Georgia Tech researchers from the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and the School of Physics including Regents' Professor Thomas Orlando, Assistant Professor Karl Lang, and post-doctoral researcher Micah Schaible are among the authors of a paper recently published in Scientific Reports.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech demonstrated that space weathering alterations of the surface of lunar samples at the nanoscale may provide a mechanism to distinguish lunar samples of variable surface exposure age.

In an article published in Medical Xpress, Georgia Tech researchers from the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry discussed the cryo-electron microscopy technology behind an important research discovery that could help create new drugs to lower "bad" cholesterol and hopefully prevent heart attacks and stroke.

Associate Professor Aditi Das and Professor MG Finn explained in an email that cryo-electron microscopy technology represents a revolution in biology and biochemistry because it allows scientists to determine the structures of biological molecules in great detail.

"When we know their structures, we have a big clue as to how they work, how to fix them if they are defective, or how to stop them if they cause harm. Nature is the supreme molecular architect, and we need techniques like cryo-EM to see the details of what she builds," Finn explained.

Research with this tool is going to have serious health benefits, the NIH said, because it allowed them for the first time to see how "bad" cholesterol, known as low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol or LDL-C, builds up in the body, and causes heart attacks and strokes in people who have genetically high LDL cholesterol.

Georgia Tech has received a rapid grant of more than $86,000 from the National Science Foundation to study air-monitoring data the university conducted during the BioLab incident in Rockdale County this fall. Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences deployed a mobile monitoring station at the city of Conyers' request shortly after the fire started on Sept. 29. The blaze lasted about two and a half weeks, created a plume of chemicals that wafted over the county and parts of metro Atlanta, and has prompted more than 20 class-action lawsuits blaming the company for illnesses and business closures.

Professor Greg Huey and his research group plan to calibrate and study the data, make it accessible to the public, identify as many compounds as possible that were in the plume, and prioritize reviews based on toxicity.

(This story also appeared at Atlanta Business Chronicle.)