{"598901":{"#nid":"598901","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Joshua Weitz Elected AAAS Fellow","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScholar, educator, award-winning book author, interdisciplinary innovator, and shaper of future scientists, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/biosci.gatech.edu\/people\/joshua-weitz\u0022\u003EJoshua S. Weitz\u003C\/a\u003E wears many hats at Georgia Tech, but his influence reaches far beyond. For his contributions to the field of viral ecology, Joshua Weitz has been elected a fellow of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.aaas.org\u0022\u003EAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science\u003C\/a\u003E (AAAS).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz\u0026rsquo;s research focuses on the interactions between viruses and their microbial hosts, that is, the viral infections of microbial life. Weitz is motivated by seemingly simple questions: What happens to a microbe when it is infected by a virus? Does the infected cell live, die, or change? How do infections of single cells translate into system-wide consequences?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese areas are \u0026ldquo;of utmost importance\u0026rdquo; because of the role microbes play in humans and across our planet, says \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/biosci.gatech.edu\/people\/mark-hay\u0022\u003EMark E. Hay\u003C\/a\u003E, Regents Professor and Harry and Linda Teasley Chair in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech. \u0026ldquo;Yet understanding the role of viruses that infect microbes is at its infancy. Joshua has been identifying the big questions and providing deep insights into how viruses modulate human and environmental health.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz received his Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and continues to combine mathematical theory and data-driven models to understand complex living systems. His work has led to new quantitative principles underlying the abundances of environmental viruses, the networks of microbes that viruses can infect, and mechanisms by which viral infections change ecosystem functioning.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERecent work from the Weitz group has shed light on ways that phage \u0026ndash; viruses that exclusively infect bacteria \u0026ndash; can be used therapeutically. Phage therapy \u0026ndash; the use of bacteria-killing viruses to treat bacterial infections \u0026ndash; was proposed nearly a century ago, but the mechanisms underlying its efficacy remain unresolved. Earlier this year, Weitz and collaborators combined mathematical models and experiments with immunomodulated mice to show that phage do not act alone. In fact, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/593453\u0022\u003Eimmune cells of the host act synergistically with phage\u003C\/a\u003E to eradicate infections.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA productive researcher, Weitz has published nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles, including more than 80 articles since joining Georgia Tech in January 2007. He also wrote an award-winning monograph: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/483251\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EQuantitative Viral Ecology: Dynamics of Viruses and Their Microbial Hosts\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. Published in December 2015 by Princeton University Press, it is \u0026ldquo;\u003Cem\u003Ethe\u003C\/em\u003E book\u0026rdquo; on viral ecology, Hay says. The book was selected by the Royal Society of Biology as the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/qbios.gatech.edu\/book-joshua-weitz-quantitative-viral-ecology-wins-award\u0022\u003Ewinner of the 2016 Postgraduate Textbook Prize\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn education, Weitz has made an indelible mark by conceptualizing and implementing Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/qbios.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EInterdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantitative Biosciences\u003C\/a\u003E (QBioS), which accepted its \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/qbios.gatech.edu\/college-sciences-welcomes-inaugural-class-interdisciplinary-phd-program-quantitative-biosciences\u0022\u003Efirst group of Ph.D. students\u003C\/a\u003E in the Fall 2016 semester. As Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s third interdisciplinary Ph.D. focusing on life sciences \u0026ndash; after \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bioengineering.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EBioengineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bioinformatics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EBioinformatics\u003C\/a\u003E \u0026ndash; QBioS\u0026nbsp; continues a tradition of fostering innovative, interdisciplinary research, and education.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz has mentored dozens of students and scientists. At Georgia Tech, he has served as primary supervisor for eight Ph.D. theses in biology, bioinformatics, and physics. Eight of Weitz\u0026rsquo;s former postdoctoral researchers have moved to tenure-track faculty positions in biology, mathematics, and engineering departments.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWeitz fosters new interfaces between the physical sciences, mathematics, computational sciences, and the life sciences through his leadership role in workshops, working groups, and international collaborations. He cochaired an international working group on ocean viral dynamics at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nimbios.org\/\u0022\u003ENational Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis\u003C\/a\u003E from 2012 to 2014, chaired a 2015 rapid-response modeling workshop on Ebola virus disease held at Georgia Tech, and is currently a Simons Foundation Investigator as part of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/scope.soest.hawaii.edu\/\u0022\u003ESimons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;He is one of our most obvious interdisciplinary innovators,\u0026rdquo; Hay says of Weitz. \u0026ldquo;With his creative ideas, breadth of interdisciplinary vision, and rigorous approach to science, he makes contributions beyond his years.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"For contributions to the field of viral ecology"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScholar, educator, award-winning book author, interdisciplinary innovator, and shaper of future scientists, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/biosci.gatech.edu\/people\/joshua-weitz\u0022\u003EJoshua S. Weitz\u003C\/a\u003E wears many hats at Georgia Tech, but his influence reaches far beyond. For his contributions to the field of viral ecology, Joshua Weitz has been elected a fellow of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.aaas.org\u0022\u003EAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science\u003C\/a\u003E (AAAS).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"For his contributions to the field of viral ecology, Joshua Weitz has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)."}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2017-11-16 23:42:15","changed_gmt":"2017-11-20 18:41:00","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-11-21T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-11-21T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"590963":{"id":"590963","type":"image","title":"Joshua Weitz","body":null,"created":"1493217266","gmt_created":"2017-04-26 14:34:26","changed":"1493217266","gmt_changed":"2017-04-26 14:34:26","alt":"","file":{"fid":"225168","name":"Joshua Weitz.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Joshua%20Weitz.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Joshua%20Weitz.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":39265,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Joshua%20Weitz.jpg?itok=kansm_g2"}}},"media_ids":["590963"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/489721","title":"Large Variability in Abundance of Viruses that Infect Ocean Microorganisms "},{"url":"https:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/593453","title":"Bacteria-Killing Virus Teams Up with Animal Immune Response to Cure Acute Infections "},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/483251","title":"Princeton University Press publishes monograph by Joshua Weitz on Quantitative Viral Ecology "},{"url":"http:\/\/qbios.gatech.edu\/book-joshua-weitz-quantitative-viral-ecology-wins-award","title":"Book by Joshua Weitz on Quantitative Viral Ecology Wins Award "},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/563791","title":"College of Sciences Welcomes Inaugural Class of Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Quantitative Biosciences "}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"11718","name":"AAAS Fellow"},{"id":"11599","name":"Joshua Weitz"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi, Ph.D.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}