NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020: Mechanisms of sensory reception in the hydrodynamically-adapted skin of cetaceans

pThis action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020，Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes，Environment and Phenotypes.该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。该项目旨在揭示鲸目动物（鲸鱼和海豚）的触觉（触摸）接收机制。 这些受保护的物种中有许多是濒危的和难以捉摸的，这使得研究它们的感觉系统如何支持进食和其他关键行为变得困难。作为陆地哺乳动物的后代，它们的皮肤神经是为了响应波浪、振动、压力变化、运动和猎物的水中运动而进化的。研究员将使用从Megaptera novaeangliae（座头鲸）收集的皮肤样本，使用分子标记来识别神经的类型。有趣的是，多个神经联合收割机形成线状束。研究员将使用尖端的显微镜来分析这些不寻常的神经束的结构。这项研究将展示哺乳动物神经如何重新配置为流体动力学传感器，这是鲸类动物掌握海洋环境的关键转变。 为了扩大该项目的影响，研究员将指导研究机会有限的学生科学家，提供观察鲸鱼行为和实验神经生物学的培训。该项目的目标是破译鲸目动物躯体感觉解剖学的生理意义。该系统的基本结构是异质轴突束。通过对座头鲸皮肤切片进行免疫组化，研究员将量化每个束的A-β，A-δ和C-纤维轴突，因为这些高阶组合中的每一个都构成了触觉表型。据预测，不同类型的功能将与接收终端的趋肤深度相关，它们被调谐以检测信号。描述性分析还将比较形态特征、轴突成分和轴突间关系。这项工作的目的是揭示鲸类多模态机械感受器，将水生刺激转化为电信号。图像数据集也将在组织，细胞和超微结构尺度上进行注释，并在伍兹霍尔开放访问服务器上公开访问其他研究。为了扩大这项工作的科学影响，研究员将指导学生，开发鲸目动物触觉的在线教育模块，并协调海洋哺乳动物感官生态学的国际研讨会。p p该奖项反映了NSF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。/p

pThis action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This project is designed to reveal mechanisms underlying tactile (touch) reception in cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Many of these protected species are endangered and elusive, making it difficult to study how their sensory systems support feeding and other critical behaviors. As descendants of land mammals, their skin nerves evolved in response to the aquatic motion of waves, vibrations, pressure changes, locomotion and prey fish. Using skin samples collected from Megaptera novaeangliae (humpback whales), the Fellow will use molecular markers that identify nerves by their type. Interestingly, multiple nerves combine to form thread-like bundles. The Fellow will use cutting-edge microscopy to analyze the structure of these unusual nerve bundles. This investigation will show how mammalian nerves have reconfigured into hydrodynamic sensors, a critical transformation for cetaceans' mastery of the marine environment. To broaden the impact of the project, the Fellow will mentor student scientists who have had limited research opportunities, offering training in observing whale behavior and experimental neurobiology./p pThe project goal is to decipher the physiological implications of cetacean somatosensory anatomy. The fundamental structure of this system is the heterogenous axon bundle. By performing immunohistochemistry on humpback whale skin sections, the Fellow will quantify each bundle's A-beta, A-delta and C-fiber axons, as each of these higher-order combinations constitutes a tactile phenotype. It is predicted that the function of different types will be correlated with the skin depth of the receptive terminals, the signals they are tuned to detect. Descriptive analyses will also compare morphological features, axonal components and inter-axonal relationships. This work is designed to uncover a cetacean multimodal mechanoreceptor that converts aquatic stimuli into electrical signals. A dataset of images will also be annotated at the tissue, cellular and ultrastructural scales, and made publicly accessible for other studies on the Woods Hole Open Access Server. To broaden the scientific impacts of this work, the Fellow will mentor students, develop an online educational module for cetacean tactile sensation, and coordinate an international workshop in marine mammal sensory ecology./p pThis 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. /p