News Archive - 2016

woman in black and white
Natural History Lecture Series: Deborah Blum

Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist Deborah Blum presents “The Poisoner's Guide to Life” on Friday, Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Odum School of Ecology auditorium. The talk, which is part of the Natural History Lecture Series, is sponsored by the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Natural History, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Odum School of Ecology. It is free and open…

two men in a lab
All in the family: Father-son NSF grant

The Quinns' working theory: If bio-imaging software can efficiently represent cells and their inner structures as "social networks," then biologists can gain further insight into infectious disease behavior and give public health professionals a better chance at combatting those diseases. The Quinns are a fantastic UGA family through and through, including daughters Sarah and Colleen and Mrs. Quinn, Joanne. Congratulations on this great new…

two men in a lab with white coats
Bacterium research presents a pathway to potential new treatment

A common bacterium that more than half of people have in their gut can use hydrogen gas present in the gastrointestinal tract to inject a cancer-causing toxin into otherwise healthy cells, according to a recently published study led by Franklin College researchers: The bacterium's reliance on hydrogen presents a pathway to potential new treatment and preventive measures in fighting gastric cancers, which kill more than 700,000 people per year,…

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Researchers publish new paradigm for attacking pathogens

Aggressive pathogens that infect humans can thrive in an oxygen-free environment via an ability to acquire the essential nutrient iron from heme (the cofactor that makes blood and muscle appear red). Newly published research from the department of biochemistry and molecular biology reveals how a key enzyme at the center of this survival mechanism functions, a breakthrough that will help provide an opportunity for a new class of antimicrobial…

two women with plaque and medals
Georgia Debate Union wins Samford tournament

The Georgia Debate Union earned first and third place at the Samford University debate tournament, which was held in Birmingham, Alabama October 14-16. Junior Katie Marshall, a Calhoun High School alumna, and first-year Genevieve Hackman, a Milton High School alumna, finished in first place with multiple victories over Emory University, the University of Florida, and Georgia State University. They both received individual speaker awards as well…

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Women's Leadership Fellows inaugurates next class

The pipeline for campus leaders at UGA continues to grow stronger with the next class of Women's Leadership Fellows announced this week: The 2016-2017 cohort, which includes representatives from eight schools and colleges as well as the Division of Student Affairs, will attend monthly meetings where they will learn from senior administrators on campus as well as visiting speakers from academia, business and other fields. The program, which was…

graphic over sheet music
Thursday Scholarship Series with Mozart, Puccini

The UGA Opera Theatre returns to Hodgson Concert Hall for the Thursday Scholarship Series, performing two one-act comic operas—Mozart's "The Impresario" and Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi"—in two performances on October 20 and 21 at 7:30 p.m.  The Opera Theatre will combine with the UGA Symphony Orchestra to stage these opera masterpieces, semi-staged with English supertitles. This is the first time the Hugh Hodgson School…

graphic illustration with microscope, thespian
STEM education and the humanities

Scientific American weighs in on the tendency to prioritize STEM disciplines over the humanities and how Voltaire and Camus have an important role to play, especially in a high-tech future: Promoting science and technology education to the exclusion of the humanities may seem like a good idea, but it is deeply misguided. Scientific American has always been an ardent supporter of teaching STEM: science, technology, engineering and…

man with plants
Focus on the Faculty: Jim Leebens-Mack

Professor of plant biology and Creative Research Medal winner Jim Leebens-Mack investigates the history of plant life on our planet while being an active member of the local community. His laboratory compares genome sequences to better understand the genetic basis of biological innovations that are of great practical importance for horticulture and agriculture: What are your favorite courses and why? I regularly co-teach three courses…

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$1.3m NIH grant to develop statistical tools for disease research

Ping Ma, professor in the department of statistics, has been awarded $1.3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop statistical tools to further clarify the causes of many diseases-including cancer, heart disease and aging-related illnesses. Over four years, Ma and his team of researchers will look at something known as small RNAs, hoping to unravel their regulatory role on abnormal variations in genetic transcription…