Tags: NIH

photo off woman in ship, near shore, day
Kudos, Summer 2024

The awards, scholarships, and achievements by Franklin College students, alumni, faculty, and staff don't stop for summer. Congratulations to the members of our community whose individual honors bring great distinction to the college and the University of Georgia. A glimpse of the excellence that shined through the summer months: Jordyn Faucette, a senior philosophy, English, and political science major, was one of 19 students across the nation…

photo of man with glasses
NIH renews support of studies of bacterial metabolism and physiology

The National Institutes of Health awarded $3.5M to UGA faculty member Jorge Escalante to continue his studies of the metabolic capabilities of prokaryotic cells.  The award is known as the ‘Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award’ (MIRA), which has a duration of 5 years. Escalante, UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of microbiology, received his first MIRA in 2019 and successfully…

photo of woman
UGA team awarded NIH funding to use AI to investigate molecular interactions

Molecular scale breakthroughs in human health – from COVID-19 vaccines to cancer therapeutics – require scientists to understand how molecules interact with each other, akin to figuring out how puzzle pieces fit together. To do this, scientists use a special microscope called an atomic force microscope (AFM) that can see and manipulate molecules. For the virus that causes COVID-19, for example, this microscope can gently poke and measure…

microscope image of red band with white spots
Genetics professor receives two NIH awards

University of Georgia researcher Pengpeng Bi received a pair of National Institutes of Health grants in September: a Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA, 2022–2027) and an Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21, 2022–2024). The $2.3 million awards will support efforts to uncover the molecular mechanism of human muscle development and homeostasis. The MIRA is a funding mechanism to provide support for a program of…

photo of people talking cross desk
Kudos, February 2022

Students lead our roundup of Franklin College awards, accolades, and achievements announced during February – though not to be outdone by our outstanding alumni!  Congratulations all: Shannon Rodriguez, Ph.D candidate in linguistics, studies a dialect of English spoken by Latinos born in Georgia, a particular blend of Southern drawl. She recently presented her dissertation on the topic “Latino English in Georgia: a sociophonetic…

photo of table with framed certificates
Kudos, September 2021

Alumni on and off campus headline our kudos over the month of September. Congratulations on the wonderful accomplishments near and far celebrated here on campus: On Tuesday, Sept. 21, the Franklin College celebrated staff excellence at a socially distant event at the Innovation Hub R. Wood Studio celebrates 30th anniversary and grand reopening (Rebecca Wood, BFA ’77) – R&B David Froetschel (BFA ’13) wins Lyndon House Arts Center solo…

headshot photo of man
Ye receives NIH award to pursue precision medicine

University of Georgia researcher Kaixiong Ye has received a Maximizing Investigators Research Award from the National Institutes of Health. The nearly $2 million, five-year award will support efforts to characterize gene-environment interactions, or genetic effects modified by environment, underlying complex traits in humans. The MIRA is a grant to provide support for a program of research in an early-stage investigator’s laboratory that…

photo of woman posed on low wall, day
Bartolomeo awarded predoctoral NIH fellowship

University of Georgia doctoral candidate Lisa Bartolomeo has been awarded an F31 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship is given to enhance the diversity of the health-related workforce and support the research training of predoctoral students from populations traditionally underrepresented in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research…

photo of man in research lab, arms folded
Researcher receives $3M NIH award to continue exploring bacterial immune systems

Michael Terns of the University of Georgia is the recipient of a $3 million Maximizing Investigator Research Award, or MIRA, from the National Institutes of Health to further research on CRISPR—bacterial immune systems harnessed as powerful human gene-editing tools—and to begin studying Anti-CRISPR, or ACR, proteins used by viruses to evade the CRISPR immune systems. “We’re studying a global viral pandemic. Rather than a virus against…

photo of woman outdoors, with building
Kudos, March 2021

Apples, amazing students, a major book prize and national research awards, from the NIH as well as the National Institute of General Medicine Sciences, headline the kudos for Franklin College faculty, students, and alumni during March: Foundation Fellow Zakiyya Ellington came to UGA in part for the big sports atmosphere and in part for the travel associated with her fellowship. She’s studied at Oxford and traveled to…

photo of woman in lab corridor
Rozario receives NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

One of UGA's newest faculty members, Tania Rozario has received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award Program, which supports early-career investigators of exceptional creativity who propose high-risk, high-reward research projects: Rozario is an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Genetics and the Center for Tropical…

photo of man in front of computer screen projection
Kannan receives $2M NIH MIRA award

University of Georgia faculty member Natarajan Kannan is a recipient of a highly prestigious Maximizing Investigator Research Award, or MIRA, from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The MIRA award is intended to provide investigators with greater stability and flexibility in funding to enhance scientific productivity and make important scientific breakthroughs. The program funds research by the nation’s most highly…

headshots of two women and one man
Kudos, September 2020

Congratulations to our many colleagues on recent accolades and achievements, inspiring our work with their excellence in teaching, research and outreach: Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt, Richard B. Russell Professor in American History, was named to the nonfiction Longlist for the 2020 National Book Award Three University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and…

group photo of men and woman outdoors
UGA part of $52M NIH study on early detection of schizophrenia in young people

