Tags: disease

Parasitologist Samarchith “Sam” Kurup has been awarded a five-year National Institutes of Health grant to study the natural immune response to the Plasmodium parasite in liver cells, with designs on uncovering how the human immune system naturally fights malaria in the liver stage will lead to an effective malaria vaccine. Our colleagues in the Office of research share the story: Malaria is one of the most studied parasitic…

Jessica Kissinger is using her expertise in biology and big data to help other scientists. Today, the University of Georgia professor not only studies deadly pathogens like malaria and Cryptosporidium (a waterborne parasite), but also is a driving force behind worldwide, groundbreaking collaborations on novel databases. During her time at UGA, she has received nearly $40 million in federal and private grants and contracts. These databases can…

Growing up in a family of scientists had a great effect on Ying Xu’s career. With two chemistry professors for parents, he was exposed to science at a very early age. However, it was his uncle, a computer scientist, who encouraged him to study computer science or mathematics. Xu obtained his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder. During his doctoral studies, Xu knew very little about biology. Learning about…

A new study at the University of Georgia describes a way to attack cancer cells that is potentially less harmful to the patient. Sodium chloride nanoparticles – more commonly known as salt – are toxic to cancer cells and offer the potential for therapies that have fewer negative side effects than current treatments. Led by Jin Xie, associate professor of chemistry, the study found that SCNPs can be used to deliver ions into cells and…

Great overview of the work by Franklin College faculty in the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, where multi-track efforts are yielding gains against some of the world's worst scourges: Founded 20 years ago by Regents Professor of Cellular Biology Rick Tarleton, CTEGD consolidates UGA’s extensive, campus-wide tropical disease knowledge and drug discovery expertise into an interdisciplinary research unit that focuses on…

UGA and the Franklin College welcomes Juana María Rodríguez, professor of gender and women's studies at the University of California, Berkeley, to campus to deliver the 21st annual Andrea Carson Coley Lecture on April 10 at 12:30 p.m. in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries. Rodríguez's lecture, "Sexual Affects: Visualizing Pleasure, Troubling Politics" will follow a reception honoring the Coley family at 11:30 a.m…

One form of epigenetic change known as DNA methylation is particularly understudied in this area. "There's a large amount of evidence that a process known as DNA methylation is a key player in cancer development," Zhong said. "Today's next-generation sequencing techniques give us the data we need to close the gap in this area of research." Zhong and her team will develop a suite of statistical models to broaden the understanding of how…