{"63730":{"#nid":"63730","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Hosts NASA Astrobiology Institute Meeting","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn January 20-21, 2011, the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution (RiboEvo), is hosting the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) Executive Council at the Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The NAI is a partnership between NASA and teams located at academic institutions, research laboratories and NASA centers across the country.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe NAI Executive Council is comprised of the NAI Director, Carl Pilcher, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Edward Goolish, Ph.D. and the directors of the fourteen NAI teams from across the country.  The purpose of the meeting is to evaluate and discuss new opportunities for NAI-wide research, space mission activities, technological development, and external partnerships.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech NAI center, RiboEvo, was established in February 2009 with a five year grant of 6.4 million dollars from NASA.  RiboEvo is lead by the center\u0027s director, Loren D. Williams, Ph.D., professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  RiboEvo is a multidisciplinary research center and is comprised of scientists from Georgia Tech, Emory University, John Hopkins University, the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of Houston.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlthough dispersed throughout the country, together these NAI teams work collaboratively to integrate interdisciplinary research and education in astrobiology with the goal of rewinding the tape of life. The idea being if you can understand the origin and evolution of life on earth you can then anticipate the nature of it across the universe.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERiboEvo investigators specifically focus on research surrounding the ribosome, the oldest molecular assembly in biology. Using the ribosome, RiboEvo performs molecular paleontology or mining of biophysical and inorganic chemistry from ancient biological systems. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe ribosome tells the story of some of life\u2019s aboriginal molecules, assemblies and chemical reactions,\u201d Williams said. \u201cUnderstanding the ribosome will uncover clues in the transition from the RNA world to the RNA-DNA-protein world.\u201d   \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe work from this research center carries the potential of discovering and characterizing the oldest traceable macromolecules and machines of life, as well as the earliest discernable connection between RNA and protein.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn January 20-21, 2011, the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution (RiboEvo), is hosting the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) Executive Council at the Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The NAI is a partnership between NASA and teams located at academic institutions, research laboratories and NASA centers across the country.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Hosts NASA Astrobiology Institute Meeting"}],"uid":"27224","created_gmt":"2011-01-19 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:02","author":"Megan McDevitt","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-01-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-01-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"64074":{"id":"64074","type":"image","title":"NASA Astrobiology Institute","body":null,"created":"1449176720","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:05:20","changed":"1475894564","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:44","alt":"NASA Astrobiology Institute","file":{"fid":"191927","name":"nasa-logo.gif","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nasa-logo_0.gif","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nasa-logo_0.gif","mime":"image\/gif","size":26545,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/nasa-logo_0.gif?itok=6J094ydo"}}},"media_ids":["64074"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/astrobiology.gatech.edu\/","title":"Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution"},{"url":"http:\/\/astrobiology.nasa.gov\/nai\/","title":"NASA Astrobiology Institute"},{"url":"http:\/\/ibb.gatech.edu\/","title":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"722","name":"Astrobiology"},{"id":"11689","name":"Institute for Bioengineeirng and Bioscience"},{"id":"10720","name":"Loren Williams"},{"id":"408","name":"NASA"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMegan Graziano McDevitt\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMarketing and Event Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=mm504\u0022\u003EContact Megan McDevitt\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-7001\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["megan.mcdevitt@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}