William C. Ratcliff has been named the recipient of the 2018 Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award. The award recognizes outstanding research achievements by a faculty of rank no higher than assistant professor. Ratcliff is an assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences.

An evolutionary biologist, Ratcliff studies how organisms change over time. In particular, he wants to understand how multicellular organisms can evolve from single cells. This question remains one of the fundamental problems in biology.

His approach is “extremely creative,” a colleague says. “Rather than trying to infer what happened hundreds of millions of years ago, William cut the Gordian knot by evolving novel multicellularity in the laboratory....Few scientists would attempt such an ambitious experiment.”

In a 2016 interview, Ratcliff explained his approach.

“In our lab, we do evolutionary time travel in a test tube, by creating new multicellular organisms, using yeast and algae, in a way that’s simple but which we can examine with huge precision, using all the tools of biology, mathematics, and physics. We’re not trying to explain what happened historically. Rather, we’re trying to show how it can happen in principle.

“We’re interested in how the geometry of cellular clusters influences the outcome of evolution, tipping the balance between cellular cooperation and conflict, and how cells lose their Darwinian autonomy, evolving from individual organisms into parts of a new organism. These are fundamental principles that should be broadly applicable.”

Ratcliff has shown that multicellularity can evolve quickly. The simple multicellular “snowflake” yeasts he has evolved in the lab – by selection for rapid settling through liquid media– possess a multicellular life cycle, reproducing through small propagules, like stem cuttings. Over 1,500 generations, they adapted to the selection pressure by growing faster and evolving a more hydrodynamic shape. They also evolved a simple division of labor, using programmed cell death to sever links between cells and produce more propagules. Experiments with a unicellular algae have yielded broadly similar results.

“[T]his award really reflects the strength of our research community and the benefits of working in an environment so conducive to collaboration.”

From these observations, fundamental insights have emerged about the evolution of multicellular complexity. For example, mutations that are beneficial to the multicellular aggregate but costly to the single cell can accelerate evolution of increased multicellular complexity. In addition, his work has shown how the 3D geometry of yeast clusters allows a rudimentary form of development to arise, guiding the emergence of new multicellular traits from mutations that only directly affect the properties of single cells. Taken together, Ratcliff’s research upends conventional wisdom that the transition to multicellularity must have been slow and difficult and must have required extraordinary conditions.

Ratcliff’s scientific creativity is recognized by generous external support for his research, including the prestigious Packard Fellowship. Even the popular press has noticed: Popular Science named Ratcliff one of the Brilliant 10 in 2016, the magazine’s way of “honoring the brightest young minds reshaping science, engineering, and the world.”

“William has helped define the field of modern multicellularity research,” the same colleague says, “and in so doing, has become one of its leaders.”

“I am of course deeply honored by this recognition” Ratcliff says. “But this award really reflects the strength of our research community and the benefits of working in an environment so conducive to collaboration. Since arriving at Tech in 2014, my research directions have evolved much like snowflake yeast have – in wonderful and unexpected ways. This has been the direct result of having such amazing students, collaborators and colleagues.”

Georgia Tech has named William Ratcliff and Peter Yunker as recipients of the 2019 Sigma Xi Faculty Best Paper Award.

Ratcliff was recently promoted to associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and a member of the Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection. Yunker is an assistant professor in the School of Physics. Both are members of the Parker H. Petit Institute of Bioengineering and Bioscience.

The award recognizes the authors of an outstanding paper. Ratcliff and Yunker are co-principal authors of the paper “Cellular packing, mechanical stress and the evolution of multicellularity,” published in Nature Physics in 2018.

“[The paper] exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and best reflects Georgia Tech’s institutional culture of creative and rigorous exploration.”

The paper was the first to recognize the role of mechanics in the early evolution of multicellular organisms. Ratcliff and Yunker showed “how physical stress may have significantly advanced the evolutionary path from single-cell to multicellular organisms,” according to a 2017 story about this work. “In experiments with clusters of yeast cells called snowflake yeast, forces in the clusters’ physical structures pushed the snowflakes to evolve.

