Four faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have been elected 2024 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Elected faculty are Professor Albrecht von Arnim of the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology; Alison Buchan, the Carolyn W. Fite Professor and associate head of the Department of Microbiology; Research Professor Susan Kalisz of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; and Herbert College of Agriculture Dean and Professor David G. White.

Kelsey Coffman, assistant professor in the University of Tennessee Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, has received the Insects 2024 Young Investigator Award. This award recognizes Coffman’s significant contributions to entomology and research on insect-virus interactions.

A study by Brazilian and Swiss researchers predicts that even in an optimistic greenhouse gas emissions scenario, 99% of the area of the Upper Paraguay River Basin will be lost.

A powerful AI model called Deep Novel Mutation Search (DNMS) predicts virus mutations more accurately and efficiently than traditional, time-consuming lab experiments. Focused on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the model uses a specialized protein language model fine-tuned to understand the virus's specific “language.” DNMS can predict mutations that cause small, functional changes – crucial for viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which evolve through subtle adjustments to maintain function. This approach promises to enhance virus tracking and public health by predicting mutations more accurately and quickly.