Researchers from the University of Georgia are part of an international investigation led by the Yale Department of Psychiatry to better understand the cause and effect of schizophrenia in some high-risk adolescents and young adults. The research, funded by a $52 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, will fund the development of the Psychosis Risk Outcomes Network, or ProNET. The consortium will be based at 27 institutions, where…

photo of woman outdoors
Liu receives NIH Career Award

The National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health recently granted a Career Award to Jiaying Liu, assistant professor in the department of communication studies. Career Awards are given to researchers to allow time for intensive development and training in biomedical, behavioral and clinical sciences. The five-year, near $1 million grant will allow Liu to gain additional training in functional magnetic…

photo of woman in a lab with computer
Doctoral candidate receives NIH fellowship

Hannah Stephen, a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry and molecular biology, has received the F30 Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: “Receiving this fellowship is such an honor and I’m very grateful to the NIH and the NICHD for seeing the importance of my work and the vision of my future work,” said Stephen…

Photo of man standing in front of NMR machine
GlyGen will integrate glycoscience data to combat pathogens

Glycans, or complex sugars, cover the surfaces of our cells and play a key role in biological processes ranging from interacting with other cells to recognizing and fighting pathogens. A new informatics portal is helping to illuminate the world of glycoscience: UGA partnered with George Washington University to create GlyGen (glygen.org), a glycoscience informatics portal funded by a $10 million grant from the National…

photo of two men in lab
NIH provides long-term funding for Escalante microbiology lab

The National Institutes of Health announced a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) granted to UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of microbiology. MIRA grants are designed to increase the efficiency of NIH funding by providing investigators with greater stability and flexibility, thereby enhancing scientific productivity and the chances…

Photo of five pageant winners
Kudos, January 2019

Franklin faculty and students continue to distinguish the University of Georgia through their scholarship, awards and honors. A sample from the past month: Professor of microbiology Xiaorong Lin been elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology.  The Academy, the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, recognizes excellence, originality, and leadership in the microbiological…

address to joint session of congress - photo
Noted and quoted, January 2019

Franklin College faculty appeared in a wide variety of media over the month of January: New method to classify schizophrenia symptoms should improve care - assistant professor of psychology Gregory Strauss quoted by Psych Central   Scientists could engineer a spicy tomato. Is it worth it? Research by professor of plant biology Esther van der Knaap reported in Popular Science, Tahlequah Daily Press…

photo of men with NMR machine in background
UGA leading unknown compound identification effort

The National Institutes of Health has established UGA as a core center of efforts to unblock a bottleneck in biological and medical research: University of Georgia scientists will utilize genetics and quantum chemistry as tools for identifying unknown metabolites in the human body as one of five Compound Identification Development Cores in the United States. The initiative, funded by National Institutes of Health Metabolomics Common…

photo of two people with a painted portrait
Kudos, October 2018

New grants and awards, number one in debate and the unveiling of a portrait of Mary Frances Early headline our kudos for the month of October. Congratulations to faculty, students and alumni on their recent accolades and accomplishments: The U.S. Department of Education awarded $1.7 million in support of the University of Georgia Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute(LACSI) to expand research, teaching and public service…

photo of woman in office
Ehrlich receives NIH New Innovator Award

The National Institutes of Health Common Fund supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators with the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. Assistant professor of psychology Katherine Ehrlich received a New Innovator award in the program to determine whether stressful life experiences have more immediate effects on children’s health: The $2.3 million Director’s New Innovator Award from the NIH Common…

photo of man, seated with monitor
New glycoscience informatics portal: GlyGen

Glycoscience is the study of the structure and function of carbohydrates — organic compounds that play critical roles in nearly every aspect of biology. UGA is a partner in a new project that will soon be able to provide a way for questions asked by those studying glycoscience to be answered by big data: The National Institutes of Health has jointly awarded a $10 million grant to UGA and George Washington University to build a glycoscience…

brain diagram
Brain Structure and Trust

Compelling new research from the department of psychology on how brain structure in people differs according to how trusting people are of others: The research may have implications for future treatments of psychological conditions such as autism, said the study's lead author Brian Haas, an assistant professor in the department of psychology. Each autism diagnosis is on a spectrum and varies, but some diagnosed with the condition exhibit…
Subscribe to NIH

Support Franklin College

We appreciate your financial support. Your gift is important to us and helps support critical opportunities for students and faculty alike, including lectures, travel support, and any number of educational events that augment the classroom experience. Click here to learn more about giving.

Every dollar given has a direct impact upon our students and faculty.