“Like the first ancestors of all multicellular organisms, in this study the snowflake yeast found itself in a conundrum: As it got bigger, physical stresses tore it into smaller pieces. So, how to sustain the growth needed to evolve into a complex multicellular organism?

“In the lab, those shear forces played right into evolution’s hands, laying down a track to direct yeast evolution toward bigger, tougher snowflakes.”

The partnership has profoundly shaped the two scientists’ research programs. “The paper reflects the deep collaboration between the Yunker and Ratcliff labs,” a colleague says. “It exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and best reflects Georgia Tech’s institutional culture of creative and rigorous exploration.”

 “There are few things better than doing exciting, creative science with good friends,” Ratcliff says.

“I’m delighted to share this recognition with such a great team,” Yunker says.

Editor's Note: This story by Audra Davidson originally appeared on April 9, 2019, in Charged Magazine.

For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with how people move. Now, hear me out. Even simple movements are fascinating if you really think about it. Electrical signals from your brain and spinal cord communicating with hundreds of muscles, forcing them to work together in a perfectly balanced symphony of contractions. All to maneuver our unwieldy skeletons gracefully through space.

Do me a favor and stand up.

For most of us, this movement feels like one of the simplest things we can do.

Now, look at your legs.

There are over 50 muscles below your hips alone. Yet, all these muscles just contracted in expert harmony to use the precise amount of force needed to move your body against gravity, all while maintaining near perfect balance. Precisely how we can perform these seemingly simple yet crucial movements on a whim is an active and exciting area of research, leading us toward innovation in movement rehabilitation, robotics, and beyond. These are movements we don’t even notice, like activating our muscles to breathe, blink, maintain our balance, or even walk. If you did notice these movements, you likely wouldn’t be able to focus on much else, transforming a simple grasp into an impossible and difficult task.

Luckily, you don’t need your brain to do any of these things.

More than just a cord

Many people think of the spinal cord as just that, a cord. The cords and cables we typically interact with are charged with a very important but relatively simple task: bringing electricity from point a to point b. While the spinal cord is very important for bringing electrical signals from your brain to your muscles and organs, it does so much more.

Picture an orchestra with a smart but rather lazy conductor performing for an audience. The musicians are like the motor neurons in the spinal cord, connecting to and contracting the muscles when the neurons fire, allowing you to move. Complicated musical pieces require guidance by our lazy conductor, just like throwing a dart or grasping an object requires guidance by the brain.  The audience’s cheers allow the orchestra to adapt, just like you use sensations from your body to improve or guide movements.

Yet, just like our experienced musicians don’t need the conductor to play simple or repetitive musical pieces, you don’t need your brain to perform “classic” movements. “The spinal cord is able to achieve so many behaviors by itself, completely isolated from the brain,” explains Dr. Cope, spinal cord neurobiology researcher and Georgia Institute of Technology professor.  “You can completely isolate the spinal cord in a living animal from the brain and it can walk on a treadmill. It can change speeds as the treadmill changes speed. You put an obstacle in its way, it can learn to lift its leg over that obstacle,” all without our lazy conductor.

It was discovered in the early 1900’s that your motor neurons are fully capable of running the show. “What that tells you is that there is this rich circuitry that in fact the whole motor system relies upon,” Dr. Cope explained. All in all, it looks like the spinal cord has the classics all worked out for you. Feel free to tell your conductor they can take the day off.

How to run around like a chicken with its head cut off

Unsurprisingly, experienced musicians are able to play complicated, intricate music without their conductor. Surprisingly to many, however, your spinal cord is able perform complicated, intricate behaviors without any input from the brain. How exactly are these behaviors possible? It’s all in the organization.

If you’ve ever gotten a physical, you have probably experienced the odd sensation of your leg flying through the air without your consent. In the right spot, a simple tap on your knee by the doctor sends your foot on a trip automatically. We commonly refer to these types of movements as “reflexes,” in which no approval by the brain is required. This reflex pathway is relatively simple in organization; only two neurons are required, making this one of the fastest reflexes we have. One neuron senses the stretch of your muscle caused by the tap and immediately tells the second neuron to flex that same muscle. This flexion rapidly moves your leg before you can stop to think about it. This can happen in less than a few milliseconds! You use your stretch reflex more often than your visits to the doctor, however. The stretch reflex helps you keep your balance without a second thought and is believed to be crucial for general sensory feedback and movement control.

