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.
Even as health officials continue to try to calculate — and communicate — when herd immunity might happen, they have to contend with both public misunderstanding of the term and scientific disagreement over what it means. Even within public health circles, “some of our colleagues have disagreed with one another” on the definition of herd immunity, says Joshua Weitz, Patton Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences at the School of Biological Sciences. Changes in behavior can lead to declines in cases, he says, “that do not imply that the population has reached herd immunity.” Populations develop immunity through a combination of vaccination and natural infections, Weitz says, and the safe and ethical route to reach herd immunity is through vaccinations.
wendy truran | 2021-05-25T00:00:00-04:00
Until recently, neuroscientists considered the mechanisms of skin itch the same. But Liang Han, an assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences, who is also a researcher in the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, and her research team uncovered differences in itch in non-hairy versus hairy areas of the skin, opening new areas for research. The Han team research was also covered in Newswise.
humann resources | 2021-05-21T00:00:00-04:00
The Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool, conceived in 2020 by Joshua Weitz, Patton Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, is cited in this article to show how vaccinations are impacting Minnesota counties. The planning tool shows the risk of virus transmission based on an event's size and location. The risk in Hennepin County, MN, of catching the virus at an event with 15 people went from 50 percent in November 2020 to six percent in mid-May. Just under 50 percent of all Minnesotans have been vaccinated.
Top Gun | 2021-05-19T00:00:00-04:00
In this guest column, Joshua Weitz, Patton Distinguished Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, urges the Board of Regents to safeguard the state’s public campuses and universities by requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for those who work and attend classes there. Weitz's editorial is quoted in this May 14 WABE story on the University System of Georgia's decision not to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations for state public universities and colleges.
Opinion: Mandate vaccines for Georgia students and staff on public campuses | 2021-05-10T00:00:00-04:00
This edition of Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine focuses on the ethical considerations of recent science and technological developments, and how the Institute's vision and values play into researching these issues. Included in articles about top ethical issues such as artificial intelligence, social media, and data privacy, is this explanation from Michael Goodisman, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, about genetic testing.
Tami Phillips | 2021-04-13T00:00:00-04:00
Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, President and Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine who received a B.S. in 1983 from the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, joins GPB host Bill Nigut to talk about a successful initiative to address vaccine skepticism among African-Americans. And as more shots get into arms, Joshua Weitz, School of Biological Sciences professor who has been heavily involved in modeling Covid-19's spread, speaks on the impact of Georgia's decision to drop pandemic restrictions.
Whistle Bistro | 2021-04-09T00:00:00-04:00
Young Jang, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences, has received a five year, $2.2 million award from the National Institutes of Health to study heterochronic parabiosis and identify anti-aging factors in blood. The study will be done under the auspices of the NIH's National Institute on Aging.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography | 2021-03-31T00:00:00-04:00
As Georgia adds more eligible citizens to its vaccine distribution, some are wondering how that will impact their chances to land an appointment, given increased demand and limited supplies. Joshua Weitz, School of Biological Sciences Pattton Distinguished Professor, explains that vaccines can indeed help reach population (herd) immunity, but not if people start gathering in large groups, or stop wearing masks.
Paul S. Goggin | 2021-03-22T00:00:00-04:00
Researchers can’t directly observe many key features of disease transmission. As a result, they rely on statistical models to translate what they can see to what they want to know. But they’re finding that for Covid-19 in particular, some of these methods have been giving them the wrong answers. This fascinating look details how some epidemiologists and other scientists had to dig deeper into modeling the strength and speed of Covid-19, and one of those researchers includes Joshua Weitz, School of Biological Sciences professor and Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Quantitative Biosciences program at Georgia Tech.
Metz Mayor | 2021-03-22T00:00:00-04:00
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded $2.5 million in grants to 12 institutes around the world to support research on bacteriophage therapy. These awards represent NIAID’s first series of grants focused exclusively on research on this therapy, an emerging field that could yield new ways to fight antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Sam Brown, professor in the School of Biological Sciences, will serve as principal investigator for a proposal that will build re-usable phage and antibiotic treatments via exploitation of bacteria-phage co-evolutionary dynamics
University of San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography | 2021-03-11T00:00:00-05:00
