NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

2015 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金

• 批准号: 1523746
• 负责人: Alisha Quandt
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Quandt Catherine A
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1523746&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to C. Alisha Quandt is "Fungal community variation associated with the digestive tracts of a large collection of predatory, marine snails." The host institution for this fellowship is the University of Michigan (UM), and the sponsoring scientist is Timothy Y. James. Research into vertebrate microbiomes has led to the discovery of previously unidentified fungal and bacterial communities that are not only beneficial to their multicellular hosts, but in some cases, essential. Studies of microbial communities associated with invertebrates, however, are rare but offer an important opportunity for discovery. The fellowship research seeks to use existing collections of Conus, a well-studied genus of predatory marine snails, to characterize their fungal gut communities and their functional profile to determine if these are correlated with host genetics, diet, or geographical distribution. Data are being collected from preserved specimens about the fungal communities associated with marine mollusks. Mollusca, one of the largest animal phyla, can have broad geographic ranges and several mollusks have become invasive throughout the world, sometimes with devastating economic and ecological effects; yet little is known about their microbial communities. This pioneering study is made possible by the existing collection and promises a breadth and depth of sampling never before conducted on any mollusk genus as well as the first culture-independent study of fungi associated with mollusks. Results have the potential to unearth not only several new species of fungi, but possibly undescribed lineages, and increase understanding of the functional capabilities of the fungal communities associated with mollusks, possibly linking Conus diet with functional characteristics of the microbiome. A connection between microbiome and diet may explain how mollusks are able to thrive in newly invaded habitats. Training goals and career advance activities include gaining skills in new experimental systems and management skills, including both research and museum collection management. Educational outreach includes undergraduate students through funding from the UM Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) program and 4th to 6th grade girls through the Females Excelling More in Math Engineering and the Sciences (FEMMES) program at UM at after school education events.

这项行动资助了2015财年NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，使用生物收集的研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，以采取变革性方法应对生物学的重大挑战，以高度创新的方式利用生物学收藏。 本奖学金的研究计划的标题为C。Alisha Quandt是“与大量捕食性海洋蜗牛的消化道相关的真菌群落变异。“该奖学金的主办机构是密歇根大学（UM），赞助科学家是蒂莫西·Y·James.对脊椎动物微生物组的研究发现了以前未识别的真菌和细菌群落，它们不仅对其多细胞宿主有益，而且在某些情况下是必不可少的。 然而，与无脊椎动物相关的微生物群落的研究很少，但提供了一个重要的发现机会。 该研究旨在利用现有的芋螺（Conus）（一种经过充分研究的捕食性海洋蜗牛属）来表征其真菌肠道群落及其功能概况，以确定这些是否与宿主遗传学，饮食或地理分布相关。 目前正在从保存的标本中收集与海洋软体动物有关的真菌群落的数据。 软体动物是最大的动物门之一，可以有广泛的地理范围，一些软体动物已经成为世界各地的入侵者，有时具有破坏性的经济和生态影响;但对它们的微生物群落知之甚少。 这项开创性的研究是由现有的收集和承诺的广度和深度的采样从来没有进行过任何软体动物属，以及第一个文化独立的研究与软体动物相关的真菌。 这些结果不仅有可能发现几种新的真菌，而且可能发现未描述的谱系，并增加对与软体动物相关的真菌群落功能能力的了解，可能将芋螺饮食与微生物组的功能特征联系起来。 微生物组和饮食之间的联系可以解释软体动物如何能够在新入侵的栖息地中茁壮成长。 培训目标和职业发展活动包括获得新实验系统的技能和管理技能，包括研究和博物馆收藏管理。 教育推广包括本科生通过从UM本科研究机会计划（UROP）计划和第四至第六年级的女孩通过女性更擅长数学工程和科学（FEMMES）计划在UM在放学后的教育活动的资金。