{"647519":{"#nid":"647519","#data":{"type":"news","title":"CMDI: Mighty Microbial Dynamics for a Healthier People and Planet","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EShaping the shared future of microbes and human health is the mission for Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/microdynamics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI)\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYes, there are similar academic-based centers studying infectious diseases and the microbes that cause them, but to understand what makes Georgia Tech\u2019s center different, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/sam-brown\u0022\u003ESam Brown\u003C\/a\u003E, CMDI co-director and a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, says to concentrate on that third letter in the Center\u0027s name.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFocus on dynamics,\u201d says Brown. \u201cThat\u2019s basically how microbes are changing over time and space as well as how they\u2019re changing \u003Cem\u003Esystems\u003C\/em\u003E in time. This notion of dynamics operates on different scales. It operates, as I see it, on a behavioral scale \u2014 individual bugs making decisions and changing their behavior in time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEcological dynamics are \u201chow populations are changing with time, and how they\u2019re interacting with other communities \u2014 for example in biofilms,\u201d Brown adds, referring to the name for communities of microorganisms that stick to surfaces and create their own \u201cneighborhoods.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are also evolutionary dynamics, which are worrying to Brown and other researchers, as they can mean bacteria increase resistance to antibiotics. And then there are epidemiological dynamics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re all glued to our screens watching the epidemiological dynamics of Covid-19 play out in real time,\u201d he explains.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAll of this involves the study of some of the natural world\u2019s tiniest troublemakers \u2014 and helpers. Humans are pathetically outnumbered by microbes. They live in, on, and around all of us. They are at both ends of the human food chain, helping farmers grow food, and then assisting us in digesting our meals.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou have trillions of bacteria in your gut,\u201d points out \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/marvin-whiteley\u0022\u003EMarvin Whiteley\u003C\/a\u003E, CMDI\u2019s founding co-director who serves as a professor in the School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Tech Bennie H. and Nelson D. Abell Chair in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and co-director for Emory-Children\u2019s CF Center. So, in the spectrum of these tiny communities, there are helpful and harmful microbes alike \u2014 and the latter can often make us very sick. That\u2019s where CMDI experts step in.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCMDI is working to transform how we study microbes in an environmental context, and ultimately find new microbial strategies to improve human and environmental health,\u201d Brown says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECMDI\u2019s science is conducted in an interdisciplinary manner, like many other research centers at Georgia Tech, with research that reaches into a number of other disciplines \u2014 microbial ecology, microbiome dynamics, biogeochemistry, microbial biophysics, socio-microbiology, infection dynamics, host-pathogen interactions, marine and aquatic microbiology, microbial evolution, viral ecology, spatial imaging, and math\/computational modeling.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Center is fairly new, beginning operations in 2018. Yet it\u2019s already closing in on 100 researchers \u2014 faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral students \u2014 and is aggressively recruiting early career scientists from around the world to research at CMDI.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are a unique interdisciplinary research center since our expertise spans such broad subjects from coral reef ecosystems, to antibiotic resistant bacteria, to new infectious diseases therapies,\u201d explains \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/maria-avdonina\u0022\u003EMaria Avdonina\u003C\/a\u003E, CMDI manager.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding CMDI\u2019s foundation, and using it to attack \u003Cem\u003EP. aeruginosa\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHow does a pathogen do what it does at the molecular level?\u201d Marvin Whiteley asks.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is a question that he began asking at The University of Texas at Austin, where he founded another center to study infectious disease before coming to Georgia Tech in 2017. Back then, Whiteley was looking for the kind of interdisciplinary mix of researchers that can be found widely across the Institute, so he moved to Atlanta and built that into the CMDI\u2019s mission as its founding co-director.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s the idea of not just working with pure microbiologists, but working with those interested in how things change, and their dynamic aspects, even daily changes in the microbiome,\u201d he says, referring to the term used to describe all the microorganisms that live in a particular environment, whether it\u2019s a human body or a body of land or water. \u201cIt requires modelers \u2014 people used to looking at big data sets \u2014 and people who think about evolutionary biology. It\u2019s a unique kind of expertise that I don\u2019t have in my lab, but the folks who work for me in the lab can take advantage of it within CMDI.