Department News Highlights

Biochemistry welcomed Dr. Elizabeth (Lizzy) Draganova as Assistant Professor and Dr. Fikri Avci as Associate Professor. They are located in the newly renovated Biochemistry south wing of the 4^th floor of the Rollins Research Center.

Dr. Fikri Avci, Associate Professor in Biochemistry, received the Glycobiology Significant Achievement Award is given annually by Oxford University Press (publisher of Glycobiology) to honor new or mid-career scientists who have made key discoveries during their early careers with the potential to have a substantial impact on the glycoscience community.

Eric J. Sundberg, PhD, Chair of Biochemistry, was named SOM Endowed Professor of Biochemistry and Chair, effective September 1, 2022.

Eric Ortlund, PhD, is a principal investigator in the National Institutes of Health-funded Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), featured on the Today Show: Today.com on June 6, 2022. MoTrPAC aims to increase understanding of molecular changes during exercise by measuring these changes in healthy adults and children before, during, and after exercise. This study is the largest exercise research program of its kind as investigators from institutions across the country are poised to collect and turn data from nearly 2,600 volunteers into comprehensive maps of the molecular changes in the body due to exercise.

Read full story on Biochemistry website.

Donald Bruce McCormick, PhD, died April 21, 2022 at the age of 89. Don served as Biochemistry department chair from 1979 - 1994.

The Ortlund lab from Biochemistry was featured in September 27, 2022 edition of NIH Research Matters. A research team led by Drs. Filipp Frank and Eric Ortlund set out to learn how such single amino acid substitutions could affect the performance of rapid antigen tests used in detecting the COVID-19 virus. They used a technique called deep mutational scanning to simultaneously evaluate how each mutation to the virus’ N protein affected binding to diagnostic antibodies. Their results appeared in Cell on September 15, 2022.

The Department of Biochemistry launched an online lab services order form to be used throughout all the labs in the department. The order forms are directed to Mr. Trenton Brown who joined the department as a Senior Laboratory Assistant in August 2022. The new process will help streamline lab service needs and improve efficiency. 

The Department of Cell Biology welcomed Alan Emanuel, PhD, who will join the department in January 2023 as Assistant Professor. Dr. Emanuel is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. His new lab, to be located on 6^th floor WBRB, will work on Signal Processing in the Somatosensory System.

David Katz, PhD, and Dorothy Lerit, PhD, were promoted to Associate Professor of Cell Biology effective September 1, 2022.

Dr. Winfield S. Sale, Professor Emeritus and former department chair, retired from Emory after 41 years at Emory. In April 2022, Cell Biology held a symposium in Dr. Sale's honor with speakers from Emory and other institutions celebrating his legacy. 

Dr. Sale joined the Emory Department of Anatomy in 1981 (later to become the Department of Cell Biology). He has been a paragon of excellence in his scientific research, mentoring and teaching, and his service to the University and scientific community. Dr. Sale has been a pioneer in the field dedicated to understanding how cilia and flagella work. These structures are thin, whip-like projections of cells that generate force to either propel motile cells (such as sperm) or to move fluid (as in human airway).

William Shafer, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, received the Emory University School of Medicine Dean's Eminent Investigator Award. Dr. Shafer was honored in a School of Medicine virtual ceremony on September 22. In 2022, Dr. Shafer celebrated 40 years of service at Emory. 

Marcin Grabowicz, PhD, Christopher LaRock, PhD, and Christopher Scharer, PhD, were promoted to Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology effective September 1, 2022.

Dr. Jeremy Boss, Professor and Chair of Microbiology and Immunology, has been selected to receive the Emory University School of Medicine 2022 Scientific Integrity Award, for many years of service chairing the SOM’s Research Integrity/Misconduct committee.

Rama Rao Amara, PhD, Professor in Microbiology and Immunology, has been reappointed as Charles Howard Candler Endowed Professorship. Dr. Amara is an expert in developing vaccines against infectious diseases. 

Seema Lakdawala, PhD, joined Microbiology and Immunology as Associate Professor. Her lab is located on the 3^rd floor of Rollins Research Center. Dr. Lakdawala brings expertise in transmission and viral pathogenesis to the department along with the ferret model for influenza infection, as well as considerable expertise in microscopy. 

Cheryl Day, PhD, Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, received a 2-year appointment as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Nairobi. This is a research collaboration with the department chair, Dr. Marianne Mureithi. Dr. Day’s appointment will foster collaborations in HIV and TB immunology research between Emory University and Dr. Mureithi at University of Nairobi. Activities involved include collaborative research projects on HIV/TB for which patient populations may be recruited by Dr. Mureithi for specimen collection and joint analysis in her lab at University of Nairobi and Dr. Day’s lab at Emory. Dr. Day’s appointment as a Visiting Professor will facilitate future collaborative grant applications to NIH. She will also participate in mentoring of postgraduate students and postdocs who conduct research activities for collaborative research projects in Dr. Mureithi's lab at University of Nairobi.

Pharmacology and Chemical Biology welcomed Todd E. Golde, MD, PhD, as Professor. Dr. Golde has also accepted a position with Emory University as director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease in the Goizueta Institute @ Emory Brain Health. Dr. Golde has also been appointed a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Neuroscience. In his new role, he will expand translational research for development of new therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, while facilitating interdisciplinary research in neuro-inflammation, bridging the neuroscience and immunology communities. Read more about Dr. Golde’s new role. 

With federal funding for the next three years, researchers at Emory University and Georgia State University will establish a groundbreaking new drug development center aimed at preventing the next pandemic.

The Antiviral Countermeasures Development Center (AC/DC) is one of nine Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers around the country being funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The new center at Emory and Georgia State is led and co-founded by researchers with a history of collaborating on successful antiviral drugs, including molnupiravir, which was one of the world’s first antiviral pills approved for use against SARS-CoV-2.

The AC/DC will be directed by George Painter, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine, CEO of the Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE), and executive director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development, and Richard Plemper, PhD, Distinguished University Professor and director of the Center for Translational Antiviral Research, Georgia State.

Emory University has created an endowed distinguished professorship titled, "Endowed George R Painter III Distinguished Professor" honoring George Painter, PhD, Professor and Director/CEO of DRIVE (Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory) and the director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development (EIDD), for his life-saving work in developing critical medicines including molnupiravir, which is now approved globally for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

Congratulations to Yong Wan, PhD, for being named an Emory University School of Medicine Endowed Faculty Professor. Dr. Wan is also Research Director of the Glenn Breast Center of Winship Cancer Institute.