NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020:Consequences of reductive evolution on cell wall metabolism in the obligate intracellular bacterium Rickettsia parkeri

2020 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：还原进化对专性细胞内细菌帕克里氏立克次体细胞壁代谢的影响

• 批准号: 2010706
• 负责人: Wanda Figueroa-Cuilan
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Figueroa-Cuilan, Wanda Melissa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-01 至 2023-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2010706&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. Bacteria are single-celled microbes that have evolved to colonize a wide variety of natural environments including soil, lakes, and even the depths of the ocean. Some bacteria have evolved to become dependent on hosts, forming beneficial (endosymbiotic) or detrimental (pathogenic) associations. The Rickettsiales are bacteria that grow exclusively inside a host cell and may be transmitted to mammals by ticks and other arthropods. Through evolution, the Rickettsiales have lost many genes that support essential activities, leading to their strict dependence on the host for growth. While the understanding of processes that allow growth of free-living organisms is well-developed, knowledge of these processes in bacteria that live within host cells is limited due to a lack of tools. Through this award, the fellow will translate technologies available for free-living organisms to understand how bacteria residing inside host cells grow and replicate, focusing on a member of the Rickettsiales. The project has the potential to impact insect biology and to provide novel bacterial or host targets for the next generation of antimicrobial drugs. In addition, the project will develop a graduate student and postdoctoral trainee mentoring program, called BRIDGE, to enhance diversity by maximizing graduate student advancement and retention. Using Rickettsia parkeri as a representative member of the Rickettsiales, the objectives of this project are (1) to implement live and fixed microscopy methods for quantitatively evaluating growth of single bacterial cells within the host cell and (2) to characterize R. parkeri slow-growing mutants. To address these objectives, the fellow will develop live time-lapse and fixed microscopy with probes for active cell wall synthesis coupled to quantitative image analysis tools. This approach will establish methods for quantifying parameters of growth in intracellular bacteria. Second, the fellow will characterize intracellular growth and cell wall metabolism of slow-growing mutants in the cell wall recycling pathway factor AmpG. During execution of this project, the fellow will receive training by the sponsor scientist and a postdoctoral advisory committee, and will leverage resources available at the Professional Development and Career Office at Johns Hopkins University. Finally, the fellow will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups by creating a mentoring program called BRIDGE. The core of the program involves matching URM postdocs as mentors to graduate students from diversity and inclusion-oriented organizations at Johns Hopkins University to help graduate students develop and meet their individual development plan goals while advancing postdoctoral training.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.

这项行动资助了2020财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，扩大了生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。该研究金支持研究员的一项研究和培训计划，该计划将增加在生物学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。细菌是单细胞微生物，它们已经进化到在各种自然环境中定居，包括土壤，湖泊，甚至海洋深处。有些细菌已经进化到依赖宿主，形成有益的（内共生）或有害的（致病）协会。立克次体是只在宿主细胞内生长的细菌，可以通过蜱和其他节肢动物传播给哺乳动物。通过进化，立克次体失去了许多支持基本活动的基因，导致它们严格依赖宿主生长。虽然对允许自由生活的生物体生长的过程的理解是成熟的，但由于缺乏工具，对生活在宿主细胞内的细菌中的这些过程的了解是有限的。通过这个奖项，该研究员将翻译可用于自由生活的生物体的技术，以了解驻留在宿主细胞内的细菌如何生长和复制，重点是立克次体的成员。该项目有可能影响昆虫生物学，并为下一代抗菌药物提供新的细菌或宿主靶点。此外，该项目还将开发一个名为BRIDGE的研究生和博士后实习生指导计划，通过最大限度地提高研究生的进步和保留来增强多样性。本研究以立克次氏体作为立克次体目的代表性成员，目的是（1）实现活的和固定的显微镜方法，以定量评价单个细菌细胞在宿主细胞内的生长; parkeri生长缓慢的突变体。为了实现这些目标，该研究员将开发实时延时和固定显微镜，其中包含用于活性细胞壁合成的探针，以及定量图像分析工具。该方法将建立用于定量细胞内细菌生长参数的方法。其次，该研究员将表征细胞壁再循环途径因子AmpG中缓慢生长突变体的细胞内生长和细胞壁代谢。在执行本项目期间，该研究员将接受赞助科学家和博士后咨询委员会的培训，并将利用约翰霍普金斯大学专业发展和职业办公室提供的资源。最后，该研究员将通过创建一个名为BRIDGE的指导计划来扩大代表性不足的群体的参与。该计划的核心是将URM博士后作为导师与约翰霍普金斯大学以多样性和包容性为导向的组织的研究生相匹配，以帮助研究生在推进博士后培训的同时发展和实现个人发展计划目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估而被认为值得支持。