To request a media interview, please reach out to School of Biological Sciences experts using our faculty directory, or contact Jess Hunt-Ralston, College of Sciences communications director. A list of faculty experts and research areas across the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech is also available to journalists upon request.
Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences researchers Cody Clements, Teasley Postdoctoral Fellow, and Mark Hay, professor and Teasley Chair, found that increasing coral richness by 'outplanting' a diverse group of coral species together improves coral growth and survivorship. But if more coral species are lost, the synergistic effects could threaten other species in what Clements and Hay term a "biodiversity meltdown." This story on Georgia Tech's research was also featured in Engineering and Technology, the Birmingham Times, AlphaGalileo, and Environmental Coastal and Offshore.
Underwater gardens boost coral diversity to stave off 'biodiversity meltdown' | 2021-10-13T00:00:00-04:00
The Caribbean's seaweed explosion started in 2011, and scientists are still trying to figure out if climate change or other factors are to blame. Cleanup is a major struggle for governments, but some are trying to find other sustainable uses for the seaweed, such as construction materials or fuel. Joseph Montoya, professor in the School of Biological Sciences who is part of the Ocean Science and Engineering program, weighs in on the possible causes for the excess seaweed.
nutritiiono | 2021-09-29T00:00:00-04:00
Researchers have discovered that environments favoring clumpy growth are all that’s needed to quickly transform single-celled yeast into complex multicellular organisms. Georgia Tech scientists report that over the course of nearly two years of evolution, they have induced unicellular yeasts to grow into multicellular clusters of immense size, going from microscopic to branching structures visible to the naked eye. Those scientists include William Ratcliff, associate professor and co-director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, G. Ozan Bozdag, research scientist, and Kai Tong, Ph.D. student, all School of Biological Sciences; and Peter Yunker, assistant professor, Thomas C. Day, graduate student, and Seyed Alireza Zamani-Dahaj, former graduate student, all in the School of Physics. 9
Metz Mayor | 2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00
Lobsters are just one of myriad marine animals that rely on molecular missives. Behaviors such as finding meals, choosing habitats, avoiding predators, seeking sex, and engaging in social encounters are all driven by chemistry, at least in part. A changing climate may tamper with marine animals’ sense of smell and change the shapes of signaling molecules. So scientists continue to work to untangle the basic workings of marine chemoreception. One of those scientists is Julia Kubanek, vice president for interdisciplinary research and a professor in the Schools of Biological Sciences, and Chemistry and Biochemistry.
campus trees | 2021-09-19T00:00:00-04:00
Data visualization is fundamentally an act of communication. While many discussions focus on the technical aspects of creating visualizations, communicating insights in a clear, relevant and accessible way is essential. The Georgia Tech team responsible for building the Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool recently shared key lessons they learned based on the experience. That team includes Joshua Weitz, Professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, and Blaise Pascal International Chair of Excellence; Stephen Beckett, research scientist, and Quan Nguyen, undergraduate research assistant, both with the School of Biological Sciences.
online language class | 2021-09-14T00:00:00-04:00
How did cells first glom together, learn to cooperate, and yield organisms that contain millions, billions, or even trillions of cells? In a new experiment, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology oversaw the evolution of clusters of yeast that each grew to contain hundreds of thousands of cells—the largest of their kind—enabling the scientists to study the possible origins of complex multicellular structures. One of those scientists is Will Ratcliff, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences in the School of Biological Sciences. Quanta Magazine also reported on this experiment.
college of engineering; Lauren steimle; Meghan Meredith; isye; NSF; NSF grfp; graduate research | 2021-09-14T00:00:00-04:00
Human behavior has changed along with the virus and public health measures to contain it. For modelers, it’s a curveball. “The prevailing theme that continues to make things hard now is the interplay between disease state, how people react, and how people react over time,” says Joshua Weitz, Professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, and Blaise Pascal International Chair of Excellence. In 2020, Weitz and his team created the Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool, a map of all counties in the U.S. to determine the risk of attending events, given event size and location.
in solidarity | 2021-09-13T00:00:00-04:00
John F. McDonald, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences, is also chief scientific officer at Atlanta's Ovarian Cancer Institiute, which is developing an accurate test for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. McDonald says preliminary results of the first half of 800 women in the current trial, shows a success rate of nearly 95 percent. But McDonald adds that a screening test must be essentially 100 percent accurate before getting approval from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
maritime | 2021-09-13T00:00:00-04:00
Steve Diggle, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, has been named to the American Society for Microbiology's Distinguished Lecturer (ASMDL) Roster for 2021-2022. Diggle, who came to Georgia Tech in 2017, is now part of a scientifically diverse group of lecturers who are available to speak at local ASM Branch meetings throughout the U.S. Lecturers are chosen through a competitive nomination process, and only the most distinguished lecturers and researchers are chosen to participate in the program. Diggle is the principal investigator for the Diggle Lab, which is based in Georgia Tech's Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection.
racial justice | 2021-09-04T00:00:00-04:00
According to a new Georgia Tech study, honeybees have developed a way to convert pollen particles into viscoelastic pellets, allowing them to be efficiently, quickly, and reliably transported to the hive. The study also suggests that insects remove pollen from their bodies at a rate 2-10 times slower than normal grooming rates. College of Sciences researchers who worked on the study include David Hu, professor in the School of Biological Sciences; Peter Yunker, assistant professor, and Gabi Steinbach, postdoctoral researcher, both in the School of Physics. (The study was also reported at Phys.org.)
Nicholas J. Conrad Laboratory | 2021-08-25T00:00:00-04:00