What if we make things a little more complicated? Instead of just two neurons, let’s add in two sets of neurons in the spinal cord: set A controlling muscle a, and set B controlling muscle b. Much like a seesaw, these sets of neurons rhythmically alternate in activity. A neurons fire until they run out of juice, then B neurons take over and the cycle continues. With this small set of neurons, a pattern of alternating activity emerges. Together, A and Bneurons form a central pattern generator. For humans, however, a 2-muscle central pattern generator isn’t very useful. Adding in more sets of neurons allows your spinal cord to rhythmically control more muscles in a more complicated pattern. With anything from breathing and scratching an itch to walking and running, the spinal cord is in charge.

The patterns are there in your spinal cord, all you need to do is press start. “One of the things the brain does and can take full advantage of is to just send a ‘go’ signal to the spinal cord,” Dr. Cope explained. “[The brain] can say ‘Hey, all of the complicated things you do with timing and organizing … different muscles in different patterns, you do it. You’ve worked all that out. I don’t have to complicate my life with that.’” And while the brain can initiate and influence this pattern of alternating activity, it isn’t required. This pattern can just as easily be started by sensory input from your environment, or by sensory signals from throughout your body.

At the end of the day, it seems like the spinal cord has it all figured out for us. But do we have the spinal cord all figured out? Not even close.

The Mysterious Cord

In the past year, the news has been abuzz with instances of paralyzed patients regaining the ability to walk. Paralysis is typically caused by spinal cord damage. Up until recently it seems, spinal cord injuries often left patients with limbs that were difficult or impossible to move willingly, oftentimes without hope for improvement. So how are these patients taking these miraculous steps?

A better question might be what happens to the spinal cord when it’s injured? We know some things about how it repairs itself, but we are far from the whole story. This means we are a far cry from fully repairing spinal cords ourselves. While these recent miraculous findings may make it seem like we have it all figured out, don’t let that fool you. “I think it’s exciting and I think it’s encouraging. I would say that we shouldn’t let our encouragement overshadow the fact that it’s nowhere close to what we want,” laments Dr. Cope.  “It’s going to require some basic neuroscience information about what the mechanisms are that are limiting recovery.”

Researchers like Dr. Cope at Georgia Tech are working on a piece of this puzzle, studying to understand how the healthy and injured spinal cord contributes to and controls movement. Even with the great strides achieved recently by clinical studies, Dr. Cope explains that “We’re encouraged, but we have a long way to go.”

Audra Davidson is a third-year Applied Physiology Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech. 

Charged Magazine is an online magazine about science and math produced by students and faculty on the STEMcomm VIP team at Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech has named Emily Weigel as the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Academic Advising Award – Faculty. Weigel is an academic professional in the School of Biological Sciences.

Trained as an ecologist, Weigel views the world through organismal-environment interactions, including understanding individuals and how they are shaped by their environment. As she gets to know each student personally, she challenges them to investigate and engage in new ways with their college environment and the broader world. Her goal is to endow advisees with the skills they need to succeed on campus and out in the world.

Weigel cares deeply for her advisees, colleagues say. She empowers students by presenting options rather than prescriptions. She adjusts recommendations on the basis of students’ developmental needs. She is available to students outside of usual times when needed. She looks out for students in trouble. She keeps tabs on paperwork students need to advance and graduate. She cares about her students beyond their academic activities.

"Sometimes it can be a challenge to let students struggle in weighing their options, but it has been so rewarding to watch the growth in students that results."

Students hold Weigel in high esteem. “She not only exhibits the qualities of a great advisor, but also exemplifies what is meant to be a mentor: Someone who sees what you are capable of and encourages you to take risks,” says one former advisee. This advisee adds: “I have always left an appointment with her feeling confident about my decisions. There is no doubt in my mind that the attention and support she has given me is widespread among the students she advises.”

