NSF NPGI Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2014

该行动资助了2014财年NSF国家植物基因组计划生物学博士后研究奖学金。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，研究员还提出了扩大生物学参与的计划。该奖学金的研究和培训计划的标题是“转录调节和基因网络下的杨树维管形成层发育”。该奖学金的主办机构是美国林务局和加州大学戴维斯分校，赞助科学家是安德鲁·格鲁弗和弗拉基米尔·菲尔科夫博士。这项研究将导致对树木次生木质生长的更基本的理解。次生生长是碳循环的一个重要部分，特别是碳固存，也是森林生态的一个组成部分。该项目的培训目标包括为研究员提供学习先进分子遗传技术和计算生物学的机会，并发展独立的职业生涯。更广泛的影响包括指导本科生，专业发展，以及对加州和威斯康星州社区的公众宣传。拟研究的重点是二次生长，木本树木的径向生长源于维管形成层分生组织。二次生长提供了机会，了解树木生长的基本方面，是直接的经济和环境的重要性。该项目将使用基因组工具来表征在模式林木杨树二次生长过程中调节基因表达的转录因子。这将允许使用先进的计算方法来检查转录调控的基本特征，在二次生长过程中，包括转录因子的组合结合在调节基因表达中的作用，以及转录网络的拓扑结构。这项研究的结果将有助于更全面地了解参与树木次生生长的基因和基因网络，这对碳循环和生态学非常重要。

This action funds an NSF National Plant Genome Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2014. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Matthew Zinkgraf is "Transcriptional Regulation and Gene Networks Underlying Vascular Cambium Development in Populus". The host institutions for the fellowship are the US Forest Service and the University of California, Davis and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Andrew Groover and Vladimir Filkov.The research will lead to a more fundamental understanding of secondary, woody growth in trees. Secondary growth is an important part of the carbon cycle, specifically carbon sequestration, and an integral aspect of forest ecology. The training objectives of this project include learning opportunities in advanced molecular genetic techniques and computational biology for the Fellow and the development of an independent career. Broader impacts include mentoring undergraduate students, professional development, and public outreach to communities in California and Wisconsin.The proposed research focuses on secondary growth, the radial growth of woody tree stems from the vascular cambium meristem. Secondary growth presents opportunities to understand fundamental aspects of tree growth that are of direct economic and environmental importance. This project will use genomic tools to characterize transcription factors that regulate gene expression during secondary growth in the model forest tree, Populus. This will allow for the use advanced computational methods to examine fundamental features of transcriptional regulation during secondary growth, including the role of combinatorial binding of transcription factors in regulating gene expression, and the topology of transcriptional networks. The outcomes of the research will lead to a fuller understanding of the genes and gene networks involved in secondary growth in trees, important to carbon cycling and ecology.