IN THE CITY As one of only 10 universities in the U.S. where black students graduate at rates equal to or higher than white students, Georgia State ranked first among the nation’s “top performing institutions for black students.” Conferring more bachelor’s degrees to African-Americans than any other public, nonprofit college or university in the U.S., the university has more than doubled the graduation rates of its black students over the past decade. “Georgia State University is committed to the idea that students from all backgrounds can graduate at high and comparable rates,” said Timothy Renick, the university’s vice provost and vice president for enrollment management and student success. “As the latest research confirms, we can achieve this goal. At Georgia State, race no longer is a predictor of who graduates and who does not.”
DISCOVERY CURB THE CONTAGION Georgia State is developing a drug to thwart the transmission of the Ebola virus. Christopher Basler, professor and director of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, has received a $4.1 million federal grant to develop a drug targeting the Ebola virus. “The Ebola virus remains a significant concern because we still lack approved drugs to treat the infection,” said Basler, a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Microbial Pathogenesis whose pioneering research on emerging viruses has earned global recognition. The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa from 2014–16 was the largest known occurrence of the disease and resulted in more than 28,000 infections and 11,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. History shows that Ebola virus reemerges periodically. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, Basler’s research will target the
10
viral machinery that Ebola uses to make new copies of its genome, a critical function for the virus to grow and spread. The goal is to find drug compounds that block the virus’ growth. In collaboration with researchers from biomedical institutions across Degree programs the U.S., Basler’s ranked among the team will identify top 100 in the U.S. inhibitors of Ebola’s viral machinery, determine how drugs can block that machinery and develop drugs that can inhibit the growth of not only the Ebola virus, but other deadly pathogens as well. “Dr. Basler’s research has the potential to protect us from the world’s most threatening viruses,” said Michael Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Research Alliance. “We are pleased to have participated with Georgia State University in recruiting him to Georgia and to have this important work take place in our state.”
27
PAIN IN THE BRAIN Women’s own immune systems may be hindering pain relief. Statistics show that women suffer from more pain conditions, including fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis, than men. However, opioids, the primary drugs used to treat severe or chronic pain, are frequently less effective for women. “Clinical and preclinical studies report that females require almost twice as much morphine as males to produce comparable pain relief,” said Hillary Doyle, graduate student in the laboratory of Anne Murphy, associate professor in Georgia State’s Neuroscience Institute. In search of an explanation, Murphy and her team investigated the differences between immune cells in the brains of males and females. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, their study found that the immune cells in a female’s brain are more involved in pain processing than a male’s. When researchers blocked these cells, called microglia, female responses to opioid pain medication improved to match the levels of relief typically seen in males. “The results of the study have important implications for the CONT’D ON P.12
G E O R G I A S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y M A G A Z I N E S U M M E R 2 0 1 7