News from the Chronicles - September 2022

pictorial diagram of fern leaf parts and sections, with text on white
Genome evolution in the modern fern

Defying all expectations, a fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the title for highest chromosome count, with a whopping 720 pairs crammed into each of its nuclei. This penchant of ferns for hoarding DNA has stumped scientists, and the intractable size of their genomes has made it difficult to sequence, assemble and interpret them. Two new papers published in the journal Nature Plants are rewriting history with the first full-…

photo of stage drama with four people in colorful clothing and decorative set
Theatre faculty helped make this show go on

Over the summer, two faculty members from the University of Georgia department of theatre and film studies worked with the Aurora Theatre and Broadway Factor to bring Chris Anthony Ferrer’s debut play, “Swindlers,” to life. The play ran at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville in May and June. Julie Ray, associate professor and head of the department of theatre and film studies, and Ivan Ingermann, associate professor…

photo of man in front of mural
Art Rosenbaum, 1938-2022

The UGA campus and community grieves the loss of a great educator, artist, musician and friend with the passing of Art Rosenbaum on September 4. For thirty years, the late professor emeritus Art Rosenbaum instructed a generation of painters at the Lamar Dodd School of Art with an eye toward bold, layered compositions that highlighted the interiority of his subjects and the dynamic landscape of folk traditions and personhood in the South.…

microscopy image of cell, with colorful outlines of round objects
Ghost in the cell

UGA’s Audrey Ward won Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Yeast Microscopy Competition in the category of Best Special Effects and Editing with “Ghost in the Cell,” this spectral shot of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To create the image, she and Yee Mon Thu of Colby College used calcofluor-white staining of the cell wall of the yeast species, which has been used in winemaking, baking and brewing since antiquity. Ward edited the final…

photo of man on stair case
Researchers discover potential treatment for Chagas disease

Researchers from the University of Georgia have discovered a potential treatment for Chagas disease, marking the first medication with promise to successfully and safely target the parasitic infection in more than 50 years. Human clinical trials of the drug, an antiparasitic compound known as AN15368, will hopefully begin in the next few years. “I’m very optimistic,” said Rick Tarleton, corresponding author of the study and a UGA…

photo of bridge support and water
Leaky infrastructure driving antibiotic resistant pathogens in local waters

Could your old septic tank be driving a growth in antimicrobial resistant bacteria? It’s possible, say the authors of a University of Georgia study that identified aging sewer lines and septic systems as the primary drivers of antibiotic resistant bacteria contamination in their samples. This finding flips the script on the assumption that agriculture runoff or treated wastewater outflows are the main ways antibiotic resistant bacteria are…

photo of three people, outdoors
Department of Linguistics faculty receive NSF grant to support research on endangered languages

Keith Langston, Professor of Linguistics, was recently awarded a three-year, $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study endangered languages on the Istrian peninsula of Croatia and the Kvarner Bay in the northern Adriatic Sea. The project, supported by the NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure–NEH Documenting Endangered Languages program, seeks to document and analyze endangered language varieties in the Istria and Kvarner…

graphic of tree with colorful swirls
“Women of Letters” launches a bilingual collection of poetry, Raízes: Brazilian Women Poets in Translation

The U.S. Chapter of “Women of Letters” (Mulherio das Letras), an all-women literary collective, launched a bilingual collection of poetry, Raízes: Brazilian Women Poets in Translation. Published by Venas Abiertas, and edited by UGA department of Romance Languages faculty members Cecília Paiva Ximenes Rodrigues and Cris Lira, Raízes brings together poems by forty-seven Brazilian writers of different identities and reveals the…

two photos of men, at right with piano
Duo opens Faculty Recital Series

Michael Heald and Anatoly Sheludyakov will present a recital of violin and piano music at the Ramsey Concert Hall in the Performing Arts Center on Monday, Sept.19, at 7:30 pm. This is part of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s Faculty Recital Series. They will perform sonatas by Mozart, Amy Beach, and Edward Elgar. Audiences may be less familiar with the works of Beach and Elgar, but they are both wonderful examples of…

photo of man using microscope in lab
Cellular biology researcher uncovers humans’ natural weapon against malaria

Parasitologist Samarchith “Sam” Kurup has been awarded a five-year National Institutes of Health grant to study the natural immune response to the Plasmodium parasite in liver cells, with designs on uncovering how the human immune system naturally fights malaria in the liver stage will lead to an effective malaria vaccine. Our colleagues in the Office of research share the story: Malaria is one of the most studied parasitic…

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