A student who is not an advisee credits Weigel for opening her eyes to an ecology career after getting a biology degree. “She always made herself available to answer any question I have regarding ecology. She never made me feel bad for asking questions even though I was not among her advisees,” this student says.

Weigel has had a strong impact on students who deeply value their interactions with her as an advisor, a colleague observes. This colleague adds: Weigel’s “extraordinary effort and effectiveness as a faculty advisor are evident throughout her work at Tech.” 

"I’m honored to be recognized, particularly in encouraging my advisees to find and forge their own paths,” Wiegel says. “Sometimes it can be a challenge to let students struggle in weighing their options, but it has been so rewarding to watch the growth in students that results.

“I am delighted to hear that students, too, recognize the effort it requires to provide them the tools and space to tackle problems on their own. Thanks, too, go out to my colleagues for helping foster such a collectively positive, exploratory environment for our students to define and reach their goals.”

Initiated in fall 2017, the B.S. in Neuroscience program has graduated its first students. Seven neuroscience majors graduating in May 2019 were among those students who changed their major to neuroscience as soon as the program was announced.

 “The program has grown to more than 200 students in just two years,” says Timothy Cope, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME). As chair of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Curriculum Committee, Cope played a key role in conceptualizing, launching, and implementing the degree program.

“We are confident that our graduates have mastered core principles in the field of neuroscience, been exposed to recent breakthroughs in the field, and acquired general strengths in critical thinking and problem solving,” Cope says.

“Neuroscience is an inherently interdisciplinary program,” David Collard, interim dean of the College of Sciences adds. “The bachelor degree program exemplifies Georgia Tech’s collaborative spirit in both education and research.”

Several graduating students say they shifted to neuroscience because the program better matched their interests than their original major. Many will go on to health-related fields.

The child of Iraqi immigrants, Sarah Abdulhameed was born in Champaign, Illinois, but became a teenager in Alpharetta, Georgia. She shifted to neuroscience because she always “wanted to understand the underlying mechanisms behind cognition, to better understand my patients in the future.” She will begin dental school at the Dental College of Georgia, Augusta University, in July.

The neuroscience program “helped me hack the brain,” Sarah says. “Understanding how the brain works will help me better connect with my patients.” Sarah hopes to apply neuroscience knowledge to help patients break unhealthy dietary and oral habits and build habits that strengthen oral health.

Neel Atawala is from Albany, Georgia. He says the neuroscience major gave him more flexibility than his original major did. While applying to medical schools, Neel will take a gap year working as a medical scribe at Emory University Hospital, in Atlanta.

“My degree has prepared me for a career in medicine by providing me with a very solid foundation in the anatomical and functional principles of neuroscience,” Neel says. That foundation “may give me an advantage when I encounter the unit focusing on the nervous system in medical school.”

Neel is the first neuroscience graduate to complete a research thesis, under the supervision and mentorship of Lewis Wheaton, in the School of Biological Sciences. Neel also served as president of the Georgia Tech Neuroscience Club.

"These graduates are pioneers."

Simran Gidwani had always wanted to become a neurologist. The neuroscience program, she says, was “the perfect fit for me!” Simran, who is from Suwanee, Georgia, will join a clinical research team at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for a year before entering medical school.

“From the very first introductory classes, my neuroscience classes taught me the value of research, how knowledge gleaned from certain studies contributes to the current state of the field, and how various methods can be used to advance our current knowledge of neuroscience,” Simran says. “By applying neuroscience methods and completing the process of drawing scientific conclusions many times, I have been very well prepared for my future professional plan.” 

Instead of changing majors, Paula Martinez-Feduchi Guijo double majored in biology and neuroscience. She had always wanted to study genetics and neuroscience, she says. “So I was very excited at the opportunity to complete a B.S. in Neuroscience. The research opportunities are unparalleled.”

After graduation, Paula will work as a research specialist in Emory University. Her next career goal is a doctorate in neurogenetics.

The classes for neuroscience majors “have prepared me to work in a laboratory full-time, conducting research using the methods and knowledge I learned in class,“ says Paula, who hails from Barcelona, Spain

Amy Patel graduates after only three years at Georgia Tech. She decided to shift to neuroscience after studying neural development in a Biological Principles class. “I found myself eager to learn about how the control center of the body can affect human anatomy and physiology and what illnesses may arise from complications in regular development,” Amy says. “A B.S. in Neuroscience felt like the right way to gain the exposure I was seeking.”