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhiteley\u2019s research interests include the study of cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease that results in bacteria chronically attacking the lungs of its patients. To combat disease, Whiteley is focusing research on Pseudomonas aeruginosa (\u003Cem\u003EP. aeruginosa\u003C\/em\u003E), a particularly dangerous bacteria that\u2019s often found in CF patients\u2019 lungs. He notes that the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/drugresistance\/pdf\/threats-report\/pseudomonas-aeruginosa-508.pdf\u0022\u003ECenters for Disease Control\u003C\/a\u003E (CDC) lists it as one of the primary pathogens that is cause for clinical concern.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt lives in nature, but we published a paper showing it\u2019s not everywhere. It\u2019s located near human activity, so wherever we are, it seems to grow and do really well. It\u2019s in a lot of different diseases \u2014 and CF is one of them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EP. aeruginosa\u003C\/em\u003E is also \u201ca really important cause of wound infections,\u201d Whiteley adds, citing a CDC estimate that by 2050, about 20 percent of the entire U.S. healthcare budget could be spent treating chronic wound infections.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe biggest problem in environments where it\u2019s problematic is hospitals,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s very tolerant of antimicrobials, and it acquires resistance fairly quickly. That causes it to enrich in its environment.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETaking on Covid-19\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/joshua-weitz\u0022\u003EJoshua Weitz\u003C\/a\u003E, who is a CMDI faculty member, professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in Biological Sciences, and founding director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences program, is a key scientist behind Georgia Tech\u2019s Covid-19 surveillance testing efforts, along with Covid-19 event risk and population immunity modeling research around nation and beyond.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz has led a series of concurrent efforts to estimate epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, develop novel approaches to use large-scale testing as an intervention, and leverage mathematical models and real-time datasets to inform the public of ongoing transmission risk.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz recently received a best paper award \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/research-papers-estimating-covid-19-risk-events-hidden-symmetries-origami-capture-annual-sigma\u0022\u003Efrom the Georgia Tech Chapter of Sigma Xi\u003C\/a\u003E for his work on the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECovid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool\u003C\/a\u003E, which calculates the odds of being exposed to an infected individual in groups of different sizes; it has received more than 8 million unique visitors who have generated more than 40 million risk estimates since the planning tool\u2019s launch in July 2020.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz also joined fellow faculty and staff in sharing an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/biological-sciences-and-chemistry-faculty-receive-trio-2020-2021-institute-research-awards\u0022\u003EInstitute Research Award\u003C\/a\u003E and Institute Service Award in recognition of collective efforts to design, develop, implement, deploy an asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 saliva-based testing program to address the coronavirus pandemic across campus. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of what Joshua has done,\u201d Sam Brown says, \u201cboth in the context of Covid-19 and also in exploring new therapeutic angles for bacterial infections, by harnessing the viral natural enemies of bacteria: phages.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe search for new antibiotics \u2014 and how best to use them\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile Covid-19 is a virus that has dominated headlines since early 2020, bacterial resistance to antibiotics \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/drugresistance\/about.html\u0022\u003Ehas been a problem\u003C\/a\u003E for decades. Penicillin was first available as an antibiotic in 1941. \u003Cem\u003EStaphylococcus aureus\u003C\/em\u003E was found to be resistant to it as early as 1942.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECMDI faculty member \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/julia-kubanek\u0022\u003EJulia Kubanek\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor of in the School of Biological Sciences and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, former associate dean for Research in the College of Sciences and newly appointed \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/julia-kubanek-named-vice-president-interdisciplinary-research\u0022\u003Evice president for Interdisciplinary Research (VPIR)\u003C\/a\u003E for all of Georgia Tech, has spent the past 17 years diving into the waters near Fiji and the Solomon Islands, looking for natural marine products that could fill that widening gap in resistance-free drugs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since entirely new classes of antibiotics were brought to market,\u201d Kubanek explains. \u201cPharmaceutical companies have reduced their investments in antibiotic drug discovery, despite the continuing rise of antimicrobial resistance among existing drugs. More resistant strains of infectious bacteria and fungi are evolving constantly and present severe threats to public health.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Covid-19 pandemic is a related example. It has revealed that science\u2019s arsenal of antiviral drugs is inadequate, she notes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKubanek and CMDI faculty colleague \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/mark-hay\u0022\u003EMark Hay\u003C\/a\u003E, Regents Professor and Harry and Linda Teasley Chair in the School of Biological Sciences, are both part of Georgia Tech\u2019s drug discovery program, which looks at small molecule natural products from marine organisms as sources for potential future medicines against infectious diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA partnership with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.med.emory.edu\/\u0022\u003EEmory University School of Medicine\u003C\/a\u003E helps researchers screen Georgia Tech\u2019s natural product library \u2014 what Kubanek and her research team found on those South Pacific trips \u2014 for potential drug candidates has resulted in encouraging news for viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the specific coronavirus that causes Covid-19.