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Feature Stories, News and Announcements, Press Releases, Research Stories

Researchers Find Building Mutations Into Ebola Virus Protein Disrupts Ability To Cause Disease And Activates Protective Immunity

Researchers Find Building Mutations Into Ebola Virus Protein Disrupts Ability To Cause Disease And Activates Protective Immunity

Creating mutations in a key Ebola virus protein that helps the deadly virus escape from the body’s defenses can make the virus unable to produce sickness and activate protective immunity in the infected host, according to a study by the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.

The mutated virus even works as a vaccine to protect animals from infection with the virulent Ebola virus, researchers said.

The study suggests that VP35, a protein that enables Ebola virus to block early immune responses to infection, is critical for virulence and is a potential drug target. The findings are published in the journal Cell Reports.

The study’s coauthors include faculty hired under the university’s Second Century Initiative (2CI).

News and Announcements, Press Releases, Research Stories, Second Century Initiative

Georgia State University Neuroscientists to Investigate Neural Markers of Mental Illness

Georgia State University Neuroscientists to Investigate Neural Markers of Mental Illness

Neuroscientists at Georgia State University are using large-scale imaging analysis to study how symptoms associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression relate to changes in the brain. The researchers say they hope to yield new diagnostic classifications, uncover potential new treatment targets in the brain and identify which patients may benefit from those treatments.

The team, led by the Second Century Initiative’s Jessica Turner, professor of psychology and neuroscience, and Vince Calhoun, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and director of the Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), will examine two so-called “negative” symptoms, anhedonia (loss of pleasure) and asociality (loss of interest in social engagement), in patients with schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder. The work is supported by a five-year, $5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

News and Announcements, Press Releases, Research Stories, Second Century Initiative

Early-Season Hurricanes Result In Greater Transmission Of Mosquito-Borne Infectious Disease, Study Shows

Early-Season Hurricanes Result In Greater Transmission Of Mosquito-Borne Infectious Disease, Study Shows

The timing of a hurricane is one of the primary factors influencing its impact on the spread of mosquito-borne infectious diseases such as West Nile Virus, dengue, chikungunya and Zika, according to a study led by Georgia State University, including a professor from the university’s Second Century Initiative.

Gerardo Chowell, a professor of mathematical epidemiology in the School of Public Health, along with his colleagues, found that in the aftermath of this type of extreme weather event, the mosquito population often booms in the presence of stagnant water. At the same time, the breakdown of public and private health infrastructure can put people at increased risk of infection.

News and Announcements, Next Generation Round 3, Press Releases, Research Stories, Second Century Initiative

Next Generation Program-Supported Center Investigates Growing Online Male Supremacist Subculture

Next Generation Program-Supported Center Investigates Growing Online Male Supremacist Subculture

Second Century Initiative researcher John Horgan, a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and director of the Next Generation Program-supported Violent Extremism Research Group, is researching the evolution and spread of a growing male supremacist movement online.

News and Announcements, Press Releases

Microbiologist And Immunologist Cynthia Nau Cornelissen Joins Institute For Biomedical Sciences As Director Of Center For Translational Immunology

Microbiologist And Immunologist Cynthia Nau Cornelissen Joins Institute For Biomedical Sciences As Director Of Center For Translational Immunology

Dr. Cynthia Nau Cornelissen, a leading researcher in the study of infectious diseases, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs), has been named director of the Center for Translational Immunology in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.

Recruited from Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Cornelissen joins Georgia State as a professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences and a Distinguished University Professor.

The Center for Translational Immunology investigates the cellular and molecular components of the immune system to better understand complex immune-mediated diseases and to develop innovative vaccines. Cornelissen’s research is focused on bacterial pathogenesis, metal acquisition and vaccine development against STI pathogens. Cornelissen also brings about $12.95 million in federal research funding to Georgia State.

News and Announcements, Press Releases, Research Stories

The Legal Analytics Lab: Innovation That Inspires Change

The Legal Analytics Lab: Innovation That Inspires Change

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has recognized the Legal Analytics Lab of Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business and College of Law in its 2019 Innovations That Inspire Challenge.

The annual challenge recognizes institutions from around the world that are champions of change in business education. This year’s focus emphasized co-creation of knowledge. Innovations from 21 universities spanning 10 countries were honored.

The Legal Analytics Lab is an effort supported by the Next Generation Program.

Housed in Robinson’s Institute for Insight, the business school’s data analytics unit, the Legal Analytics Lab brings together the methodological expertise of its analytics faculty with the domain expertise of College of Law faculty. It uses text mining and machine learning to detect patterns, predict outcomes and derive insights related to compliance, regulatory, litigation and transactional risks faced by businesses.

News and Announcements, Next Generation Round 4, Press Releases, Research Stories

Georgia State Selects Research Clusters In Fourth Round of the Next Generation Program

Georgia State Selects Research Clusters In Fourth Round of the Next Generation Program

Georgia State University has selected three new research clusters as part of the fourth round of its ambitious Next Generation Program, dedicated to boosting the university’s reputation for pioneering, interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

News and Announcements, Press Releases, Research Stories

Georgia State Research Expenditures Top $200 Million For The First Time

Georgia State Research Expenditures Top $200 Million For The First Time

Georgia State University’s total research expenditures exceeded $200 million for the first time in fiscal year 2017, the National Science Foundation reports in the latest Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey.

The university ranks 108th out of 902 universities in the U.S. for research expenditures, and rose 15 spots from last year.

From fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2017, expenditures increased by 248 percent, making Georgia State one of the nation’s fastest-growing research universities. For the past two years, Georgia State has been the highest-ranked institution without an engineering or medical school.

News and Announcements, Press Releases, Research Stories

2CI/Next Gen Researcher Gets $2.4 Million Grant To Study Diabetic Vascular Diseases

2CI/Next Gen Researcher Gets $2.4 Million Grant To Study Diabetic Vascular Diseases

Dr. Ming-Hui Zou, director of the Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine at Georgia State University, has received a four-year, $2.4 million federal grant to study cardiovascular complications in diabetes.

The grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health allows Zou to continue his research, which has been funded since 2004. He is a strategic hire under the Second Century Initiative and Next Generation Program.

The study will investigate how high glucose promotes dysfunction of mitochondria, the cell structures that produce the energy cells need to survive. It will also explore how mitochondrial fission, or division into two or more independent structures, results in atherosclerosis, the buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on the artery walls, and dysfunction of endothelial cells, which line the interior surface of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels.

Feature Stories, News and Announcements, Press Releases, Second Century Initiative

Second Century Initiative Faculty Member Leads $1.4 Millon Study to Investigate Effects of E-Cigarette Regulations

Second Century Initiative Faculty Member Leads $1.4 Millon Study to Investigate Effects of E-Cigarette Regulations

Georgia State University has received $1.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to lead a four-year research initiative that will evaluate the effects of early attempts to regulate electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).

The study is led by economist Michael Pesko, a fifth round Second Century Initiative hire in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State, in partnership with Cornell University, Temple University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Pennsylvania, and the School of Public Health at Georgia State.

Researchers will study the effects of e-cigarette-related regulations on pricing, access, public perception of the safety of e-cigarettes, and the use and sale of e-cigarettes, traditional cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco. They will also investigate the impact of e-cigarette regulations on sales of nicotine replacement therapies, such as gum and patches, for those who are seeking to quit smoking.

“There is a gap in understanding how to regulate or deregulate e-cigarettes in the most optimal way from the perspective of public health,” Pesko said, “and a lack of understanding of what spillover effects vaping regulations might have on other health behaviors.”