Experts in the News

Metagenomes encode an enormous diversity of proteins, reflecting a multiplicity of functions and activities. Exploration of this vast sequence space has been limited to a comparative analysis against reference microbial genomes and protein families derived from those genomes. Here, to examine the scale of yet untapped functional diversity beyond what is currently possible through the lens of reference genomes, a team of scientists has developed a computational approach to generate reference-free protein families from the sequence space in metagenomes. The researchers include Joel Kostka, professor and Associate Chair of Research in the School of Biological Sciences (part of the Novel Metagenome Protein Families Consortium), and Kostas T. Konstantinidis, Richard C. Tucker Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. (This research was also covered at Berkeley Lab.)

The Elgin, S.C., community has been shaken by over 80 earthquakes since December 2021, and after four months of no tremors, the area has started shaking again. “We weren't expecting anything to come back, and then these two in the last three days have reminded us it’s not over yet," said Daniel Frost, Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina Department's of Earth, Ocean & Environmental College. After studying the data, Frost and his collaborator, Zhigang Peng, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, have come up with an idea. “Our theory is they are occurring on a fault of the Eastern Piedmont fault system, which is a known fault system, not an active fault system but known," Frost said. "Any earthquakes happening on these pre-existing faults are just kind of resettling and shuffling, maybe a little of disturbance because something has changed, but it's not the kind of ongoing tectonics like on the West Coast.” 

If you notice an odor when you open your refrigerator, it might be time for a deep clean. But even immaculate shelves and crystal clear crisper drawers won’t save your fridge from that not-so-fresh smell if you frequently fill it with fancy cheese and fragrant leftovers. For most people, the solution is a box of baking soda. It’s a housekeeping hack that has stood the test of time because it works. But contrary to the story we’ve all been sold, baking soda doesn’t make your fridge smell better by “absorbing” unpleasant food odors. In fact, according to Anthony Rojas, senior academic professional in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the neutralization actually happens outside the box.

An annular "ring of fire" eclipse will stretch from Oregon to Texas next Saturday, October 14. During this type of eclipse, the Moon is near its farthest point from Earth, so it does not completely cover the Sun. The Moon appears as a dark disk on top of a larger, bright sun. In Georgia, we will see a partial solar eclipse. James Sowell, principal academic professional in the School of Physics and director of the Georgia Tech Observatory, said over the three-hour event the sun will take on a different appearance. "For those of us in Atlanta, it’s a little more than 50 percent. So you’d have the disk of the sun, and part of it would be blocked out. So you would first see a little blocked out, and ultimately about 50 percent... The sun would be a crescent and then the moon would work its way out," Sowell said. If you want to view the eclipse, you must do so safely. You'll need special protection. Special solar-safe glasses can be purchased online, which are much, much stronger than a normal pair of sunglasses. (11Alive also spoke with Sowell on Oct. 12)

The World Health Organization has identified antimicrobial resistance as a worldwide concern because most clinical antibiotics are no longer effective against certain pathogenic bacteria. Antibiotics work by targeting specific parts of a bacteria cell, such as the cell wall or its DNA. Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics in a number of ways, including by developing efflux pumps — proteins that are located on the surface of the bacteria cell. When an antibiotic enters the cell, the efflux pump pumps it out of the cell before it can reach its target so that the antibiotic is never able to kill the bacteria. However, in a new study published in Nature Communications, scientists say they've found a new class of molecules that inhibit the efflux pump and make the antibiotic effective again. The researchers include Katie M. Kuo, Ph.D. scholar in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and James C. Gumbart, professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry with an adjunct appointment in the School of Physics. 

Animals under managed care in zoos and aquariums are ideal surrogate study subjects for endangered species that are difficult to obtain in the wild. A team including School of Biological Sciences researchers compared the fecal and oral microbiomes of healthy, managed African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) to those of other domestic and wild vertebrate hosts to determine how host identity, diet, and environment shape the penguin microbiome. Future studies should link these results to microbial functional capacity and host health, which will help inform conservation efforts. The researchers include Ph.D. scholar Ana G. Clavere Graciette, Adjunct Associate Professor Frank J. Stewart, and Zoe Pratte, postdoctorate scholar. 