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re currently following three promising classes of natural products from marine algae and sponges that show preliminary activity against this coronavirus,\u201d Kubanek says. Those molecules are distinct from currently marketed antivirals and antibiotics, and that could mean more weapons in science\u2019s arsenal for fighting infectious diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECMDI researchers also approach the antibiotic resistance crisis through an epidemiological and evolutionary lens. For example, recent work from the Brown Lab has identified new strategies to slow or even reverse the increase in drug-resistant strains, by changing how doctors dose their drugs, and how they make use of diagnostic information.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMicrobes, climate, and environmental health\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond human infections and pathogen control, CMDI also focuses on the significant impacts that microbes have on human and environmental health. CMDI faculty member \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/joel-kostka\u0022\u003EJoel Kostka\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and associate chair of Research in the School of Biological Sciences who also serves as a professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is a leading researcher in environmental microbiology, bringing the power of \u201comics\u201d technologies to discover the role of environmental microbes in shaping key aspects of our shared world, from bioremediation to climate change.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKostka\u2019s work \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/deepwater-horizon-and-rise-omics-decade-breakthroughs-microbial-science\u0022\u003Eled to the discovery of key marine microbes\u003C\/a\u003E that played an important role in cleaning up the oil spilled during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Disaster \u2014 microbes that turned out to be abundant in oil-contaminated soils around the world.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKostka\u2019s work in this space \u201crevealed a natural capacity for rare microbes in the Gulf of Mexico to catalyze the bioremediation, or natural cleanup, of petroleum hydrocarbons,\u201d he explains. \u201cThese microbes show promise as biological indicators to direct emergency response efforts, as well as to elucidate the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/joel-kostka-details-microbial-legacy-deepwater-horizon-disaster\u0022\u003Eimpacts of oil exposure on ecosystem health during oil spills\u003C\/a\u003E and other environmental disasters,\u201d he adds.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Kostka Lab has also long characterized the role of the environment in shaping microbial communities that limit the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a large scale climate change experiment that\u2019s being conducted in northern Minnesota with funding by the U.S. Department of Energy, Kostka\u2019s research recently \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/temperate-glimpse-warming-world\u0022\u003Eshowed that warming accelerates the production of greenhouse gases from soil microbial respiration\u003C\/a\u003E \u2014 and that microbial activity \u201cwas fueled by the release of plant metabolites, suggesting that enhanced greenhouse gas production is likely to persist and result in amplified climate feedbacks.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cJoel is our key player in this space,\u201d Brown says. \u201cHe\u2019s done incredible research on how the environment can dictate microbial species abundance and their behavioral contributions to the functioning of Earth\u2019s ecosystems. He\u2019s shown that different \u2018taxa\u2019, or groups of organisms, become metabolically active or \u2018switched on\u2019 depending on environmental factors like temperature. His research contributes to building better climate models as well as to develop new geoengineering strategies to adapt to climate change. He\u2019s doing beautiful work.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECMDI\u2019s global call to early career microbiologists\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECMDI\u2019s research is funded by grants from agencies like the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nsf.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Science Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Institutes of Health\u003C\/a\u003E to individual labs run by faculty \u2014 and by money distributed directly to the Center from across Georgia Tech, including the College of Sciences and its Office of the Dean and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/12-proposals-achieve-college-sciences-strategic-goals-funded-sutherland-deans-chair\u0022\u003ESutherland Dean\u0027s Chair\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese sources \u201care getting healthier by the minute, and that\u2019s a testament to the scientists at the Center,\u201d Brown points out \u2014 so much so that two new positions have recently been created: a senior research scientist who will assist postdoctoral and graduate students with grant and fellowship applications, and a CMDI Early Career Award Fellowship that seeks out \u201csuperstars, people who are going to go on to be faculty success stories.