NSF NPGI Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2012

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This action funds a National Plant Genome Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2012. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow to focus their studies in plant genomics with an emphasis on quantitative genetics, modern breeding approaches, and bioinformatics. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Patrick P. Edger is "Constructing Plant Metabolic Networks and a Comparative Framework to Identify Genes to Manipulate Biosynthetic Pathways in Crops". The host institution for the fellowship is the University of Arizona and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Michael Barker (University of Arizona) and Michael Freeling (University of California - Berkeley). In order to begin addressing more complex questions in biology (e.g. elucidating genotype to phenotype relationships and plant-environmental interactions), the next phase of biology must involve integrating the wealth of diverse biological resources (e.g. sequenced genomes, gene expression data, protein data, and metabolic data) available to the scientific community. This study seeks to investigate how metabolic networks, the complete set of biochemical reactions in the cell (e.g. photosynthesis, respiration, and biosynthesis of defensive secondary metabolite compounds, have evolved over time (e.g. topology and content), to distinguish plastic portions from more conserved sections, and ultimately identify sub-networks that are more amenable to modification for crop improvement. Training objectives include bioinformatics, biochemistry, and plant genomics. Broader impacts include capacity-building and advanced training for students from the United States to engage in interdisciplinary research in plant improvement and associated sciences such as physiology, quantitative genetics, and computational biology. Outreach activities include the development of a visualization tool that will allow plant biologists to more easily analyze gene expression differences at the global network level and to calculate differences in metabolic costs. In addition the Fellow will be participate in introductory bioinformatics workshops that will train both undergraduate students and more advanced researchers in basic computer programming skills and in the use of available tools to analyze and interpret various datasets.