Researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have been awarded nearly $4 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop a climate-smart “4-D Farm.”

Each year, millions of people are infected by Plasmodium and exposed to an even more debilitating — and often deadly — disease: malaria. Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases known to man. More than half the world’s population is at risk of contracting the disease, and those who develop relapsing infections suffer a host of associated costs.

Georgia’s life sciences community celebrates outstanding accomplishments of individuals, companies and organizations each year at Georgia Bio’s Golden Helix Awards. This year, two University of Georgia affiliates — Georgia CTSA and Dalan Animal Health — were honored for their impacts in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Dan Suiter, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension entomologist and well-known expert in addressing the needs of pest control operators, has been named the Orkin Professor of Urban Entomology at UGA. Orkin, an industry leader in pest control services and protection, has created the endowment to help strengthen the entomology program in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Kevin Vogel, an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Georgia, has received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award from the National Science Foundation. Supported by the more than $1 million CAREER grant, Vogel and his team will spend the next five years building upon the still-limited body of research regarding the symbiotic relationship between kissing bugs and a highly specified bacterium that resides in their gut.

What began as a grassroots growers cooperative in the 1970s has become one of the Southeast’s most prestigious, member-supported nonprofit farming organizations. Having just wrapped up its 25th annual conference in Perry, Georgia, the organization continues its long-standing partnership with the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UGA Cooperative Extension.