Research Insights
Notable Grants
Multi-Tracer Investigation of Hydraulic Connectivity between the Okefenokee Swamp and the Upper Floridan Aquifer Monday, August 18, 2025 - We propose to investigate whether water from the Okefenokee Swamp flows into the underlying Upper Floridan Aquifer—a key source of drinking water for communities in southern Georgia and northern Florida. While past studies hinted at a possible connection, no one has directly compared the swamp’s water with nearby groundwater using modern scientific tools. This project […]
Between Relativism and Reproach: Exploring Value Judgements about Good Human Lives within Theologically Engaged Anthropology Monday, August 18, 2025 - This project addresses the Big Question: how can anthropologists and theologians responsibly navigate the extremes of relativism and unreflexive judgmentalism to support good human lives? While both disciplines have explored the concept of good human lives, a collaborative approach is urgently needed to tackle the analytical challenges posed by relativism, which can devolve into amoral […]
Characterizing chemsex [OR1] patterns and adoption of harm reduction measures among men in the South Monday, August 18, 2025 - Chemsex is a practice of drug use before or during sexual activity to facilitate, enhance, prolong, and sustain sexual pleasure. The drugs that are most commonly used in chemsex include crystalized methamphetamine (crystal meth), gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), mephedrone, amyl nitrite, ketamine, and ecstasy/MDMA. They are chosen for their disinhibition effects on the common social, […]
Plasmodium effectors mitigating cell-intrinsic immune responses in hepatocytes Monday, August 18, 2025 - Malaria is a serious disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium, which initially infects liver cells before spreading to red blood cells and causing a potentially lethal infection. Traditionally, this early liver stage was considered to be relatively invisible to the immune system. However, recent studies, including our own, have found that liver cells can detect […]
CAREER: Composition, transport, and fate of dissolved and pyrogenic organic matter in fire-impacted soils Monday, August 18, 2025 - This project will advance our understanding of soil processes that control the amount of carbon stored in soil. Understanding the controls on soil carbon storage and loss are critical for managing our natural environment for plant productivity, for improving our water quality, and for mitigating the effects of anthropogenic climate change. This project involves a […]
Confronting Racial Inequity with Black History: The Development and Initial Validation of a Measure of Black History Consciousness for African Descent Youth Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - Black history has been identified as important to psychosocial adjustment and education outcomes. In K‒12 and in higher education settings, Black history supports transformational educational experiences whereby African descent students can more readily negotiate race-based discrimination and develop counternarratives that challenge deficit ideas about their abilities as students and their value as people. Despite growing […]
Pinpoint the Sox10+ taste bud progenitor cells in von Ebner’s glands and Sox10 regulation in cell differentiation Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - In mammals, taste bud cells are post-mitotic, and they have a short lifespan and undergo continuous renewal, therefore, progenitors in the immediate surrounding tissue must be available to renew taste bud cells for homeostasis. Thorough information of taste bud progenitors and molecular regulation in the cell differentiation is essential to understanding taste disorders caused by […]
Development and Standardization of a Novel Pituitary Adenoma Organoid Model for the Study and Treatment of Cushing’s Disease Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - Cushing’s disease (CD) is a serious endocrine disorder characterized by an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting PitNET that subsequently stimulates the adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol. Chronic exposure to excess cortisol has wide ranging and detrimental effects on health, including increased stroke rates, diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety and death. Although CD is linked to a threefold increase […]
Rural Pharmacy Harm Reduction Model Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - Despite the implementation of numerous successful harm reduction programs across the state, accessing harm reduction services remains a challenge for those living in rural communities. This lack of proximity to resources can directly impact the outcomes for those at risk of an opioid overdose. Our proposal seeks to utilize an untapped healthcare resource currently available […]
Evolution of Retrotransposon Control Mechanisms Tuesday, July 15, 2025 - Dysregulated expression of retrotransposons and other transposable elements (TEs) can lead to increases in TE copy number, DNA damage and instability, or aberrant regulation of host genes, which in turn can contribute to human disease. Conversely, TE activity is required for processes ranging from early mammalian development and cell senescence to horizontal transposon transfer (HTT) […]
Can More Wealth-Conscious Financial Aid Policy Narrow Racial Inequality in Student Borrowing? Monday, June 23, 2025 - Federal student aid emphasizes income and under-acknowledges wealth. I (1) assess whether this under-acknowledgment reinforces Black-white inequality in student borrowing and debt, and (2) test whether more wealth-conscious aid would narrow the Black-white gap in student borrowing. Student debt is very racially unequal, and the large Black-white gap especially merits attention. A likely contributing factor […]
