Research Initiation Award: Seasonal Mobilization and Acid Stress Response of Opportunistic Enteric Pathogen Communities in Freshwater Ecosystems

历史黑人学院和大学-本科项目(HBCU-UP)研究启动奖(RIA)为HBCU的STEM教师提供支持，包括开始建立研究项目的初级教师和担任行政职位后重返教职队伍的职业中期教师，或需要重新定向和重建研究项目的教师。教职员工可以在他们的家乡机构、NSF资助的中心、研究密集型机构或国家实验室进行研究。RIA项目有望帮助教师进一步提高研究能力和效率，改善其所在机构的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究体验。潘恩学院将就降雨在动员与人类健康有关的细菌病原体方面所起的作用进行研究。该项目将有助于建立潘恩学院的研究能力，并将对大量少数民族学生产生重大影响。研究机会和现有课程的修改将为本科生提供环境科学方面的高级技能，并加强潘恩学院的教与学。此外，潘恩学院将通过培训教育专业的学生来加强其面向社区的外联活动，这些学生将为高中开发一个在线教学模块。该项目将整合水质监测、微观世界研究、环境采样、传统培养和定量分子分析，以评估降雨事件对淡水泛滥平原内四种机会性肠道病原体的动员和酸应激反应(ASR)的生态影响。主要目标是：1)表征降雨事件在将与沉积物相关的细菌群落动员到季节性湿地中的作用，以及2)表征湿地和河流系统中细菌群落的ASR诱导作用。这项工作的发现将加强对水生生态系统中细菌群落结构和功能的了解，有助于确定细菌致病的季节性环境“热点”，并可能改变受季节性影响的细菌疾病的范式。该项目有可能将目前机会性病原体调动的机械联系转变为季节性湿地，以及这些水生生态系统在调节细菌致病性和群落结构方面的贡献。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM faculty at HBCUs including junior faculty who are starting to build a research program and mid-career faculty returning to the faculty ranks after holding an administrative post or who need to redirect and rebuild a research program. Faculty members may pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. Paine College will conduct research on the role that rainfall plays in mobilizing bacterial pathogens which are linked to human health. The project will help build the research capacity at Paine College and will have a major impact on a large population of minority students. The research opportunities and modification of existing curricular offerings will provide undergraduate students with advanced skills in environmental science and enhance teaching and learning at Paine College. In addition, Paine College will enhance its outreach activities to the community by training students majoring in Education who will develop an online teaching module for high schools. The project will integrate water quality surveillance, microcosm studies, environmental sampling, traditional culturing and quantitative molecular analysis to assess the ecological implications of rainfall events on mobilization of four opportunistic enteric pathogens and elicitation of acid stress response (ASR) within a freshwater floodplain. The principle objectives are to: 1) characterize the role of rainfall events in mobilization of sediment associated bacterial communities into a seasonal wetland, and 2) characterize ASR elicitation of the bacterial community within a wetland and riverine system. Findings from this work will strengthen understanding of bacterial community structure and function in aquatic ecosystems, may aid in identification of seasonal environmental "hot spots" of bacterial pathogenicity and may transform paradigms of seasonally influenced bacterial diseases. This project has the potential to transform current mechanistic linkages of opportunistic pathogen mobilization into seasonal wetlands and the contributions of these aquatic ecosystems in conditioning bacterial pathogenicity and community structure.