In this fifth townhall of the Georgia Tech Covid-19 Surveillance Testing series, Greg Gibson and Joshua S. Weitz, Patton Distinguished Chairs and professors in Biological Sciences, will be joined by Nga Lee (Sally) Ng, professor in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, to provide updates and insights related to the new school year and fall semester. Participants will have an opportunity to pose questions during this virtual event. This townhall will be recorded, and a recap will be posted here following the event.

Join the event on BlueJeans by tapping this link.

Watch previous townhalls in this series:

• Covid-19 Testing, Vaccination, and Mitigation Townhall
  (May 5, 2021)
• Covid-19 Cases Rise, Holiday Travel and Stopping the Spread (November 16, 2020)
• Campus Surveillance Testing Update: Tracking Cases and Taking Action (September 10, 2020)
• Georgia Tech Surveillance Testing: Update and Early Interpretations (August 20, 2020)

Watch previous related talks:

• Covid-19 Response Efforts: Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech (April 16, 2020)
• Dynamics of COVID-19: Near- and Long-term Challenges with Joshua S. Weitz (April 15, 2020)
• Georgia Tech CMDI Science Forum Spotlights Coronavirus Outbreak (February 10, 2020)

This series is hosted by the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech.

College of Sciences faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs will receive a calendar invitation for the virtual CoS Fall 2021 Plenary. Check your inbox for the BlueJeans Events link (search "CoS Fall 2021 Plenary"). The virtual event's agenda includes updates on the College's priorities, culture, business, searches, values, research, and more. An open Q&A will follow plenary presentations. Please join us!

A seminar course for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars interested in learning the different types of methodological and applied research that is going on in the College of Sciences using data sciences (including machine learning, AI, network sciences, dynamics, probability and stats, etc.) No prerequisites required. 

Repeats every Friday through Nov. 19, 2021. A list of instructors for each Friday's seminar, along with more information, is available here. 

Steve Diggle, Ph.D.
School of Biological Sciences
Gerogia Institute of Technology

Livestream Seminar

SPEAKER BIO
Dr. Diggle graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of Salford before to undertaking a Ph.D. in molecular microbiology studying quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa at the University of Nottingham. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Nottingham on both EU and BBSRC funded grants, before obtaining a Royal Society University Fellowship. Diggle was promoted to Associate Professor in 2013 and in 2017 moved to the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology as an Associate Professor.

Dr. Diggle currently serves as a Senior Editor on the editorial board of Microbiology. He has previously served on the editorial boards of FEMS Microbiology Letters, BMC Microbiology, Microbiology Open and Royal Society Open Science. Diggle was an elected member of the Microbiology Society Council (2012-2016) and served on their conference and policy committees. Most recently he was selected to be an American Society for Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer in 2021.

Will Overholt, Ph.D.
University of Jena

This seminar is offering in person (see location) and online options.

Livestream Seminar via BlueJeans

ABSTRACT
The terrestrial subsurface contains nearly all of Earth’s freshwater and harbors upwards of 60% of global prokaryotic biomass. While genetic surveys suggest these organisms rely on carbon fixation, rather than the translocation of surficial organic carbon, corroborating measurements of carbon fixation are absent. Using an ultra-low level 14C-labeling technique, we show that in situ carbon fixation rates reached 10% of the rates measured in oligotrophic marine surface waters, and were six-fold greater than those observed in lower euphotic zone waters. Normalizing rates according to estimated bacterial numbers revealed equivalent carbon input (i.e., 0.3 - 12 fg C per cell) for both systems, despite the fact that daily inputs of new POC were 40 times greater in marine waters than in groundwater. Empirical carbon fixation rates were stoichiometrically corroborated by both nitrification and anammox rate data. Metagenomic analyses revealed a remarkable abundance of putative chemolithoautotrophic members of an uncharacterized order of Nitrospiria and putative sulfur oxidizers with the Gammaproteobacteria, each exhibiting versatile metabolisms with access to numerous electron donor and acceptor sources. Applying these rates of carbon fixation to ecosystem processes alters the way we think about these environments and challenges the importance of surface-derived organic matter fluxes on shallow subsurface functioning.

Katelyn Cooper, Ph.D.
School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University

BlueJeans Livestream

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

Liang Han, Ph.D.
School of Biological Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology

Attend the Bluejeans Seminar

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.