To request a media interview, please reach out to School of Biological Sciences experts using our faculty directory, or contact Jess Hunt-Ralston, College of Sciences communications director. A list of faculty experts and research areas across the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech is also available to journalists upon request.
A study by Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences researchers Cody Clements and Mark Hay offers both hope and a potentially grim future for damaged coral reefs. In a paper published in Science Advances, the researchers found that increasing coral richness by "outplanting" a diverse group of coral species together improves coral growth and survivorship. The ecological pendulum swings the other way, too. If more coral species are lost, the synergistic effects could threaten other species in what Clements and Hay term a "biodiversity meltdown."
Underwater gardens boost coral diversity to stave off 'biodiversity meltdown' | 2021-10-25T00:00:00-04:00
Some Covid-19 patients are asymptomatic or experience a mild immune response, while others report significant long-term illnesses, lasting complications, or suffer fatal outcomes. Three Georgia Tech researchers are trying to help clinicians sort through these factors and spectrum of patient outcomes by equipping healthcare professionals with a new artificial intelligence-based “decision prioritization tool.” Jeffrey Skolnick, professor, Mary and Maisie Gibson Chair in the School of Biological Sciences; Ph.D. student Courtney Astore, and senior research scientist Hongyi Zhou, both from the Center for the Study of Systems Biology, were involved in the research. The research was also covered in Health IT Analytics.
New AI-based tool helps clinicians understand and better predict adverse effects of COVID-19 | 2021-10-25T00:00:00-04:00
Movement science at Georgia Tech has evolved through four transformations over the past half century. No original unit on campus has experienced a more radical reconfiguration — from physical training courses in athletics to state-of-the-art research in the School of Biological Sciences. Phillip B. Sparling, professor emeritus in the School who spent his entire career at Georgia Tech, pens this mini-course on how movement sciences at the Institute came to be.
Phillip B. Sparling: A Mini-Course in Movement Science at Georgia Tech | 2021-10-20T00:00:00-04:00
Two Georgia Tech researchers from the School of Biological Sciences set out to investigate whether newly established coral species grow better in the presence of other coral species, or whether competition between different species restricts growth rates. Cody Clements, Teasley Postdoctoral Fellow, and Mark Hay, professor and Teasley Chair, traveled to Mo’orea, French Polynesia, in the tropical Pacific Ocean, where they planted coral gardens differing in coral species diversity to evaluate the relative importance of mutualistic versus competitive interactions between the corals as they grew. This story also appeared in Coastal News Today.
electroCore | 2021-10-15T00:00:00-04:00
Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences researchers Cody Clements, Teasley Postdoctoral Fellow, and Mark Hay, professor and Teasley Chair, found that increasing coral richness by 'outplanting' a diverse group of coral species together improves coral growth and survivorship. But if more coral species are lost, the synergistic effects could threaten other species in what Clements and Hay term a "biodiversity meltdown." This story on Georgia Tech's research was also featured in Engineering and Technology, the Birmingham Times, AlphaGalileo, and Environmental Coastal and Offshore.
Underwater gardens boost coral diversity to stave off 'biodiversity meltdown' | 2021-10-13T00:00:00-04:00
The Caribbean's seaweed explosion started in 2011, and scientists are still trying to figure out if climate change or other factors are to blame. Cleanup is a major struggle for governments, but some are trying to find other sustainable uses for the seaweed, such as construction materials or fuel. Joseph Montoya, professor in the School of Biological Sciences who is part of the Ocean Science and Engineering program, weighs in on the possible causes for the excess seaweed.
nutritiiono | 2021-09-29T00:00:00-04:00
Researchers have discovered that environments favoring clumpy growth are all that’s needed to quickly transform single-celled yeast into complex multicellular organisms. Georgia Tech scientists report that over the course of nearly two years of evolution, they have induced unicellular yeasts to grow into multicellular clusters of immense size, going from microscopic to branching structures visible to the naked eye. Those scientists include William Ratcliff, associate professor and co-director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, G. Ozan Bozdag, research scientist, and Kai Tong, Ph.D. student, all School of Biological Sciences; and Peter Yunker, assistant professor, Thomas C. Day, graduate student, and Seyed Alireza Zamani-Dahaj, former graduate student, all in the School of Physics. 9
Metz Mayor | 2021-09-22T00:00:00-04:00
Lobsters are just one of myriad marine animals that rely on molecular missives. Behaviors such as finding meals, choosing habitats, avoiding predators, seeking sex, and engaging in social encounters are all driven by chemistry, at least in part. A changing climate may tamper with marine animals’ sense of smell and change the shapes of signaling molecules. So scientists continue to work to untangle the basic workings of marine chemoreception. One of those scientists is Julia Kubanek, vice president for interdisciplinary research and a professor in the Schools of Biological Sciences, and Chemistry and Biochemistry.
campus trees | 2021-09-19T00:00:00-04:00
Data visualization is fundamentally an act of communication. While many discussions focus on the technical aspects of creating visualizations, communicating insights in a clear, relevant and accessible way is essential. The Georgia Tech team responsible for building the Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool recently shared key lessons they learned based on the experience. That team includes Joshua Weitz, Professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, and Blaise Pascal International Chair of Excellence; Stephen Beckett, research scientist, and Quan Nguyen, undergraduate research assistant, both with the School of Biological Sciences.
online language class | 2021-09-14T00:00:00-04:00
How did cells first glom together, learn to cooperate, and yield organisms that contain millions, billions, or even trillions of cells? In a new experiment, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology oversaw the evolution of clusters of yeast that each grew to contain hundreds of thousands of cells—the largest of their kind—enabling the scientists to study the possible origins of complex multicellular structures. One of those scientists is Will Ratcliff, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences in the School of Biological Sciences. Quanta Magazine also reported on this experiment.
college of engineering; Lauren steimle; Meghan Meredith; isye; NSF; NSF grfp; graduate research | 2021-09-14T00:00:00-04:00