Historical analysis of Salmonella using pre-existing data: trends in outbreaks, genomics, and geographic factors Monday, June 23, 2025 - We will evaluate the genetic changes of beef-related Salmonella isolates in the NCBI database, across time and geographic regions. The goal is to determine how quickly or slowly Salmonella populations change over time with respect to beef food safety and to identify patterns across time and geographic regions that could inform risks 1. Validation of […]
Multi-Model Forecasting of Influenza Seasonal Dynamics to Increase National and Global Forecasting Accuracy and Capacity Monday, June 23, 2025 - Prior to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, influenza viruses led to an estimated 140,000-170,000 hospitalizations and 12,000-52,000 annual deaths in the US. In response to the global spread of COVID-19, governments intermittently enacted strict non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including school closures, stay-at-home orders, targeted business capacity restrictions or closures, and mask mandates, which in combination […]
Assessing the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Carriage State Monday, June 23, 2025 - It is hypothesized that Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the primary agent of human tuberculosis (TB) has been with the human population for more than 12,000 years. Although there are nearly 9 million new cases of TB each year, the vast majority of individuals who come into contact with this organism appear to clear it with no […]
Holistic Study of Nearby Young Moving Groups Monday, June 23, 2025 - Since the discoveries of archetypes of nearby, young moving groups (NYMGs) in the late 1990s, more than 10 NYMGs have been identified within #100pc, with #10,000 claimed members in total. Members of these NYMGs are the youngest (#200 Myr) available stars near Earth (#100 pc). Due to their youth and proximity, these stars serve as […]
Establishing a Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) population health surveillance program through a collaborative system in Costa Rica (Jorge Rojas Jimenez) Monday, May 19, 2025 - The globally endangered Baird’s tapir Tapirus bairdii is the largest native terrestrial mammal in Mesoamerica. Today, < 5,000 individuals are estimated to remain in the wild from Southeast Mexico to Northern Colombia. Baird’s tapirs are herbivorous, hindgut fermenters, that have long- distance movements. Due to this, tapirs play a key role in seed dispersal, hence […]
Building Gullah Geechee Resilience to Climate Change Through Spaces of Abundance in the Salt Marsh of Sapelo Island Monday, May 19, 2025 - Writers, poets and scientists have long tried to capture the mystery and magic of salt marshes. At the same time, interconnected social and ecological processes, including sea level rise and land loss, are dynamically transforming land-use for vulnerable coastal communities and habitat for coastal environments. Marsh landscapes have long been an unrecognized source of producing […]
Partnering with hunters and improving estimation of deer populations to combat chronic wasting disease Monday, May 19, 2025 - Georgia Department of Natural Resources strives to continually improve its ability to manage white-tailed deer populations effectively. Understanding the knowledge of and preferences of hunters is important for partnering with them to manage deer populations. Also, accurately estimating the size of deer populations is necessary to design management programs to meet objectives. Chronic wasting disease […]
The National Biorepository and Resource for Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumor Translational Research (BioPitNeT) Monday, May 19, 2025 - Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are rare and understudied heterogeneous tumors that are detrimental to health causing increased mortality and poor quality of life. Cushing’s disease (CD) is a serious endocrine disease caused by an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting PitNET that subsequently stimulates the adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol. Chronic exposure to excess cortisol has several detrimental […]
Establishing an In Vitro Organoid Model to Study Feline Chronic Kidney Disease Pathophysiology Monday, May 19, 2025 - Through this research program, we propose to screen relevant drugs (Dexa/EXA) in canine intestinal organoids {Milestone 1} establish, for the first time, an in vitro model of chronic kidney disease in dogs {Milestone 2} and cats {Milestone 3}. These novel models will then be cultured either with or without TNF-α and ideal study parameters will […]
Opioid crisis abatement trust evaluation Tuesday, April 15, 2025 - The David Ralston Center on Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities proposes to conduct an evaluation of the Opioid Settlement Fund Grants. This evaluation will enable the trust fund to be strategic in its spending of funds targeted at addressing Opioid-related gaps and needs across the state. Findings from the evaluation will help ensure the settlement […]
Collaborative Research: Stability of eco-evo dynamics and the maintenance of diversity in a host-parasitoid system Tuesday, April 15, 2025 - When natural selection is strong, evolutionary changes in populations may operate on the same time scale as ecological changes, leading to the entanglement of ecological and evolutionary dynamics. These eco-evo dynamics connect two central questions in ecology and evolutionary biology: What allows species to persist and maintain biodiversity, and what preserves the genetic diversity of […]
