Puerto Rico Center for Environmental Neuroscience

波多黎各环境神经科学中心

• 批准号: 1137725
• 负责人: Mark Miller
• 金额: $ 498.5万
• 依托单位: University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1137725&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Puerto; Rico; Center; Environmental; Neuroscience

Human activities are altering the environment at an alarming rate. A multidisciplinary approach is essential to understand the complex interplay between molecular, cellular, and behavioral responses by organisms under these increasingly stressful conditions. The nervous system is the interface between an organism and its environment. The Puerto Rico Center for Environmental Neuroscience (PRCEN) will combine neuroscience (the study of the nervous system and behavior) and environmental science (the study of local ecosystem environments) to tackle environmental issues in Puerto Rico's tropical setting. The Center will combine neuroscientists from the Institute of Neurobiology and the Dept. of Anatomy of the University of Puerto (UPR) Medical Sciences campus and environmental scientists from the Environmental Sciences Program and the Depts. of Biology and Chemistry of the UPR Rio Piedras. The alliance will bring together cutting-edge techniques normally associated with cellular and molecular neuroscience with expertise in local ecosystems and environmental science to create a novel field that will require participants to move outside of their comfort zones and learn about entirely new areas of research. Objectives of the center will be to: (1) establish research programs in the new field of environmental neuroscience, (2) enhance research productivity through faculty and infrastructure development, (3) increase the numbers of minority students attaining advanced degrees in interdisciplinary science, and (4) generate community understanding of the work being done in the Center. The research subprojects focus on four local ecosystems: terrestrial, freshwater rivers, estuaries, and marine systems. The habitats under study are intimately connected: contaminants in the mountains make their way into rivers, pass through the estuaries, and end up in the sea. The oceans subproject is designed to understand the consequences of environmental pressures on tropical corals, using state of the art molecular-cellular techniques. The estuaries project will focus on the blue crab, which supports one of the largest fisheries industries in the United States. This project will use high resolution monitoring to track the presence of contaminants and other environmental stressors, and correlate the resulting environmental data with physiological monitoring of heart and endocrine functioning in this crab. The freshwater studies will monitor contaminants in three representative Puerto Rican rivers. Four animal models (zebrafish, mosquitofish, and two types of prawn) will be exposed to pollutants found in the three rivers, and a range of physiological and behavioral parameters will be examined. Finally, the terrestrial project will use sophisticated molecular biology and electro-physiology to examine the nervous systems of fruit flies from different habitats in Puerto Rico. The standard laboratory-reared fruit fly (Drosophila) is a prized and widely-used model system in neurobiology laboratories throughout the world. However, there is a paucity of studies examining this animal in the wild, especially with respect to the specific habitats in which they are living.Intellectual MeritThe conceptual linchpin of the PRCEN is that the nervous system is the interface between an organism and its environment; a multidisciplinary approach is essential to understand the complex interplay of molecular, cellular, organismal, and ecosystem dynamics faced by organisms under the increasingly stressful conditions created by human impacts on the environment. We refer to this approach as environmental neuroscience. The program will be unified by the central hypothesis that a full understanding of the consequences of pollution and climate change requires dialogue between investigators monitoring environmental conditions and organismal biologists using that information to determine how environment affects function. Broader ImpactThe PRCEN center will change the way we look at environmental problems, and will create a new category of scientists prepared for the environmental challenges developing from human activities. The Center will impact a large number of minority students by tapping into the collective student population of over 19,000. Our undergraduate participants will integrate closely with ongoing NSF sponsored mentorship initiatives such as the Lewis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, the Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, and the Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program. Our graduate students will have access to broad training here, and will also be given the opportunity to take courses and train stateside at places like the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. Finally, our studies will integrate with local organizations such as the San Juan Bay Estuary Program to coordinate community outreach targeting K-12 education.

人类活动正在以惊人的速度改变着环境。一个多学科的方法是必不可少的，以了解分子，细胞和行为反应的生物体在这些日益紧张的条件下，复杂的相互作用。神经系统是生物体与其环境之间的界面。波多黎各环境神经科学中心（PRCEN）将联合收割机神经科学（神经系统和行为的研究）和环境科学（当地生态系统环境的研究），以解决波多黎各热带环境中的环境问题。该中心将联合收割机神经科学家从神经生物学研究所和部门。波多黎各大学（UPR）医学科学校区的解剖学和环境科学计划和部门的环境科学家。生物学和化学的普遍定期审议Rio Piedras。该联盟将把通常与细胞和分子神经科学相关的尖端技术与当地生态系统和环境科学的专业知识结合起来，创造一个新的领域，要求参与者走出自己的舒适区，了解全新的研究领域。该中心的目标将是：（1）建立环境神经科学新领域的研究计划，（2）通过教师和基础设施的发展提高研究生产力，（3）增加少数民族学生获得跨学科科学高级学位的人数，以及（4）产生社区对该中心正在进行的工作的理解。研究子项目侧重于四个当地生态系统：陆地，淡水河流，河口和海洋系统。研究中的栖息地是紧密相连的：山区的污染物进入河流，穿过河口，最终进入大海。海洋分项目的目的是利用最先进的分子细胞技术，了解环境压力对热带珊瑚造成的后果。河口项目将重点关注蓝蟹，蓝蟹支持美国最大的渔业产业之一。该项目将使用高分辨率监测来跟踪污染物和其他环境压力源的存在，并将由此产生的环境数据与对这种螃蟹的心脏和内分泌功能的生理监测相关联。淡水研究将监测波多黎各三条代表性河流中的污染物。 四种动物模型（斑马鱼，食蚊鱼和两种对虾）将暴露于三条河流中发现的污染物，并将检查一系列生理和行为参数。最后，陆地项目将利用先进的分子生物学和电生理学检查来自波多黎各不同生境的果蝇的神经系统。标准实验室饲养的果蝇（Drosophila）是世界各地神经生物学实验室中珍贵和广泛使用的模型系统。然而，有一个缺乏的研究，探讨这种动物在野生环境中，特别是关于特定的栖息地，他们在其中living.Intellectual Meriton的概念的关键是，神经系统是一个有机体和它的环境之间的接口;多学科方法对于理解分子、细胞、有机体以及在人类对环境的影响所造成的日益紧张的条件下，生物体所面临的生态系统动态。我们将这种方法称为环境神经科学。该计划将通过中心假设统一，即充分了解污染和气候变化的后果需要监测环境条件的调查人员与使用该信息的有机生物学家之间的对话来确定环境如何影响功能。更广泛的影响PRCEN中心将改变我们看待环境问题的方式，并将创造一个新的科学家类别，为人类活动带来的环境挑战做好准备。该中心将通过利用超过19，000名学生的集体人口来影响大量少数民族学生。我们的本科生参与者将与正在进行的NSF赞助的导师计划，如刘易斯斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟，本科生计划的研究经验，和本科研究导师计划紧密结合。我们的研究生将有机会在这里接受广泛的培训，也将有机会参加课程，并在美国本土的地方，如在伍兹霍尔，马海洋生物实验室培训。最后，我们的研究将与当地组织，如圣胡安湾河口计划整合，以协调针对K-12教育的社区外展。