Last week, College of Sciences faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs received a calendar invitation for this Wednesday’s virtual CoS Spring Plenary. Check your inbox for the BlueJeans Events link (search "CoS Spring 2021 Plenary"). The virtual event's agenda includes announcements and updates on our councils, searches, Task Force on Racial Equity, new strategic plan, and finances — plus a recap of our first staff engagement day. An open Q&A will follow plenary presentations. Please join us!
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Chronic itch is defined as itch persisting for more than six weeks. Because chronic itch is associated with most skin diseases, it is the most common reason for visiting a dermatologist. In addition to being uncomfortable, repeated scratching may result in infection and scarring, making chronic itch socially and occupationally debilitating.
Until recently researchers have experienced difficulty in visualizing the itch-sensing neurons that innervate the skin and are responsible for sensing itch sensation. However, a team of Georgia Tech researchers from the School of Biological Science has combined different cutting-edge techniques to solve this problem.
“We created a new transgenic mouse line that allowed us to, for the first time, see individual itch neurons in the skin,” says Yanyan Xing, a postdoctoral fellow in the Han laboratory. “This is very exciting!” she continued, “Because there are so many neurons in the skin, they often overlap on top of one another. This makes it impossible to determine the size, frequency, or distribution of the neurons.”
Such a state makes it impossible for researchers to perform any sort of detailed analysis on the neurons. For instance, the researchers cannot tell the number of axons per neuron, look for patterns in the spatial density of neurons, or see if the neurons are attached to any specific structures. “In contrast,” Xing explained, “our transgenic mouse line allows us to perform ‘sparse-labeling’ so that only a few neurons, less than 1%, are visible. Now, we can visualize individual neurons!”
Xing completed this work with a graduate student, Haley Steele, and four other fellow School of Biological Sciences researchers under the direction of Dr. Liang Han. The team published their results, “Visualizing the Itch-Sensing Skin Arbors,” in The Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Specifically, the team looked at a group of itch sensing neurons that are identified by the presence of a single protein, MrgprC11. They, therefore, call this group of neurons MrgprC11+ itch-sensing neurons.
To visualize these MrgprC11+ neurons, the team used a histological staining technique known as PLAP. This technique turns the individual axons of the neurons a dark blue which is visible to the naked eye, even without the use of a microscope.
By visualizing the individual neurons, the team discovered that itch-sensing neurons have large receptive fields. “Receptive fields are the area on the skin that each neuron is responsible for sensing,” Xing explains. “So, if the receptive field is small, such as for touch, you can sense very precisely that something is touching you at this very particular spot. But for the MrgprC11+ itch neurons, we found that they had large receptive fields, three times bigger than for the other neurons we looked at. So that means that when we sense itch, it isn’t confined to a very particular spot. We feel it much more diffusely over a larger area.”
In addition to allowing for the visualization of the itch neurons in the skin, this team’s novel transgenic mouse line also allowed them to learn more about MrgprC11+ neurons in general. For example, they discovered that MrgprC11+ neurons have multiple itch receptors. This is a critical finding according to Xing because “previously nobody was really looking too closely at the MrgprC11+ neurons. Now, that we know that MrgprC11+ neurons are an important itch sensing neuronal population, future researchers may focus significantly more effort on studying MrgprC11+ neurons.”
Carey Nadell, Ph.D.
Department of Biological Sciences
Darmouth College
ABSTRACT
Bacteria and other microbes commonly live in spatially constrained collectives, termed biofilms, which are ubiquitous in the environment and play a central role in microbial ecology. My group combines perspectives from ecological and evolutionary theory with molecular genetics and microscopy techniques to understand the spatial ecology of microbial biofilms at single-cell resolution. In the process of producing biofilms, bacteria engage in complex interactions that range from outright antagonism, to basic forms of resource competition, to highly cooperative behaviors. Understanding the net results of these many interactions is a major challenge in modern microbiology and a primary focus of my research group. Here I will talk about our groups research on the dynamics of predation by viral and bacterial attackers against biofilm populations. This work highlights how predation causes many unexpected downstream effects on biofilm spatial structure, population dynamics, and community assembly.
Host: Brian Hammer, Ph.D.
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Duur Aanen, Ph.D.