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want to get them early,\u201d Brown says. \u201cWe\u2019re interviewing some great candidates just out of their Ph.D.s. We\u2019ll give them maximum independence, their own space, their own office, their own pot of money. They\u2019ll be sitting at the intersection of our research interests but can run their own lab and their own research program.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis allows postdoctoral students to focus on research projects, Julia Kubanek says. \u201cBecause postdocs generally don\u2019t enroll in formal courses, nor are they generally expected to teach in the classroom, they get to immerse themselves in research in collaboration with faculty, students, and other postdocs. The CMDI is rapidly growing as a collaborative environment, where postdocs can try out their best ideas and learn from others how to tackle the most pressing scientific questions in microbial dynamics, microbial communication, ecosystem health, and infectious disease.\u201d Kubanek adds that a related fellowship program \u201cwill augment postdoctoral salaries to attract the very best candidates, enabling grant dollars to stretch further, leading to new discoveries.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Center is also ratcheting up outreach, including what it calls its \u0022Research Envoys Program.\u0022 The intitiative features graduate students giving seminars at local institutions throughout the Atlanta area, including at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Although it\u2019s mostly on pause right now due to the pandemic, two Ph.D. students and a postdoctoral student working with CMDI faculty member \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/brian-hammer\u0022\u003EBrian Hammer\u003C\/a\u003E \u2014 a professor in the School of Biological Sciences who is also chair of the Institute Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and co-director of the Aquatic Chemical Ecology Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program \u2014 recently gave remote seminars at Spelman College and Kennesaw State University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur trainees get practice in speaking, and it opens doors to folks seeing Georgia Tech as an option,\u201d Brown explains. The CMDI is also working with Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/diversity.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sreb.org\/\u0022\u003ESouthern Regional Education Board\u003C\/a\u003E to continue to increase the number of underrepresented minorities at all levels of recruitment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re really interested in educating the next generation of scientists in biology,\u201d Whiteley adds. \u201cEverybody says that \u2014 but we\u2019re actually developing programs to recruit the best talent in the world.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECMDI research areas and faculty:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESam Brown\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EVirulence, microbiomes, biofilms, cystic fibrosis\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESteve Diggle\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBiofilms, virulence\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENeha Garg\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECystic fibrosis, coral reef microbial disease\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBrian Hammer\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EVibrio cholerae (cholera), microbial interactions\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMark Hay\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMarine ecology\/coral reefs\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJoel Kostka\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EEnvironmental microbiology, biogeochemistry, microbiomes, wetlands, bioremediation\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJulia Kubanek\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENatural product drug discovery, marine chemical ecology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWilliam Ratcliff\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMulticellular evolution, biofilm dynamics\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFrank Rosenzweig\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECellular genomics and evolution\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPeter Yunker\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESoft matter physics, biofilms, multicellular evolution\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJoshua Weitz\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EViruses\/viral modeling, bacteriophages, microbial ecology\/evolution\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMarvin Whiteley\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMicrobial ecology\/virulence, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, cystic fibrosis\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/microdynamics.gatech.edu\/faculty\u0022\u003ELearn more about each faculty member\u2019s area of research on the CMDI website.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Renay San Miguel\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditors and Contributors:\u003C\/strong\u003E Jess Hunt-Ralston, Joel Kostka, Joshua Weitz, Julia Kubanek, Maria Avdonina, Marvin Whiteley, Sam Brown\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI) merges disciplines, aggressively recruiting microbiologist \u2018superstars\u2019 to take back the high ground from antibiotic-resistant pathogens and emerging diseases \u2014 and to harness microbes to provide new medicines, cleaner environments, and solutions to the challenges of climate change.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"CMDI merges disciplines, aggressively recruiting microbiologist \u2018superstars\u2019 to take back the high ground from antibiotic-resistant pathogens and emerging diseases \u2014 and to harness microbes for new medicines, cleaner environments, and climate solutions."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2021-05-17 19:17:41","changed_gmt":"2024-02-20 20:35:41","author":"Renay San 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