Category: News

The New Materials Institute, a component of the UGA Office of Research with roots in the College of Engineering, along with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government and the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, both units of UGA Public Service and Outreach, are among 24 finalists for the University Economic Development Association 2019 Awards of Excellence. UGA’s finalists are in different categories and will not compete with one another.

This marks the third year that three UGA programs have been selected as finalists for national awards recognizing innovation in economic development. UGA is the only university that has had three finalists for three consecutive years.

UEDA represents higher education, private sector and community economic development stakeholders across North America. Entries were judged by a panel of university and economic development professionals based on the alignment of their institution’s core mission activities with regional economic development goals.

Categories include innovation, talent and place, as well as the intersections of those three categories. Criteria for judging included originality, scalability, sustainability, impact and the feasibility of other organizations replicating the initiatives in their communities.

Programs selected as finalists are:

• The UGA New Materials Institute as a model for industry engagement and collaboration with higher education research. In the New Materials Institute, faculty work with public and private partners to pioneer systems and materials that promote a circular economy, meaning that products are recovered and recycled at the end of their useful lives. Programs range from innovative waste management systems to biodegradable materials that meet the high expectations of both industry and consumers. Most importantly, the institute trains the next generation of engineers and scientists to use this holistic approach. (Innovation category.)
• A revitalization/visioning program for downtown Clarkesville, Georgia, developed by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Through the Georgia Downtown Renaissance Partnership, a community revitalization initiative with the Georgia Municipal Association, the Georgia Cities Foundation and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, city and business leaders and Clarkesville citizens came together to create a master plan for their downtown after a fire in 2014 gutted three buildings and destroyed four businesses. New apartments, restaurants and retail outlets in the renovated business district have revitalized the downtown and the master plan continues to drive development. (Place category.)
• A youth leadership program incorporated into a Loganville, Georgia, high school, developed by the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development. The Youth in Action program empowers students to facilitate their own goals and establish themselves as leaders in the school community, serving on steering committees that help school administrators develop ideas for school improvement. Since the curriculum was introduced in 2015, high school graduation rates have increased from 78.3% (2013-14) to 86.2% (2016-17) and are well above the state average of 81.6%. (Talent category.)

“I am pleased that UEDA recognizes the value in connecting translational research units like the New Materials Institute with a range of industry partners to spark new ideas and advances in areas of societal need,” said Vice President for Research David Lee. “We believe our approach with New Materials is replicable across a range of research areas and applications. It has tremendous advantages: for the university in supporting our research, for the partner industries in pushing their R&D forward, and for the public who will ultimately reap the benefits of these collaborations.”

Winners will be announced during the UEDA Annual Summit in Reno-Tahoe, Nevada, Sept. 29-Oct. 2, 2019.

Story by Kelly Simmons and Michael Terrazas

Bromethalin, a common rat poison, is the agent responsible for a neurological disease that has sickened or killed birds from a popular flock of naturalized parrots that reside primarily in the Telegraph Hill area in north San Francisco, according to a new study led by the University of Georgia Infectious Diseases Laboratory and funded by Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue.

The study, published today in PLOS ONE, caps a multi-year effort to determine the cause of the disease, which has been observed in parrots from this flock since at least 1999.

“The investigation, inspired and funded by Mickaboo, required a team of veterinarians, pathologists and researchers. It is only because the poisoned birds were feral parrots that the condition was so thoroughly investigated,” said first author Fern Van Sant, whose clinic, For the Birds, in San Jose, California, provided care for many of the affected parrots. “The findings offer us an opportunity to assess the true risk of this rodenticide to pets and feral animals and to clarify the risk of potential soil and water contamination.”

The study focused on four parrots that presented in 2018 with a set of characteristic neurologic signs that attending veterinarians say most affected birds exhibit to varying degrees: ataxia, circling, seizures and tumbling. Three of these parrots, like many before them, were euthanized when their condition worsened and they could no longer self-feed.

The study team looked for bromethalin, or its active metabolite desmethyl-bromethalin, based on their findings in 15 historic cases from 2013 through 2017. The historic cases lacked evidence of viruses known to cause neurologic disease in parrots, as well as of exposure to lead or other toxins. But pathologists found consistent lesions in the central nervous system that suggested bromethalin poisoning.

Bromethalin is difficult to detect, especially in living animals, and particularly in free-ranging birds. Some assays have successfully detected bromethalin in fat tissue of animals, but birds typically do not have surplus fat from which samples can be drawn and tested. In their study, the UGA-led team screened fecal samples from live birds, as well as liver and brain samples from deceased parrots. Co-author Sayed M. Hassan, director of the UGA Laboratory for Environmental Analysis in the Center for Applied Isotope Studies, detected both bromethalin and desmethyl-bromethalin in brain, liver and fecal samples utilizing high-performance liquid chromatography.

The study’s findings suggest that parrots do not metabolize the potent neurotoxin in the same manner that has been described in other species, and/or that the parrots are ingesting a sublethal dose. The authors do not know how the parrots are being exposed to bromethalin, but they are planning a follow-up study to determine the source.

“We now need funding from individuals and groups interested in protecting our environment to help us understand if this toxin is accumulating in a space where it could pose a health risk in other free-ranging animals, or, possibly, in companion animals and people,” said co-author Branson W. Ritchie, a veterinary research professor and co-director of the Infectious Diseases Laboratory.

The birds primarily reside in neighborhoods near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and frequent the area’s parks, but affected birds have been found throughout San Francisco, including on busy streets and downtown sidewalks. The total number of birds affected to date is difficult to estimate, but from 2003 through 2018, Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue had established records on 158 San Francisco parrots, of which 55 died, 53 were adopted, 22 were released including three that escaped, and 25 remain in foster care. Of the birds in foster care or adopted, many have persistent neurologic deficits, including paresis and ataxia, that require special care.

Members of the public who come in contact with a possibly affected parrot should immediately report the bird and its location to San Francisco Animal Care and Control, 415-554-9400; the poisoned birds need professional help and should not be handled or harmed. If necessary, a towel can be used to move the bird to a secure box or dog kennel.

“Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue is grateful to Dr. Van Sant, the University of Georgia, and all of the skilled professionals who have worked so hard and so long to find out what was killing these beautiful birds,” said Michelle Yesney, current CEO of Mickaboo. The parrots and their plight gained notoriety after being featured in a book and a documentary both titled “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.”

Coauthors on the study included Drury Reavill, of the Zoo/Exotic Pathology Service, Carmichael, California; Elizabeth W. Howerth and Mauricio Seguel, of the Department of Pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine; Rita McManamon, Christopher R. Gregory, and Paula G. Ciembor, of the Infectious Diseases Laboratory in the College of Veterinary Medicine; Kathy M. Loftis, of the Center for Applied Isotope Studies; and Richard Bauer, a graduate student in the Laboratory for Environmental Analysis. “Evidence of bromethalin toxicosis in San Francisco ‘Telegraph Hill’ conures,” is available online at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0213248