Wageningen University & Research
ABSTRACT
Fungal mycelia can increase in size by fusion, which can be mutually beneficial. However, using experimental evolution of the fungus Neurospora crassa, we earlier demonstrated that free fusion of mycelia favours cheater mutants. Those cheaters have a competitive benefit against the wild-type ancestor, but a negative effect on total spore production. Using whole-genome sequencing of evolved lines, we recently demonstrated, paradoxically, that all convergently evolved cheater lineages have similar fusion deficiencies and we demonstrated that fusion deficiency is the cause of cheating. Fusion-deficiency mutations prevent cheaters from initiating fusion, but nevertheless enable them to profit from fusion initiated by wild-type mycelia. This benefit is due to reduced contribution to somatic substrate-bound hyphal networks, but increased representation in the aerial reproductive hyphae. However, at higher frequency of the fusion mutant, the mycelial network becomes increasingly fragmented providing a relative benefit to wild-type rich patches. The frequency-dependence of fitness results in an equilibrium between cheater and wild type.
Host: Will Ratcliff, Ph.D.
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Simon Danner, Ph.D.
College of Medicine
Drexel University
ABSTRACT
To effectively move in complex and changing environments, animals must control locomotor speed and gait, while precisely coordinating and adapting limb movements to the terrain. The underlying neural control involves dynamic interactions between neural circuits at different levels of the nervous system, biomechanical properties of the musculoskeletal system, and afferent feedback signals from the periphery. Here, we present a computational neuromechanical model of mouse hindlimb locomotion to study the mechanisms of sensorimotor integration and the role of different afferent pathways in the stabilization of locomotion at different speeds and under different environmental conditions. The model closely reproduced characteristics of mouse locomotion at different speeds, while being able to adapt to changes in the environment. With increasing speed, the model exhibited walking, running and hopping gaits. By systematically manipulating feedback gains, we found that feedback pathways serve different roles depending on speed. We suggest that supraspinal control of locomotor speed, besides tonic drive to the rhythm generators and commissural interneurons, includes task-dependent (slow, exploratory, vs. fast, escape-type locomotion) modulation of the gain of sensory afferent pathways to the spinal locomotor circuitry.
Host: Boris Prilutsky, Ph.D.
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Georgia Tech has begun to administer Covid-19 vaccine. Those in groups in phase 1A+ as categorized by the Georgia Department Health have been invited to schedule an appointment to receive the first of two doses.
Members of the working group charged with the procurement and distribution of vaccine will be available to answer questions from the campus.
To join the event, go to c.gatech.edu/jan21-vaccine
Participants include:
- Dr. Ben Holton, senior director of Stamps Health Services
- Adegboyega "Yomi" Oyelere, associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Will Smith, director of Emergency Management and Communications
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The Career, Research, and Innovation Development Conference (CRIDC) is Georgia Tech’s professional development event for graduate students. CRIDC is held annually at the beginning of the spring semester and is designed to connect graduate students of all degree types with professionals in research, industry, consulting and government, nonprofits, management, and entrepreneurship. The 2021 event will be held Feb. 8-12 as a completely virtual event. It is open to all Georgia Tech master’s and Ph.D. students, as well as postdoctoral scholars.
Article by Emma Ryan
On Feb. 8-12, Georgia Tech will host the 2021 Career, Research, and Innovation Development Conference (CRIDC), an annual event that offers graduate students the opportunity to network, attend panels, and participate in a career fair and poster competition.
“CRIDC has become a Georgia Tech tradition,” said Ogün Kargin, a second-year graduate student in Aerospace Engineering and vice president of Professional Development for the Graduate Student Government Association. “For the past 11 years, SGA has hosted this event to provide opportunities for graduate students to meet our industry partners, showcase their research, and hone their professional development skills. This year, our team is very excited to offer this event in a fully virtual format!”
Here are some highlights of the 2021 event:
- Career-related Panels. Sessions include PhD2Consulting, Entrepreneurship, and Done With Grad School. What’s Next?, as well as a series on diversity, inclusion, and ethics. The panels will be streamed online and preregistration is not required to attend.
- Poster Competition. This competition gives students the opportunity to present their research posters to a nontechnical audience. Winners receive a $1,500 professional development award, and the competition is open to all graduate students. The deadline to submit poster abstracts is Jan. 19.
- Innovation Competition. Sponsored by Tech’s VentureLab, the Innovation Competition awards cash prizes to the graduate students who make the best case for how their work might get to market and meet customer needs. The application for the competition is due Jan. 21.
