Katelyn Cooper, Ph.D.
School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University
ABSTRACT
Anxiety and depression are the top two mental health concerns among both undergraduate and graduate life sciences students. Both anxiety and depression can present serious challenges for students trying to navigate life science programs, including hindering their performance and social connections. As such, identifying ways to bolster student mental health is an important step toward creaing more inclusive biology learning environments. This seminar will highlight qualitative and quantitative research studies that have identified aspects of biology learning environments, such as active learning classrooms, research experiences, and online learning, that can alleviate and exacerbate student anxiety and depression. Additionally, the seminar will discuss small changes that instructors and research mentors can implement in order to help students with anxiety and depression maximize their experience in life sciences programs.
Host: Dr. Emily Weigel
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Liang Han, Ph.D.
School of Biological Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology
ABSTRACT
My laboratory strives to understand how the nervous system receives, transmits and interprets various stimuli to induce physiological and behavioral responses under normal and pathological conditions. We are particularly interested in the mechanisms of nocifensive responses including the pain and itch sensation in the skin and bronchoconstriction in the airway. These responses are initiated by the activation of sensory neurons that detect internal or external stimuli in the peripheral parts of the body and transmit the signals to the central nervous system. In this talk, I will share with you our recent projects characterizing sensory neurons mediating itch sensation in the skin and neurons controlling bronchoconstriction in the airway.
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The annual BioPop Social is back! Join us* as we welcome new and returning members of the Biological Sciences community to campus. Come to enjoy free King of Pops and explore the EcoCommons green space** that includes the Stickworks art installation and three stainless steel slides among its 8 acres. Be sure to wear your BIOLOGY t-shirt, if you have one from a previous event, to the social. If you do not have one, you can pick up your free BIOLOGY shirt at the event.
*Registration is required. On-site registration will be available for those who did not pre-register.
**The EcoCommons Hammocks Area is located on the corner of Ferst Drive & Hemphill Avenue, adjacent to the Kendeda "living" building. Masks are strongly encouraged. In case of rain our social will be held in Dalney 180.
Event Details
Each presentation is approximately 25 minutes with 5 minutes for questions. These talks are directed to graduate students and post-docs but are open to anyone who is interested in the topics.
“Computational Investigation of Biological Programs to Compare Resilience of Macaque Species Infected with Malaria Causing Plasmodium Pathogens”
Anuj Gupta
Graduate Student, Bioinformatics
Eberhard Voit, Ph.D., Advisor Georgia Tech
“A Model Community for Studying Microbial Dynamics”
Jacob Davis
Graduate Student, Bioengineering
Eberhard Voit, Ph.D., Advisor Georgia Tech
If you cannot attend in person, please join us virtually via BlueJeans.
This is a great opportunity to:
- Improve your presentation skills as a speaker
- Communicate science, research and technology to an audience with diverse backgrounds
- Practice giving your talk for an upcoming conference, thesis defense, or qualifying oral exams
- Enjoy free lunch and hear about a wide range of work happening in the local bioscience community
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
A one-and-one-half-day conference, open to all faculty, research scientists, postdocs, and grad students.
"Applications of Physical Chemistry to Probing and Understanding Biology"
Visit conference website
This will be the 30th presentation of IBB's highly-interactive Suddath Symposium which is held annually to celebrate the life and contribution of F.L. "Bud" Suddath by discussing the latest developments in the fields of bioengineering and bioscience. The speakers include leading researchers from across the world.
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Today we will also include a special farewell to our departing colleague, Soojin Yi, with boxed Korean lunches for the first 20 attendees.
“Improving Rare Disease Diagnostics through Comprehensive Analysis of Targeted RNA-seq Data”
Kiera Berger
Graduate Student, Bioinformatics - Greg Gibson, Ph.D., Advisor
Georgia Tech
“Distribution of DNA Methylation in Insect Genomes”
Carl Dyson
Graduate Student, Biology - Michael Goodisman, Ph.D., Advisor
Georgia Tech
This is a great opportunity to:
- Improve your presentation skills as a speaker
- Communicate science, research and technology to an audience with diverse backgrounds
- Practice giving your talk for an upcoming conference, thesis defense, or qualifying oral exams
- Enjoy free lunch (first 20 guests) and hear about the wide range of work happening in the local bioscience community
Event Details
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