Joy Doran-Peterson was featured in a podcast entitled ”The Microbiology of the Bioeconomy” which was produced by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).  The podcast aired on Monday, June 3rd, as part of the latest episode of the “Microbes After Hours” series – a series of happy hours when ASM welcomes members of the public into its headquarters to enjoy local brews and learn about interesting topics in microbiology. Joy, together with the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Dr.

Congratulations to Alexandra Howell and Laurel Hire for being selected to receive Office of International Education (OIE) Education Abroad Scholarships to participate in study abroad programs this summer! Laurel is a senior pre-veterinarian student majoring in Microbiology and Biology.  She will be participating in the Summer 2013 UGA Discover Abroad: Maymester 2013 in Australia and New Zealand.

Vincent Starai was recently awarded over $1.5 million by the National Institutes of Health to investigate the mechanism by which Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease, avoids host defense systems. Legionnaires’ disease begins with flu-like symptoms, but within days patients may experience severe chest pain and bloody coughing. Up to 30 percent of hospitalized cases can be fatal, and survivors usually take a long time to recover.

Researchers from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Georgia discovered important genetic clues about the history of Archaea and the origins of life in a pioneering study in which they identified genes required for survival of Methanococcus maripaludis. Doctoral student and lead author Felipe Sarmiento found that roughly 30 percent of the nearly 1,800 genes in M. maripaludis are essential for survival.

Congratulations to Microbiology major Travis Williams on winning first prize in the undergraduate division of the poster exhibition at the Inaugural SEC Symposium: Impact of the Southeast in the World’s Renewable Energy Future!  The first-ever Southeastern Conference (SEC) symposium, which showcased the academic, educational and economic contributions of the 14 SEC member universities on renewable energy sources, was held at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, February 10-12, 2013.  Travis’ award-winning poster, entitled “The Effects of Industrial Processing on Pectin-Rich Biomass Carbohyd