Genomics of Diseases in Wildlife Workshop; June 2-9, 2019; May/June, 2020; Fort Collins, CO

野生动物种群可能受到传染病爆发和传播的严重影响。这方面的例子包括白鼻综合症，它在美国摧毁了蝙蝠种群，以及壶菌的爆发导致了世界范围内青蛙种群的减少。一些野生动物疾病，如狂犬病、埃博拉病毒和西耐克病毒，可在人群中引起疾病暴发，而其他野生动物感染，如布鲁氏菌病和非洲猪瘟，对家畜和牲畜可能是致命的。非凡的新工具极大地提高了我们检测感染的能力，并理解为什么它有时是毁灭性的，有时不是。虽然这些新技术使新的发现和理解成为一个激动人心的时刻，这些发现和理解将改善野生动物疾病管理，但许多研究人员将从它们的使用培训中受益。为了满足这一需求，我们通过“野生动物疾病基因组学”（GDW）密集讲习班提供实际数据的实践培训。2017年和2018年举办的前两次研讨会非常成功，为近50名研究生、博士后和教师提供了下一代DNA测序分析的培训，用于野生动物疾病项目。展望未来，该项目将为12-14名有经济需要的研究生或研究员（美国公民）提供奖学金，参加2019年和2020年的研讨会。我们将优先将这些资金用于促进多样化或代表性不足的少数民族的参与，并已成功地招募了妇女和多样化的与会者，以最大限度地发挥培训的影响。这种财政援助还将促进建立一个有凝聚力、有效的科学界，在控制传染性野生动物疾病方面取得突破。例如，我们最近发表了一份手稿，帮助科学界确定下一个关键的挑战，GDW研讨会的校友也参与了一个列表服务，以促进越来越多对GDW问题感兴趣和专业知识的研究人员之间的交流。基因组科学的最新技术进步，以及越来越实惠的下一代测序（NGS）检测成本，已经结合在一起，产生了强大的工具，用于监测、检测和重建过去、现在和未来影响野生动物种群的病原体的作用。因此，野生动物研究人员具有独特的优势，可以将生态、生物和进化研究与这些基因组技术结合起来，在疾病研究中利用前所未有的“大数据”工具；然而，大多数研究人员缺乏使用这些计算密集型方法所需的培训和专业知识。以前的讲习班包括讲座、日常计算机实验室和分析真实世界的NGS数据。以前的研讨会提供了使用基因组工具调查野生动物宿主物种与其病原体之间广泛相互作用的全面培训，并为讲师，嘉宾演讲者和参与者提供了独特的交流机会。该项目将为另外两年的讲习班提供支持。资金将作为奖学金颁发给有兴趣获得这一新兴领域技能的美国研究生和博士后。该奖项将鼓励早期职业研究人员的参与。参与者将学习现代基因组学技术，并产生强大的基因组解决方案，以改善当地、区域和全球野生动物疾病的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Wildlife populations can be drastically affected by the outbreak and transmission of infectious diseases. Examples of this include white nose syndrome which is devastating bat populations in the US, and Chytrid fungus outbreaks that have caused declines in frog populations worldwide. Some diseases of wildlife, for example, Rabies, Ebola, and West Nike Virus, can cause outbreaks of disease in people, while other infections of wildlife, such as Brucellosis and African Swine Fever, can be fatal to domestic animals and livestock. Extraordinary new tools greatly improve our ability to detect infection and understand why it sometimes is devastating and sometimes not. While these new technologies make this an exciting time for new discoveries and understanding that will improve wildlife disease management, many researchers would benefit from training in their use. To address this need, we offer hands-on training with real-world data through an intensive workshop "Genomics of Disease in Wildlife" (GDW). The first two workshops offered in 2017 and 2018 were very successful and provided training for nearly 50 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty in Next Generation DNA Sequencing analysis to use in projects about wildlife diseases. Going forward, this project will provide scholarships to 12-14 graduate students or fellows (US citizens) with financial need to attend workshops in 2019 and 2020. We will preferentially use these funds to enhance diverse or underrepresented minority participation and have been successful in recruiting women and diverse attendees to maximize training impacts. This financial assistance will also facilitate building a cohesive, effective scientific community making breakthroughs in control of infectious wildlife diseases. For example, we have recently published a manuscript helping the scientific community identify critical next challenges, and the GDW workshop alumni are also involved in a listserv to promote communications among a growing number of researchers with interest and expertise in GDW problems. Recent technological advances in genomic sciences, and increasingly affordable Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) assay costs, have coalesced to result in powerful tools to monitor, detect, and reconstruct the past, present, and future role of pathogens impacting wildlife populations. Wildlife researchers are thus uniquely positioned to merge ecological, biological, and evolutionary studies with such genomic technologies to exploit unprecedented "Big Data" tools in disease research; however, most researchers lack the training and expertise required to use these computationally intensive methodologies. Previous workshops have consisted of lectures, daily computer labs, and analysis of real-world NGS data. Previous workshops have provided comprehensive training in the use of genomic tools for investigations of a broad range of interactions between wildlife host species and their pathogens, and provided unique networking opportunities among instructors, guest speakers, and participants. This project will provide support for two additional years of workshops. Funds will be awarded as scholarships for US graduate students and post-doctoral fellows interested in obtaining skills in this emerging area. This award will encourage participation by early career researchers. Participants will learn modern genomics techniques and generate powerful genomic solutions to ameliorate the local, regional, and global impact of wildlife disease.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.