Born and raised in a Boston suburb, Amy moved with her family to Johns Creek, Georgia, almost 10 years ago. A New England Patriots fan, Amy connected her love for football with her research, which stemmed from her interest in Aaron Hernandez, whose football career abruptly ended when he was convicted for murder. For her undergraduate research thesis, under the supervision of Erin Buckley at BME, she analyzed how closed head impact, as is common in football, can cause metabolic changes in the brain. 

After graduation, Amy will do research at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, studying degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system in a clinical setting. “This project will serve as a great way to interact with neuroscience,” she says, “until we meet again in medical school.”

Asif Sheikh was born in North Dakota but grew up in Tifton, Georgia. “Neuroscience has always been my greatest passion,” he says. “Ever since I attended the February 2015 EXPLORE program at Tech when I first heard about the developing neuroscience major, I knew I had to attend Tech. It was always my intention to switch to neuroscience once I was able.”

Asif will attend Mercer University School of Medicine to pursue a career in neurology, with a focus on neurodegenerative diseases.

“Neuroscience at Tech has helped me get an early look into the complex machinations at work behind the nervous system and cemented this field as something to which I want to dedicate my life,” Asif says. “My course work and my time as an undergraduate researcher in a neuroimaging lab have given me the foundation on which to build my medical career."

Here are B.S. in Neuroscience students who graduated in May 4, 2019:

• Sarah Abdulhameed
• Neel Atawala
• Simran Gidwani
• Paula Martinez-Feduchi Guijo
• Amy Patel
• Zara Rose
• Asif Sheikh

“These graduates are pioneers,” Collard says. “Now we will be interested in monitoring the future accomplishments of this talented group.”

In the war on antibiotic-resistant bacteria, it's not so much the antibiotics that are making the enemy stronger as it is how they are prescribed. A new study suggests that doctors can beat antibiotic resistance using those same antibiotics but in a very targeted manner and in combination with other health strategies.

The current broad application of antibiotics helps resistant bacterial strains evolve forward. But using data about bacteria’s specific resistances when prescribing those same drugs more precisely can help put the evolution of resistant strains in reverse, according to researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Duke University, and Harvard University who conducted the study.

One researcher cautioned that time is pressing: New strategies against resistance that leverage antibiotics need to be in place before bacteria resistant to most every known antibiotic become too widespread. That would render antibiotics nearly useless, and it has been widely reported that this could happen by mid-century, making bacterial infections much more lethal.

“Once you get to that pan-resistant state, it’s over,” said Sam Brown, who co-led the study and is an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences. “Timing is, unfortunately, an issue in tackling antibiotic resistance.”

The new study, which was co-led by game theorist David McAdams, a professor of business administration and economics at Duke University, delivers a mathematical model to help clinical and public health researchers devise new concrete prescription strategies and those supporting health strategies. The measures center on the analysis of bacterial strains to determine what drugs they are resistant to, and which not.

Some medical labs already scan human genomes for hereditary predispositions to certain medical conditions. Bacterial genomes are far simpler and much easier to analyze, and though the analytical technology is currently not standard equipment in doctors’ offices or medical labs they routinely work with, the researchers think this could change in a reasonable amount of time. This would enable the study’s approach.

The researchers published their study in the journal PLOS Biology on May 16, 2019. The work was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Simons Foundation, the Human Frontier Science Program, the Wenner-Gren Foundations, and the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund.

Q&A

Here are some questions and answers on how the study’s counterintuitive approach could beat back antibiotic resistance:

Isn’t prescribing antibiotics the problem? How can it fight resistance?

The real problem is the broad application of antibiotics. They treat human infections and farm animals, and in the process are killing off a lot of non-resistant bacteria while bacteria resistant to those drugs survive. The resistant strains can then reproduce and with fewer competitors in their space, then they dominate bacterial communities in the host animals and people.