- MS and PhD CRIDC Virtual Career Fair. To be held on Feb. 9, the career fair will offer students the opportunity to connect with scientists interested in their work. Registration for the fair opens Jan. 26.
Learn more about the event on the CRIDC website, and register to attend and have your resume added to the resume book here.
Event Details
This virtual colloquium will have events spanning two days:
Wednesday, February 17th: Poster Session
Thursday, February 18th: Research talks and Mars 2020 Perserverance Landing viewing
Our aim is to highlight work involving space exploration; biological, geological, and astronomical origins; and astrobiology of any sub-field at Georgia Tech and beyond.
Through this colloquium, we hope to:
- forge relationships between diverse individuals of various fields, experience levels, and backgrounds
- provide a professional growth opportunity for early career individuals including undergraduates, graduates, and post-docs
- encourage collaboration and interdisciplinary understanding
- expand our internal awareness of local work an dinnovations
For registration and abstract submission, complete the form linked below by the end of the day on January 29th (deadline extended from original due date).
Wed, Feb 17th, 5-6 pm
Join here: https://bluejeans.com/488994566
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Poster Session
Thur, Feb. 18th, Starting at 10:15 am
Join here: https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/live-event/fjxqjbgp
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10:15- Welcome and Introduction
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10:30- Astrobiology graduate certificate ceremony
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10:45- Talks, 10 min talk + 5 min discussion
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Bhanu Kumar (Grad student, MATH)
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Rebecca Guth-Metzler (Grad student, CHEM)
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Abigail Johnson (Grad student, OSE)
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Tony Burnetti (Postdoc, BIO)
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11:45- Plenary talk, Prof. Lisa Yaszek (LMC)
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12:45- Lunch
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1:30- Talks, 15 min talk + 5 min discussion
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Micah Shaible (Research scientist, ChBE)
- Prof. Chris Carr (AE and EAS)
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SCMB will host its 3rd Annual Symposium as a free online event from December 7th-10th, from 12:00pm-2:00pm (EST). The Symposium will explore the theme of Interactional Expertise—the secret sauce behind many successful cross-disciplinary collaborations. The event will host panel discussions with math-bio researchers and explore the successes and the pitfalls of collaborating across disciplines. Junior speakers from all 4 NSF-Simons MathBioSys research centers will contribute talks demonstrating the innovative work being done at the math-bio interface. The Symposium will conclude with a plenary talk from Heather Harrington (Oxford) on Algebraic Systems Biology and a poster session open to all registrants. For more information and to register for the event, please visit scmb.gatech.edu/symposium
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Dragonfly: In Situ Exploration of Titan’s Organic Chemistry and Habitability
Georgia Tech's Center for Space Technology and Research (C-STAR) hosts Titan Week, featuring days of virtual fun on Saturn's spectacular, intriguing moon, and NASA's plans to explore it.
At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, CSTAR hosts Dr. Elizabeth Turtle, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, for its 2020 Distinguished Lecture. This year's virtual version will be via BlueJeans.
Turtle is the principal investigator for NASA's Dragonfly mission, which proposes to use a rotorcraft lander to explore the environment of Titan.
NASA's Dragonfly New Frontiers mission is a rotorcraft lander designed to perform wide- ranging in situ investigation of the chemistry and habitability of this fascinating extraterrestrial environment. Taking advantage of Titan's dense atmosphere and low gravity, Dragonfly can fly from place to place, exploring diverse geological settings to measure the compositions of surface materials and observe Titan's geology and meteorology. Dragonfly will make multidisciplinary science measurements at dozens of sites, traveling 150 km during a three-year mission to characterize Titan's habitability and determine how far organic chemistry has progressed in environments that provide key ingredients for life.
Registration and other information for the 2020 Distinguished Lecture can be found here.
About Elizabeth Turtle
Dr. Elizabeth Turtle is a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Her research focus is using remote sensing observations and numerical geophysical models to study geological structures and their implications for the surfaces and interiors of the planets on which they formed. The processes of interest include impact cratering and tectonics on terrestrial planets and outer planet icy satellites, mountain formation on Io, creep of ice-rich permafrost on Mars, and dynamics of lakes on Titan. Turtle is the Principal investigator of the Dragonfly mission to Titan and the Europa Imaging System for NASA's upcoming Europa mission, an associate on the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem and RADAR teams, and a co-investigator on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.
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