Examining the circulation on the Northwest Atlantic Shelf: along-shelf connectivity and hot spots of shelf-basin exchange Tuesday, April 15, 2025 - Similar to the step-like improvement seen during the advent of ocean surface topography in the early 1990s, the NASA Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite will revolutionize oceanography by measuring large spatial regions with unprecedented detail, enabling scientists to answer previously unanswerable questions. One such long-standing question has been how meridionally connected is the shelf […]
Optimization of UltraPCR for detection of and assessment of treatment outcomes in Trypanosoma cruzi infection Tuesday, April 15, 2025 - Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis) is the highest-impact infectious disease in Latin America and a growing threat in the United States. The result of infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, Chagas disease has been described as the “most neglected of the neglected diseases.” As a result of the large number of host and vector species infectable […]
Conservation Hub for Economic Empowerment of Rural Stakeholders (CHEERS) Tuesday, March 18, 2025 - Climate-smart (CS) agriculture produces food, fiber, and fuel using less resources, optimizing land-use efficiency, and mitigating pollution of air, water, and soils. Row crops are a major agricultural system in Southeast U.S., covering 4 million acres in FL, GA, and AL. Most of this area (95%) is fallow in the winter after harvesting the summer […]
ApoSoy Tuesday, March 18, 2025 - Novel technologies for crop improvement are needed to face the global societal and climate change challenges. Apomixis, i.e., asexual reproduction through seeds, is a key enabling technology for plant breeding and seed production. Unfortunately, available apomixis technologies are inefficient and a proof of concept (PoC) is currently limited to maize and rice. The major goal […]
CHIRRP: RAISE: Towards a Water Equity Framework for Mitigating Multi-Flood Hazards Events in Puerto Rico: A Case Study for the San Juan Bay Estuary Tuesday, March 18, 2025 - Compound floods (CFs), a combination of hydrologic and coastal flood processes, are a worldwide phenomenon that affects coastal communities within a tropical cyclone’s (TC) path and low-lying urbanized landscapes prone to high tides and extreme rainfall events. CF assessments and their modeling tools have become widely available in recent years (mid-2010s) but have failed to […]
Evaluation of the Risk of Huanglongbing in Cold-Hardy Citrus Production Systems Tuesday, March 18, 2025 - This is a standard proposal (SP) to the ECDRE program. We propose to develop a dynamic risk model and climate suitability model based on existing climate data and current observational/experimental data to be generated through these research objectives: (1) document the distribution of HLB and ACP in cold-hardy citrus growing regions of south Georgia, north […]
Characterizing the Regulation of Cell Envelope Biosynthesis in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Tuesday, March 18, 2025 - The bacterial cell envelope is a multi-layered structure that performs a variety of critical functions such as providing protection from physical and chemical insults, including antibiotics. The cell envelope is essential to viability but how cell envelope biogenesis is regulated is poorly understood. Gram-negative bacteria are characterized by a cell envelope with three layers: an […]
Validating Inflammatory Phenotypes in PFF A-syn Mice Monday, February 17, 2025 - Neuroinflammation is a key aspect of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) pathology. Extracellular alpha-synuclein (aSyn) aggregates influence immune responses in both the central nervous system (CNS) and periphery. The preformed fibril (PFF) aSyn rodent model of PD effectively mimics many PD features, including dopaminergic cell loss, behavioral deficits, and widespread α-synuclein inclusions. In the PFF α-syn model, […]
Developmental Programs as Vulnerabilities in H3.3G34-Mutant High-Grade Glioma Monday, February 17, 2025 - Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among children. Recent studies have identified new subtypes of brain tumors, including high-grade glioma with G34R/V mutations in the histone variant H3.3 (HGG-G34). This subtype primarily affects the cerebral hemispheres of adolescents and young adults. In addition to the histone mutation, HGG-G34 often exhibits mutations in […]
The Cell Envelope of the Multi-Drug-Resistant Pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii Monday, February 17, 2025 - The increasing rise in antibiotic resistance and the diminished discovery of new antimicrobials threatens global healthcare. Of particular concern are Gram-negative pathogens, as these organisms are intrinsically resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics and the discovery of novel drugs targeting these bacteria has remained challenging. The innate resistance of these organisms is provided primarily by […]
Collaborative Research: Measuring the East Greenland [DMM1] Coastal Current on the Northeast Greenland Shelf Monday, February 17, 2025 - This project seeks to answer the question how much fresh (low salinity) water is carried from the Arctic Ocean along the East Greenland Coast into the North Atlantic Ocean and how much this transport may vary as more of the Greenland and Arctic ice sheets melt. For this purpose, an array of six moorings is […]