The resistant bacteria get passed to other hosts and become more prevalent in the world altogether. New prescription strategies would outsmart that evolutionary scenario by exposing through genomic (or other) analysis bacteria’s resistance but also their vulnerabilities.

“Right now, there are rapid tests for the pathogen. If you’ve got strep throat, the clinic swabs the bacteria and does a rapid assay that says yes, that’s streptococcus,” Brown said. “But it won’t tell you if it’s resistant to the drug usually prescribed against it. In the future, diagnostics at the point-of-care could find out what strain you’ve got and if it’s resistant.”

Then clinicians would choose the specific antibiotics that the bacteria are not resistant to, and kill the bacteria, thus also stopping them from spreading the genes behind their resistance to other antibiotics. So, identifying an infector’s resistance hits two birds with one stone.

“It’s great for fighting antibiotic resistance, but it’s also good for patients because we’ll always use the correct antibiotic,” Brown said.

^{[Thinking about grad school? Here's how to apply to Georgia Tech.]}

Are there enough effective antibiotics left to do this with?

Plenty. Antibiotics still work as a rule.

In addition, searching out and destroying resistant bacteria could help refresh existing antibiotics’ effectiveness.

“The idea is prevalent that we will use antibiotics up, and then they’re gone,” Brown said. “It doesn’t have to be that way. This study introduces the concept that antibiotics could become a renewable resource if we act on time.”

As mentioned above, prescription strategies by themselves won’t beat resistance, right?

Correct. Resistance evolution has some tricky complexities.

“A lot of bacteria with the potential to make us sick like E. coli spend most of their time just lurking peacefully in our bodies. These are bystander bacteria, and they are exposed to lots of antibiotics that we take for other things such as sore throats or ear aches,” Brown said. “This frequent exposure is probably the major driver of resistance evolution.”

The antibiotic prescription strategy needs those additional health care measures to win the fight, but those measures are pretty straightforward.

What are those additional measures?

Diagnostics need to apply to bystander bacteria, too. E. coli in the intestine or, for example, Strep pneumoniae living peacefully in nostrils would be checked for resistance, say, during annual checkups.

“If the patient is carrying a resistant strain, you work to beat it back before it can break out,” Brown said. “There could be non-antibiotic treatments that do this like, perhaps, bacteria replacement.”

Bacteria replacement therapy would introduce new bacteria into the patient’s body to outcompete the undesirable antibiotic-resistant bacteria and displace it. Also, people would stay home from school and work for a few days so as not to spread the bad bacteria to other people while their immune systems and possibly alternative therapies, such as bacteriophages or non-antibiotic drugs battle the bad bacteria.

This sounds hopeful, but are there other real-world circumstances to consider?

“The study’s mathematical models are broad simplifications of real life,” Brown said. “They don’t take into account that pathogens spend a lot of time in other antibiotic-exposed environments such as farms. Dealing with that is going to require some more research.”

The study also purposely leaves out "polymicrobial infections," which are infections by multiple kinds of bacteria at the same time. The researchers believe that the study’s models can still be relevant to them.

“We expect the logic of combating drug resistance to still hold in these more complex scenarios, but diagnostics and treatment rules will have to be honed for them specifically,” Brown said.

Also read: Want to beat antibiotic resistance? Rethink that strep throat prescription

These researchers coauthored the study: David McAdams from Duke University, Kristofer Wollein Waldetoft from Georgia Tech, and Christine Tedijanto and Marc Lipsitch from Harvard University. The research was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (grant OADS BAA 2016-N-17812), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (grant U54GM088558), the Simons Foundation (grant 396001), the Human Frontier Science Program (grant RGP0011/2014), the Wenner-Gren Foundations, and the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund.

Media contact/writer: Ben Brumfield

(404) 660-1408

ben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu

Research News
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By Mallory Rosten and Maureen Rouhi

You can’t do gymnastics without using your brain. That’s what Elena Shinohara has learned from her dad. It’s true. When she’s performing, her face is serene. But inside her mind, a lot goes on.

“You have the equipment, and you have your body, and then you have to worry about how clean you are.” And then there’s the artistry. On top of the technical skills, Elena also has to move with the music and perform as a character.