Some insects can flap their wings so rapidly that it’s impossible for instructions from their brains to entirely control the behaviour. Building tiny flapping robots has helped researchers shed light on how they evolved to do this. For some insects, including mosquitoes, their brain signals and flapping are out of sync. After the initial signal to contract, the insects’ muscles undergo additional contract-relax cycles before they even receive another impulse from the brain. This so-called “asynchronous” flight allows them to flap their wings at exceptionally high rates. Several researchers from Georgia Tech set out to study the evolutionary history of this form of flight. Those researchers include Simon Sponberg, Dunn Family Associate Professor in the School of Physics and the School of Biological Sciences; Brett Aiello, former postdoctoral scholar in Sponberg's Agile Systems Lab; Ethan Wold, Ph.D. scholar in the School of Biological Sciences and the Quantitative Biosciences Graduate Program; and Jeff Gau, Ph.D. scholar in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Graduate Program. (This research was also covered at India Education Diary, ArsTechnica, UC San Diego, Earth.com and Phys.org.)

Thanks to recent funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, a team of scientists at Montana State University will examine a group of unique organisms that consume the gas methane while simultaneously removing forms of nitrogen linked to agricultural fertilizers from their environment. Leading the team is MSU senior research scientist Anthony Bertagnolli, a former postdoctoral scholar in the School of Biological Sciences. 

Laura Cadonati, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Sciences and a professor in the School of Physics, will serve as a General Councilor for the American Physical Society, following recent APS elections. Her term will begin January 1, 2024. Cadonati, who is also a member of Georgia Tech's Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, will join other elected members to advise the Society on all matters regarding science and membership, including science policy. "Throughout my research journey in nuclear physics, astrophysics, and gravity, along with my active participation in large scientific collaborations, I have developed an understanding of the interconnectedness and the different traditions in various branches of physics," Cadonati says. "These insights will enable me to represent the wide constituency of APS."

Around the coasts of the continents, where slopes sink down into the sea, tiny cages of ice called clathrates trap methane gas, preventing it from escaping and bubbling up into the atmosphere. Until now, the biological process behind how methane gas remains stable under the sea has been almost completely unknown. In a breakthrough study, a cross-disciplinary team of Georgia Tech researchers discovered a previously unknown class of bacterial proteins that play a crucial role in the formation and stability of methane clathrates. College of Sciences team members include Jennifer Glass, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Raquel Lieberman, professor and Sepcic-Pfeil Chair in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Dustin Huard, a researcher in Lieberman’s lab and first author of the study;  Abigail Johnson, a former Ph.D. student in Glass’ lab and co-first author on the paper, and James (JC) Gumbart, professor in the School of Physics. (The study was also covered at India Education Diary, SciTechDaily, Space.com, and Astrobiology.) 

A pair of Georgia Tech students are among the 75 recipients of the Simons Foundation's Shenoy Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Neuroscience (SURFiN). The talented undergraduates will gain hands-on research experience and contribute to neuroscience research. The SURFiN program, named in memory of neuroscientist Krishna Shenoy, aims to spark and sustain interest in neuroscience among undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds underrepresented in neuroscience research. The Georgia Tech students include a College of Sciences undergraduate, Felipe Oliveira, who is studying for his B.S. in Neuroscience. The other Georgia Tech student is Nghi (Hailey) Ho, working for her B.S. in Computer Science, who researches in the Systems Neural Engineering Lab. 

This summer, wildflowers brought an unusually bright splash of color to Colorado’s hillsides. Although the blooms were largely the product of a slow-melting snowpack and a wet spring, native pollinators like bees and butterflies played a critical role in creating these colorful habitats. But a new study shows that these flying insects are in trouble. Researchers at Colorado University of Denver and Georgia Tech analyzed data on 800 species of insects around the world and discovered that flying insects — many of which play a crucial role in pollinating the world’s plants and crops — are migrating at slower rates than their non-flying counterparts and appear to be dying at faster rates. James T. Stroud, assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences, is a co-author of the study. (This study was also covered at Mirage.)