Maternal vaccination impacts on neonatal susceptibility and response to Bordetella pertussis Friday, January 17, 2025 - Bordetella pertussis (Bp), the causative agent of “whooping cough,” is the most important vaccine-preventable disease and an NIH and CDC high priority. The incidence rates of pertussis have increased over recent years, corresponding to the switch from the whole cell pertussis vaccine (wP) priming and acellular pertussis vaccine (aP) boosting vaccination in the early 2000s, […]
Cultivating Tomorrow’s Orchard: Evolving and Enhancing IPM in Eastern Tree Fruit Systems Friday, January 17, 2025 - The objectives for this project will be: 1) measuring phenological shifts of these key pests and evaluating reliability of available monitoring tools and models; 2) refining IPM tools to ensure compatibility with evolving production practices, regulatory changes, and climate; 3) suppress pest populations across orchard agroecosystems with promising biocontrol agents and integrating enhanced IPM tactics; […]
Novel Epitranscriptomic Mechanisms in Metal Neurotoxicity Friday, January 17, 2025 - Chronic environmental exposure to neurotoxic levels of the metal manganese (Mn) affects the basal ganglia system and has been linked to the etiology of Parkinsonism. Within the basal ganglia (BG), Mn primarily accumulates in the globus pallidus, resulting in dysregulation of the BG neural circuitry. As the most abundant glial cells in the CNS, astrocytes […]
Microglial Hv1 Proton Channel as a Mediator of Environmentally-Induced Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Friday, January 17, 2025 - Neuroinflammation is a driving force contributing to neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). Microglia are the primary immune cell of the brain and are among the first responders to infection, toxic insult and aggregated proteins and contribute significantly to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. The microglial inflammatory response, including inflammasome activation, has been demonstrated to be significantly […]
Establishing strains and conditions for long-term P. vivax cultures Friday, January 17, 2025 - Plasmodium vivax (Pv) is responsible for a significant portion of the malaria cases outside of Africa and causes significant socioeconomic burden worldwide. New therapies to treat Pv are needed, but a continuous, high yield culture system that enables the study of Pv’s biology has not been established. Without this tool, development of new therapies is […]
Discovering and deploying genetic solutions across maturity groups for durable resistance to multiple nematodes Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - Nematodes are among the top yield-robbers encountered by soybean farmers across the U.S. Almost all SCN resistant varieties in U.S. soybean production are derived from two genetic sources, imposing risk of genetic vulnerability and resistance breakdown. Soybean breeders and growers are limited in genetic sources for nematode resistance with competitive yield, which places U.S. soybean […]
PFI-RP: Gene discovery through variation of fungi across environments Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - Even in fungal model systems, up to 40% of genes have unknown or poorly characterized functions with no informative homologies in databases. Fungi tolerate a variety of stressful environments, including a wide range of temperature and moisture levels. The same fungal species isolated from different environments often shows variation in its genetic complement. Studies of […]
Risk-Informed, Performance-Based Evaluation of Local and Regional Surface and Groundwater Hydrology using Alternative Conceptual Models Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - We propose to continue development of a groundwater-hydrologic model for southeast Georgia and surrounding region (Okefenokee Swamp and associated rivers). We will explore the role of groundwater flows across southeast Georgia for future climate and coastal development scenarios including the effective dispersion of scalars within the groundwater system. We will maintain a specific focus on […]
Research for Managing Whiteflies and Whitefly-transmitted Viruses in Vegetable Crops in the Southeastern U.S. Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - The overall objective of this project is to improve the management of whiteflies and whitefly-transmitted viruses in vegetable crops in Georgia and other southeastern states. The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, causes global economic losses including an epidemic by this pest and whitefly-transmitted viruses that severely impact vegetable and other crop production in the southeastern United States. […]
Assessing infectivity of genomic RNA from positive-sense RNA viruses Monday, November 18, 2024 - Several methods have been developed to inactivate virus particles. These inactivation methods must be effective and reliable to prevent the accidental spread of viruses. It is crucial to completely inactivate high-risk agents, such as SARS-CoV-2, before they are removed from high-level biocontainment facilities for further handling. However, it is unclear whether common methods of virus […]
Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Elementary Molecular Species and Reactions of Importance to Gas Phase Chemical Physics Monday, November 18, 2024 - New theoretical and experimental methods in chemical physics being developed by the PIs provide great opportunities for the study of molecular species and chemical reactions of fundamental importance in combustion processes. In this research, high level quantum mechanical formalisms are a significant source of critical predictions concerning molecular systems that may be challenging for experiments. […]
