NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

_该奖学金支持该研究员在东道主实验室的研究和培训计划，以及扩大科学界代表性不足群体的参与计划。米凯拉·马丁内斯·贝克的这项研究计划的标题是“母体抗体对后代存活和健康的影响”。该奖学金的主办机构是普林斯顿大学，赞助科学家是Andrea Graham和C.Jessica Metcalf。母源抗体通过胎盘、初乳和哺乳期从母亲传递给后代，被认为对保护新生儿免受病原体侵袭非常重要。该奖学金研究调查母体抗体如何影响早期感染的结果，并试图通过确定母体抗体是否降低人群水平的疾病爆发风险来探索传染病的生态学，结果适用于野生动物和人类群体。母体抗体从母亲传给后代是针对母亲接触的病原体的。据推测，由于母亲和她们的后代暴露在类似的病原体下，自然选择有利于母体抗体的进化，并在这些病原体存在的情况下提高后代的存活率。除了对个体后代的影响外，母体抗体还可以改变跨人群和大地理范围内疾病暴发的倾向。为了研究母体抗体在哺乳动物中的进化和生态作用，这项研究集中在两个研究系统上：野生动物中的蠕虫感染，以及儿童中的麻疹和风疹病毒感染(传染病生态学研究的成熟系统)。这些模型系统被选为蠕虫，病毒参与免疫系统的不同子集；因此，并行研究它们将揭示母体抗体如何影响总体传染病发病率和死亡率的一般性问题。正在开发数学疾病传播模型，以跟踪人群中的母体抗体，并确定母体抗体是否提高了后代的存活率，降低了疾病发病率。除了阐明免疫的新生态方面外，研究结果还可能为政策制定者和科学家提供工具，以制定治疗野生动物和牲畜种群中蠕虫感染的战略，并改进婴儿疫苗接种计划。对抗人类、野生动物和牲畜的感染减少了痛苦和死亡，这是一项科学和社会交叉点的努力。培训目标和职业发展活动正在为他在疾病生态学和进化生物学与现实世界直接应用的交界处的研究生涯做准备。教育外展针对的是代表性不足的群体，重点是科学领域的种族和社会经济地位少数群体。7370(https://thelastmile.org/)，教圣昆廷监狱的囚犯如何使用Python、html和Java进行计算机编程和数据可视化，以便他们在获释后能够在就业方面具有竞争力。

_____________________________________This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow and a plan to broaden participation of groups under-represented in science. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Micaela Martinez-Bakker is "Effects of maternal antibodies on offspring survival and health." The host institution for this fellowship is Princeton University, and the sponsoring scientists are Andrea Graham and C. Jessica Metcalf.Maternal antibodies are passed from mothers to offspring through the placenta, colostrum, and during lactation and are believed to be important for protecting newborns from pathogens. The fellowship research investigates how maternal antibodies affect the outcome of early-life infections and seeks to explore the ecology of infectious disease by determining if maternal antibodies mitigate the risk of population-level disease outbreaks, with results being applicable to wildlife and human populations. Maternal antibodies passed from mothers to offspring are specific to the pathogens to which the mother was exposed. It is hypothesized that, since mothers and their offspring are exposed to similar pathogens, natural selection favors the evolution of maternal antibodies and improves offspring survival in the presence of those pathogens. In addition to effects on individual offspring, maternal antibodies could modify the propensity for disease outbreaks across populations and at large geographic scales. To address the evolutionary and ecological role of maternal antibodies in mammals, the research focuses on two study systems: helminth infections in wildlife, and measles and rubella virus infections in children (well-established systems for the study of the ecology of infectious diseases). These model systems are selected as helminths and viruses engage different subsets of the immune system; therefore, studying them in parallel will reveal generalities about how maternal antibodies impact overall infectious disease morbidity and mortality. Mathematical disease transmission models are being developed to track maternal antibodies in populations and determine if maternal antibodies improve offspring survival and reduce disease morbidity. In addition to elucidating new ecological aspects of immunity, results may provide tools for policy makers and scientists to develop strategies for treating helminth infections in wildlife and livestock populations and improve infant vaccination schedules. Combating infection in humans, wildlife, and livestock reduces suffering and death and is an endeavor at the intersection of science and society.Training goals and career advancement activities are preparing the Fellow for a research career at the interface of disease ecology and evolutionary biology with immediate real-world applications. Educational outreach is being directed toward under-represented groups with emphasis on ethnic and socioeconomic-status minorities in science. The Fellow is helping build pathways to STEM for people from underprivileged backgrounds by volunteering with The Last Mile Code.7370 (https://thelastmile.org/) which teaches inmates in San Quentin Prison how to do computer programming and data visualization using python, html, and java so that they may be competitive for employment upon release.