Lucia-Sans and Andreea Magalie, CMDI).
Talks were further divided into research themes such as biofilm control (Pablo Bravo, CMDI; Rodney Donlan, CDC; Sheyda Azimi, CMDI) and microbiomes in infection (Commander Alison Laufer-Halpin, CDC; Jennifer Farrell, CMDI).
“In line with the commitment of the CMDI to promote trainee career development, the CMDI-CDC Meeting on Infectious Disease Dynamics was organized and run by Center graduate students and post-doctoral scientists, and CMDI talks were presented exclusively by Center trainees,” adds Farrell. “We look forward to continuing the conversation with our CDC colleagues in the future!”
Two charitable foundations have announced their support of research at the Georgia Institute of Technology that could change the basic understanding of DNA, potentially leading to new treatments for degenerative diseases.
The W.M. Keck Foundation and the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation have awarded grants of $1 million and $300,000, respectively, to boost the research of Francesca Storici, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and principal investigator for the projects. Both grants are directed toward decrypting the hidden message of ribonucleotide incorporation in human nuclear DNA.
The Mathers Foundation will cover work with the Storici lab only. The Keck Foundation is supporting a collaborative effort between Storici and Natasha Jonoska, professor of mathematics at the University of South Florida. Both Storici and Jonoska are founding members of the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology.
Full article by Jerry Grillo may be found here: https://research.gatech.edu/new-grants-could-transform-scientists-understanding-dna
As the academic year comes to an end, the Student Government Association (SGA) is welcoming its new leadership. Samuel Ellis and Ajanta Choudhury were recently sworn in as the undergraduate SGA president and executive vice president, respectively. And Stephen Eick and PJ Jarquin will be taking over as graduate SGA president and executive vice president.
Eick, a Ph.D. student in computer science, comes from GSGA’s legislative branch, the Graduate Student Senate (GSS). Jarquin, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, has spent his time in GSGA on the executive side, serving as vice president of campus services this year. He and Eick believe that, together, their experiences in different parts of student government will allow them to approach problems in a balanced way.
Ellis and Choudhury met in the Undergraduate House of Representatives (UHR) during the 2019-20 school year. After that, Ellis, an international affairs major, became vice president of external affairs, while Choudhury, a biology major, took a year away from SGA. They hope that being able to see SGA from different perspectives will help them provide solutions and address issues.
As their terms get underway, both teams are ready to jump into advocating for students. For the undergraduate executives, this largely focuses on academic policies, changing how students interact with the Office of Student Integrity, and helping with the shift to in-house dining in the fall. The graduate executives, meanwhile, are starting off by trying to help increase and consolidate mental health resources across campus, as well as advocate for new ways to support graduate researchers. Both groups agree that as Tech transitions toward a more familiar semester in the fall, they want to be involved in making sure that transparent, robust policies are in place to keep students safe.
Both sets of executives also share the desire to strengthen their particular side of SGA, which they feel will allow them to better advocate for students’ needs. For example, Eick has a goal of filling every seat in GSS by the end of the year.
“We hold ourselves back when we don’t have people engaged,” he said. As a member of GSS, Eick was the only representative for the College of Computing, which usually can have as many as nine representatives. He sees this as an excellent opportunity to increase both participation and diversity within GSGA.
“We want to make sure that we’re reaching different parts of campus whose voices aren’t usually heard,” Ellis said. For him, this means bringing new people into USGA by creating a recruitment chair position, as well as connecting people outside of the organization with Institute-wide committees where their input would be useful.
Each new executive also has a policy that they’re particularly excited to work on. For Ellis, it’s finding a way to address the problem of students experiencing homelessness; Choudhury wants to improve infrastructure for students with disabilities. Eick is passionate about building a participant recruiting board for research studies across campus to strengthen graduate student research, while Jarquin plans on advocating for more LGBTQ+-friendly health resources.
The new SGA leadership is ultimately humbled by the opportunity to serve their fellow students.
“To be in this role is to empower and uplift those in the same way that I felt empowered and uplifted by former executives in student government,” said Choudhury. “Being in this role isn’t just about improving the student experience, but really empowering the next generation of student leaders.”
“Coming from an immigrant father, being raised in the South, and being gay, it’s important for me to be in a role as visible as this,” Jarquin said. “It really is an honor to be in the position to fight for all graduate students.”
Applications are currently open to be an executive committee chair for undergraduate SGA; applications are rolling, but those interested should apply by Friday, May 7, to be considered. Learn more about each committee here. Elections for GSS and first-year representatives for UHR will happen in the fall; view the full list of seats in GSS and UHR.
Sam Brown, professor in the School of Biological Sciences, is one of 65 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Microbiology's class of 2021.
"I’m thrilled to join the American Academy of Microbiology," Brown says. "I want to offer a huge thanks to my lab, past and present, and colleagues around the world who made this recognition possible, and who make science so much fun. Looking forward, I’m excited to continue building microbiology research on campus, through our Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI)."
Information on one of Brown's recent research studies can be found here.
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