When it all comes together, magic happens. “I’m usually not the first one who talks in class,” Elena says, “I like to express myself with my body. With rhythmic, I can express my feelings with the music.”

Elena is a rhythmic gymnast. This type of gymnastics is performed solely on the floor and involves equipment like clubs, balls, and ribbons. Think figure skating, but without the ice.

Elena’s mom, Namie Shinohara, used to be on the Japanese national rhythmic gymnastics team. As a baby, Elena played with rhythmic equipment. “In first grade, my mom told me I could continue just having fun, or I could compete,” Elena says, “And I wanted to compete, I wanted to go to a higher level.”

Her mom explained what she would have to give up – time hanging out with friends, time spent being lazy and sitting on the couch. Any free moment would have to go to training. At seven years old, Elena knew what she wanted. She said yes.

“The highest my mom went up was sixth place, which is where I am right now,” Elena says. “I feel like we’re connected. She could’ve gone to the Olympics, but she didn’t practice enough. So it’s almost like I’m trying to beat my mom.”

Elena has her sights set on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where she was born. But Tokyo is a year away, and to get there, Elena must be selected for the World Championships.

Balancing training with schoolwork is a challenge. Elena came to Tech because she always felt at home here. Her father is Minoru “Shino” Shinohara, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences.

Tech is also within driving distance of Suwanee, where the Shinoharas live. Unlike most college students, Elena lives at home so she can train regularly. “We also help her with nutrition and caloric intake,” Shino says. “That’s difficult to do on campus.”

Shino is an expert in applied physiology with a deep understanding of sports science. He and Namie – who is a national rhythmic gymnast coach and international judge – are Elena’s trainers. “We want athletes to use their brains to get better performance,” Shino says.

Shino applies science in coaching Elena. He videotapes Elena’s routines to have a deep look at the movements. “To control your body against gravity, you need to understand the physics and dynamics and then use your neuromuscular system to make it possible.”

Yet what’s most difficult is the mental discipline. “When gymnasts get into competition,” Shino says “their mental state fluctuates. If the mind is not stable, it sends incorrect commands, which create different movements.”

Elena is a biochemistry major, with hopes of becoming a dermatologist. She must use any free moment she has, including the 15 minutes in between classes, to do schoolwork.

“It’s a good balance because when I’m tired of gymnastics, I can do homework. If I’m brain tired of homework, I can work out my body.”

A national competition in July will determine who will represent the U.S. in the World Championships. Before that, Elena participated in two other international competitions in April, in Poland and in Amsterdam. To compete, she missed school for almost the entire month of April, save for four days before finals.

Elena is “beyond mature and prepared,” her faculty advisor, Kimberly Schurmeier says. “If she’s going to miss something, I know weeks in advance. She’s on top of everything and that’s why she’s able to succeed in and outside of class. She’s not the standard student. She has extraordinary talent on top of scholastic aptitude.”

There have been times when Elena wanted to quit.

“I first made it onto the national team in high school, but I wasn’t that good yet. I was like, what’s the point of doing this?” It was her parents who reminded Elena of her potential.  “I made a goal to do better at the next nationals. I started to work for it, and it was fun for me to get better and better.”

Earlier this year, she started to fall behind in competitions and again considered giving up. “I thought it was because I didn’t have time to practice,” she recalls. “But it was all mental. I realized I was doing badly because I kept worrying during competitions. If I’m more confident with my skills, I do better. So now I’m working on my mental state.”

It all goes back to the brain. Elena’s team, coached by her parents, is called The Rhythmic Brains, named, by her dad, of course. For Elena, the sacrifices to be at the top of her sport is all worth it, if only for those moments of dancing on the floor, moving with the music with athletic precision and artistry.

Mallory Rosten is a communications assistant in the College of Sciences. She did all the reporting and part of the writing of this story.

Around the world, people are celebrating 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPTCE). The iconic scientific tool is 150 years old, and going strong.

By partnering with other Georgia Tech units, the College of Sciences created a year-long program to celebrate IYPTCE. Among the beautiful outcomes is the book “Interactive Design of the Periodic Table to Celebrate 150 Years of Elements,” by the School of industrial Design, in the College of Design.

