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Scientists at Emory and GeoVax Labs have developed a vaccine that has protected nonhuman primates against multiple exposures to simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) given in three clusters during more than three years, providing hope that the vaccine will prove effective against HIV/AIDS. The team was led by Harriet Robinson, chief scientific officer at GeoVax Labs, and Emory microbiologist Rama Rao Amara.

Mutations causing metabolic disorder decoded

Researchers at Emory’s School of Medicine and Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute used “whole-exome sequencing”—which targets selective regions of the genome—to find the mutations causing a metabolic disorder in a boy born in 2004. A team led by Madhuri Hegde, associate professor of human genetics and scientific director of the Emory Genetics Laboratory, identified the gene responsible.

Luce Scholar to experience Asia

Dana Toy 12C was among 18 Americans selected to be Luce scholars for a year of hands-on experience and work in Asia. Toy, who is from Wichita, Kansas, and the son of Khmer refugees, is majoring in biology and sociology and aspires to become a physician and researcher. He is the fifth Emory student selected for this highly competitive scholarship since 2000.

Emory alumnus and faculty win top mathematics prize

The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics has awarded S. C. Dobbs Professor of Mathematics Vojtech Rodl, of Emory, and Mathias Schacht 04PhD, of the University of Hamburg, the 2012 George Pólya Prize. The total award is $20,000.

German Center of Excellence named at Emory

Emory’s Department of German Studies was named a German Center of Excellence by the American Association of Teachers of German. The Emory program is one of two postsecondary institutions to be honored with the designation, which evaluates curriculum, faculty credentials and development, extracurricular activities, and growth and support.

US News ranks Emory’s graduate, professional schools among top

US News & World Report ranked the law school 24; Goizueta’s full-time MBA program 19 and its part-time MBA program 13; the School of Medicine 21 among research-oriented medical schools (the highest in Georgia); the Department of Biomedical Engineering program with Georgia Tech second; the clinical psychology PhD 18; and the physical therapy program seven. 

Startup receives $4 million to develop microneedles for eye

The Atlanta-based startup Clearside Biomedical plans to develop microinjection technology invented by the labs of researchers Mark Prausnitz of Georgia Tech and Emory Professor of Ophthalmology Henry Edelhauser that uses hollow microneedles to precisely target therapeutics to the back of the eye to treat diseases such as age-related macular degeneration.

W. B. Yeats Foundation director named to Global Irish Network

Winship Professor of the Arts and Humanities James Flannery has been named to a Global Irish Network by the Office of the Prime Minister of Ireland; he is also serving as an international associate artist at the Abbey Theatre, the National Theatre of Ireland, and as a visiting professor at University College, Dublin.

Jones Scholars selected for study in Scotland

Environmental studies and economics major Brenda Chew 12C, English major Joel Dobben 12C, philosophy and music major William Eye 12C, and film studies graduate student Sarah Richards 09C are the recipients of the Robert T. Jones Jr. Scholarship Award for a year of study at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

Theology plans $15 million building expansion

The O. Wayne Rollins Foundation has pledged $15 million to support an expansion of Emory’s Candler School of Theology, including a state-of-the-art library and teaching facilities. The existing theology school building will be named for Rita Anne Rollins, a grandchild of the foundation’s namesake.

Lipstadt honored for contributions to genocide prevention

Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies Deborah Lipstadt has been awarded the Raphael Lemkin Prize from the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation. Lipstadt, director of the Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, received the award for contributions to the cause of genocide prevention.

And the Campus MovieFest Best Picture award goes to . . .

Winning the Best Picture award at the 11th annual Campus MovieFest were Eric Seti 12Band Matt Schwartz 13C for their film Blackout, a comedy about a girl going home after a frat party who discovers that not everyone is who they appear to be. Seti and Schwartz also produced the popular “Emory Anthem,” an unofficial school theme song that went viral on YouTube.