Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Necrobiome Research and Its Application in Decomposition Ecology and Forensics

该奖项将有助于规划活动的拟议I/UCRC的坏死生物群研究及其在分解生态学和法医学的应用。该中心将制定标准操作程序，这些程序将经过验证，评估准确性和精确性，随后通过哈里斯县法医科学研究所和德克萨斯州A M的培训中心纳入当前的犯罪实验室和犯罪现场调查单位。该中心将为研究人员与法医从业人员建立一个合作网络，从而及时有效地将科学发现和技术转让给政府和私营部门的法医科学家。目前通过德克萨斯A M进行的培训计划通过国际鉴定协会进行认证，从而使此类培训在全球范围内得到认可。通过法医课程认证委员会认证的法医科学本科课程也可通过将中心开发的新技术整合到他们的课程中来培训未来的从业人员。这个拟议的中心代表了从业人员专业知识和研究能力的结合，使该中心成为全球平台：1）在现场和实验室进行多学科发现和转化研究，建立与脊椎动物腐肉的分解和生态循环的法医学重要现象相关的科学基础; 2）将分解和生态循环研究与基础和应用法医化学和生物学的新发现相结合，以改进法医方法和技术;以及3）加强与每个合作机构已经联系的法医队伍发展计划。

This award will assist in the planning activities for the proposed I/UCRC for Necrobiome Research and Its Application in Decomposition Ecology and Forensics. The Center will develop standard operating procedures that will be validated, assessed for accuracy and precision, and subsequently integrated into current crime laboratories and crime scene investigation units through training centers currently in existence at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, and Texas A&M. This Center will create a network for researchers to partner with forensic practitioners that will result in timely and effective transfer of science-based discoveries and technology to forensic scientists in the government and private sectors.Training programs currently in place through Texas A&M are accredited through the International Association for Identification thus allowing for such training being accepted globally. An undergraduate programs in the forensic sciences accredited by the Forensic Programs Accreditation Commission is also available for training future practitioners by integrating new techniques developed through the center into their curricula.This proposed Center represents a combination of practitioner expertise and research capacity that positions the center to serve as a global platform for: 1) Conducting multidisciplinary discovery and translational research in the field and laboratory that establishes a science-based foundation associated with the forensically important phenomena of decomposition and ecological recycling of vertebrate carrion; 2) Integrating the decomposition and ecological recycling research with new discoveries in basic and applied forensic chemistry and biology to improve forensic methodology and technology; and 3) Enhancing the forensics workforce development programs already associated with each of the partner institutions.