PFI-RP: ElectricDot: Advanced Anomaly Detection and Diagnostics for Electrical Devices and Networks Monday, November 18, 2024 - The broader impact of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project is to enhance the reliability and security of electrical devices and networks within modern infrastructure including, but not limited to, buildings, manufacturing systems, and hospitals. This PFI-RP project introduces a smart sensor capable of detecting anomalies, pinpointing their locations, and diagnosing issues […]
Heparan sulfate co-polymerase function and defects in disease Monday, November 18, 2024 - Proteoglycans harboring heparan sulfate (HS) chains are widely found on cell surfaces and in extracellular matrices where they interact with growth factors, receptors, morphogens, and extracellular matrix components and play critical roles in processes such as cell survival, division, migration, differentiation, pathogen binding, and cancer development. HS biosynthesis is a complex process involving initial formation […]
Promoting resilience of spotted turtle populations on DOD installations Monday, November 18, 2024 - The project will advance scientific understanding of the effect of multiple stressors on aquatic species of interest to the Department of Defense (DoD) and promote the resilience of the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) under anthropogenic and climate-induced stressors on DoD installations. The relative vulnerability of coastal and inland spotted turtle populations to hydrologic alterations, connectivity, […]
ECR: Upward Transfer Degree Pathways in Computer Science: A Mixed Methods Study of Structures, Policies, and Practices Friday, October 4, 2024 - As the U.S. invests in efforts to build its capacity to lead the world in the development of artificial intelligence and other areas of computer science, it faces a critical workforce bottleneck, a shortage of computer scientists to meet workforce demands in industry and academia, coupled with a lack of gender and racial diversity. One […]
Epigenomic consequences of breakage-fusion-bridge cycling Friday, October 4, 2024 - Project Summary Chromosome breakage can generate extraordinary genetic novelty that is selected upon during tumor progression. One commonly observed feature of cancer is the breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycle, where double-strand breaks set off a chain reaction that leads to copy number variations and complex chromosome shattering events. The BFB cycle was first described in maize by […]
Treatment outcome requirements for disease prevention in Chagas disease Friday, October 4, 2024 - Abstract Infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is generally controlled but often not eliminated by host immune responses. In humans and many other hosts, this persistent infection ultimately results in muscle tissue damage known as Chagas disease. It is widely accepted that the early detection and rapid treatment of T. cruzi improves treatment outcomes […]
GenAI Empowered National Initiative for Upholding STEM+C Education (GENIUS) Friday, October 4, 2024 - The development of a competent science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computing (STEM+C) workforce in the era of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is crucial for the nation’s economic growth, security, and global competitiveness. To achieve this goal, initiatives that combine a robust understanding of core STEM concepts with competence in computational thinking (CT) and AI are […]
BioFoundry: Glycoscience Resource, Education and Training (BioF-GREAT) Friday, October 4, 2024 - The BioFoundry: Glycoscience Resources, Education, And Training (BioF:GREAT) will develop new research, technologies, and instructional experiences to allow a broader adoption of glycoscience into research environments and education curriculums. Although glycans, also referred to as complex carbohydrates, are one of the four classes of biomolecules found in all living organisms, they have been consistently understudied […]
Linking smoke to fire: The effect of burn conditions on fuel availability, smoke production, and atmospheric processing Monday, September 16, 2024 - The overarching goal of the proposed research is to fill key science gaps in the understanding of smoke production and its physicochemical properties, as well as the evolution of these properties during atmospheric aging, to better understand the effects of smoke on health and visibility. Filling the major gaps in understanding smoke production in prescribed […]
Protein glycosylation and trafficking in Plasmodium falciparum Monday, September 16, 2024 - In all domains of life proteins are modified via glycosylation. This addition of sugar molecules to proteins is critical for their folding, function, and recognition by their partners. Rigorous studies have shown that in well-studied eukaryotic organisms, proteins synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are glycosylated on asparagine residues as well as on serine or […]
Cryptococcal vaccine development based on strong immunity induced by morphological strains Monday, September 16, 2024 - Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis (CME) is responsible for more than 15% of the total deaths of AIDS patients. The disease claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year, with global mortality rates of ~70% despite antifungal therapies. Unfortunately, there is no vaccine clinically available for cryptococcosis. The challenges of preventing and treating this fungal disease motivate our […]