2024 Department Awards in Microbiology and Nominations (DAMN)
The 2024 edition of the Department Awards in Microbiology and Nominations (DAMN) were announced April 26, 2024. At a ceremony to honor the winners, awards were given out to recognize and celebrate stellar achievements of Microbiology and Immunology faculty, staff, and post-doctoral trainees:
Research Updates
Center for Transmission of Airborne Pathogens (CTAP)
The Center for Transmission of Airborne Pathogens (CTAP) launched its center website. CTAP is composed of a group of scientists, including Microbiology and Immunology faculty Drs. Anice Lowen and Seema Lakdawala, that use interdisciplinary approaches to study and understand all aspects of airborne transmission of pathogens with the ultimate goal of reducing disease. CTAP received NIH material agreement award for NIAID-derived human challenge virus
Day Lab
Cheryl Day, PhD, Associate Professor at the Emory Vaccine Center and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology received a new NIH R01 grant titled,"Identifying critical determinants of vaccine-induced cellular and humoral immunity from birth through childhood in HIV-exposed and unexposed children". This is an MPI R01 with Jennifer Slyker from University of Washington.
This project will study immune responses to vaccines from birth to 6 years of age in an ongoing cohort of Kenyan children. The lab will conduct longitudinal modelling of antigen-specific antibody and T cell responses to determine whether maternal immune activation and early-life exposure to the immune-modulating viruses HIV and cytomegalovirus (CMV), as well as other co-infections, nutrition, and intestinal inflammation, affect vaccine-induced immune responses from birth through middle childhood. These data will inform improved vaccination strategies for children living in areas with a high prevalence of HIV, CMV and malnutrition.
Dr. Day also published a paper, "Active tuberculosis is associated with depletion of HIV-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells in people with HIV," in AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses, March 2024.
Goldberg Lab
Congratulations Joanna Goldberg, PhD, for being one of ten Emory faculty to be named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow for 2023, the largest class of Emory faculty to ever receive the prestigious lifetime honor. These scientific leaders represent the fields of biology, engineering, neuroscience, psychology, chemistry, statistics and physics and embody scientific excellence while fostering trust in science.
Lakdawala Lab
Seema Lakdawala, PhD, Associate Professor Microbiology and Immunology, was named a 2024 National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow. Every year, the National Academy of Sciences handpicks approximately 200 of the nation's foremost talented young scientists from diverse sectors such as industry, academia, and government to attend the Kavli Frontiers of Science symposia.
Li Lab
Congratulations to Chaoran Li, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, for receiving the 2024 American Association of Immunologists (AAI) ASPIRE Award. The purpose of this award is to encourage and foster the development of talented early career AAI member scientists to continue advancing their research activities and scientific contributions in the field of immunology. Additionally, this award aims to enhance the careers of early stage investigators by providing support to disseminate their research via podium presentations at the AAI annual meeting.
Recipients receive complimentary meeting registration, a $2,000 cash award, and travel support to the AAI annual meeting for presentation of their research and the award presentation.
Lowen Lab
Anice Lowen, PhD, Professor in Microbiology and Immunology, was inducted as a fellow into the 2024 class of the American Academy of Microbiology by the American Society for Microbiology.
The Lowen lab also published the following papers
"Genetic drift and purifying selection shape within-host influenza A virus populations during natural swine infections," in bioRxiv
"Virology-the path forward," in J Virol. (Dr. Anice Lowen co-led this commentary article and subsequent replies to letters submitted to the journal)
Shafer Lab
Bill Shafer, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, published the following papers:
"A laboratory-based predictive pathway for the development of Neisseria gonorrhoeae high-level resistance to corallopyronin A, an inhibitor of bacterial RNA polymerase, " in Microbiology Spectrum
"Hormonal steroids induce multidrug resistance and stress response genes in Neisseria gonorrhoeae by binding to MtrR," in Nat Commun.
Events
The 2024 Igor Stojiljkovic, MD, PhD, Memorial Lecture
The 2024 Igor Stojiljkovic, MD, PhD, Memorial Lecture was held April 15, 2024. The speaker was Mario F. Feldman, PhD, Professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Feldman's lecture was titled, "Biogenesis of Outer Membrane Vesicles in Gut Bacteria".
First Annual M&I Postdoc Symposium
Trainees and Fellows
Cody Elkins
Graduate Student
Li Lab
Cody Elkins, Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis (IMP) Graduate Program student in the Li Lab, won a trainee Abstract Award at IMMUNOLOGY2024 and will be one of the major symposia speakers at this year’s conference in Chicago, May 2024. This is the first time that students/fellows are being selected to talk at this annual symposia.
Kathryn Moore, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Suthar Lab
Kathryn Moore, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow in the Suthar lab, published a paper in the Journal of Virology titled, "Single cell analysis reveals an antiviral network that controls Zika virus infection in human dendritic cells". Dr. Suthar is senior author.
Vedhika Raghunathan
Graduate Student
Lowen Lab
Vedhika Raghunathan, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics graduate student in the Lowen lab, was awarded an F31 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) titled, "Within and between host dynamics in influenza A virus antigenic evolution".
