CAREER: MOTILITY OF MARINE BACTERIA: OBSERVING, MODELING, TEACHING AND PLAYING

在这个研究项目中，调查者将通过开发一种结合数字全息显微镜和微流体的最先进的实验技术来研究细菌在海洋环境中的觅食，以获得海洋细菌的三维轨迹。这项先进的技术将提供前所未有的途径：(I)关于细菌在3D中游动的高分辨率信息；以及(Ii)微操作营养景观和量化由此产生的细菌反应的能力。通过将观察与基于细菌觅食的成本效益方法的新型数学模型相结合，本研究将：1.首次定量描述海洋细菌的游泳策略；2.量化海洋可移动细菌的觅食性能3.预测在什么条件下游动细菌的觅食会在多大程度上影响海洋中溶解有机物的周转率。作为职业奖项的一部分，这项新技术将打破限制微观生态研究的传统规模障碍，产生广泛的影响：使用微流控系统地控制微生物环境的能力，同时用全息技术捕捉其详细的3D响应，解锁进入广泛的基本微生物过程。它们的定量理解对于我们正确预测未来海洋状况的能力至关重要。同时，认识到这些微尺度过程的重要性和海洋生态系统的复杂性，是教育下一代科学家和公民了解海洋的微妙平衡以及人类活动和全球变化如何依赖于海洋的关键因素。通过支持广泛的教育计划，这一职业奖项将对这一目标做出重大贡献。资金将支持两名博士生的跨学科教育、国际教学和招收少数族裔学生。拟议研究的背景和要点将通过与波士顿科学博物馆等重要传播渠道的伙伴关系，在讲座和采访中与公众分享。推广方案的核心将以中学生为对象，形式是一种原创的教育视频游戏(虚拟微生物)，教师可以免费使用，将其纳入他们的课程，并在包括马里兰州公共电视台和WGBH在内的公共电视台的高影响力、教师专用门户网站上广泛传播。

In this research project, the investigator will study bacterial foraging in the marine environment by developing a state-of-the-art experimental technique integrating digital holographic microscopy and microfluidics, to obtain three dimensional trajectories of marine bacteria. This sophisticated technique will provide unprecedented access to (i) high-resolution information on bacterial swimming in 3D; and (ii) the ability to micromanipulate nutrient landscapes and quantify the resulting bacterial response. By combining observations with novel mathematical models based on a cost benefit approach to bacterial foraging, this research will: 1. provide the first quantitative description of the swimming strategies of marineBacteria 2. quantify the foraging performance of motile marine bacteria3. predict under what conditions and to what extent foraging of swimming bacteria affects turnover rates of dissolved organic matter in the ocean.The new technique to be pioneered as part of a CAREER award will have broad impact well beyond the proposed research, by breaking the traditional sizebarrier limiting ecological investigations at the microscale: the ability to systematically control a microorganism's environment using microfluidics, while capturing its detailed, 3D response with holography, unlocks access to a broad range of fundamental microbial processes. Their quantitative understanding is pivotal for our ability to correctly predict the future state of the oceans. At the same time, awareness of the importance of these microscale processes and the complexity of the marine ecosystem is a critical factor in educating the next generation of scientists and citizens to the delicate balance of the oceans and how human activities as well as global change hinge on it. This CAREER award will significantly contribute to this goal, by supporting a broad educational plan. Funding will support the interdisciplinary education of two Ph. D. students, international teaching and recruitment of minority students. The background and highlights of the proposed research will be shared with the public in talks and interviews by leveraging partnerships with important dissemination channels like Boston's Museum of Science. The core of the outreach program will be targeted at middle-school children, in the form of an original, educational video game (Virtual Microbe) that teachers will find freely available for use to integrate in their curricula and widely disseminated on high-impact, teacher-dedicated web portals of public television stations, including Maryland Public Television and WGBH.