The book’s genesis goes back to the summer of 2018, when the College of Sciences approached Professor and Chair Jim Budd with a project idea that we hoped could be used in a spring 2019 course. The project goal was to reimagine the periodic table as an interactive installation.

Suggested ways to achieve the goal were by maximizing sensory modes to deliver information, by interacting with technology, and by presenting in multiple formats. No restriction was imposed on how to approach the project.

Assistant Professor Wei Wang embraced the project. He asked students of ID 6213, Studio Interact Product, to work on the project for the first three weeks of January 2019. Twenty-one students in the Master of Industrial Design and Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction programs explored the fascinating world of the periodic table and developed concepts for an interactive exhibit.

“Students – by teams or individually – designed seven concepts, from public physical installations to virtual reality experiences,” Wang says. “The goal was to enhance the accessibility of the periodic table to inform, educate, inspire, and enable multiple ways of comparing elements and introducing the stories behind.”

On Jan. 28, the students revealed their concepts. Wang invited several guests to the presentation: Rafael San Miguel, a former senior flavor chemist from The Coca-Cola Company who is deaf but could speak and lip-read; Kirk Henderson, the exhibits program manager in the Georgia Tech library; Ximin Mi, data visualization librarian; and Maureen Rouhi, communications director in the College of Sciences.

The students “showed great creative ingenuity in developing tactile interactive exhibits designed to allow users to explore the elemental foundations underlying our everyday existence,” Henderson says.

San Miguel provided guidance and feedback on accessibility. He says he was “instantly amazed and impressed to see the wonderful and diverse talents the students brought along with their seven different concepts. This was a great way to help students think beyond standard norms of end users of designs and inventions.”

The ID 6213 students delivered a riveting array of installation concepts, which are collected in the book. All the projects are delightful to behold. The periodic table never looked so fresh, accessible, and exciting.

Around the world, people are celebrating 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPTCE). The iconic scientific tool is 150 years old, and going strong.

By partnering with other Georgia Tech units, the College of Sciences created a year-long program to celebrate IYPTCE. Among the beautiful outcomes is the book “Interactive Design of the Periodic Table to Celebrate 150 Years of Elements,” by the School of industrial Design, in the College of Design.

The book’s genesis goes back to the summer of 2018, when the College of Sciences approached Professor and Chair Jim Budd with a project idea that we hoped could be used in a spring 2019 course. The project goal was to reimagine the periodic table as an interactive installation.

Suggested ways to achieve the goal were by maximizing sensory modes to deliver information, by interacting with technology, and by presenting in multiple formats. No restriction was imposed on how to approach the project.

Assistant Professor Wei Wang embraced the project. He asked students of ID 6213, Studio Interact Product, to work on the project for the first three weeks of January 2019. Twenty-one students in the Master of Industrial Design and Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction programs explored the fascinating world of the periodic table and developed concepts for an interactive exhibit.

“Students – by teams or individually – designed seven concepts, from public physical installations to virtual reality experiences,” Wang says. “The goal was to enhance the accessibility of the periodic table to inform, educate, inspire, and enable multiple ways of comparing elements and introducing the stories behind.”

On Jan. 28, the students revealed their concepts. Wang invited several guests to the presentation: Rafael San Miguel, a former senior flavor chemist from The Coca-Cola Company who is deaf but could speak and lip-read; Kirk Henderson, the exhibits program manager in the Georgia Tech library; Ximin Mi, data visualization librarian; and Maureen Rouhi, communications director in the College of Sciences.

The students “showed great creative ingenuity in developing tactile interactive exhibits designed to allow users to explore the elemental foundations underlying our everyday existence,” Henderson says.

San Miguel provided guidance and feedback on accessibility. He says he was “instantly amazed and impressed to see the wonderful and diverse talents the students brought along with their seven different concepts. This was a great way to help students think beyond standard norms of end users of designs and inventions.”

The ID 6213 students delivered a riveting array of installation concepts, which are collected in the book. All the projects are delightful to behold. The periodic table never looked so fresh, accessible, and exciting.