NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: The social brain: behavioral, neural, and transcriptomic modulation of the brain

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：社交大脑：大脑的​​行为、神经和转录组调节

• 批准号: 2109472
• 负责人: Levi Storks
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Storks, Levi
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2023-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109472&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, 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. Animals interact with their world through cognitive mechanisms, the substrates of which are found in the neural tissues of the central nervous system. A fundamental mechanism of cognition is associative learning where an individual associates a stimulus with a specific experience. Animals form many associations about events in their world, including negative events such as the avoidance of predators or extreme conditions and positive events such as the location of food or mates. Depending on how an individual reacts to stress, positive and negative learning contexts likely affect individuals in different ways. Using zebrafish as a model, this research aims to understand how fish with differing stress reactivity react to different learning contexts, and how this differentially affects their brain. The project will create public outreach opportunities to diverse audiences in association with this work.This research will utilize cutting edge behavioral analysis and neuromolecular techniques to probe the behavioral, neural, and transcriptomic outcomes of different learning contexts. Using zebrafish from lines selected for high (reactive) and low (proactive) stress reactivity, the Fellow will train fish in a conditioned place preference paradigm using appetitive or aversive stimuli. Following the experiment, neural activation will be evaluated using the immediate early gene egr-1 and expression of the plasticity-related gene npas4a across a network of brain regions involved in learning and memory. The Fellow will then evaluate the neural transcriptome in the hippocampus and basolateral amygdala. The Fellow will compare learning and memory, neural activation, and gene expression between learning contexts (appetitive or aversive) and stress coping styles (reactive or proactive) to determine how intrinsic and extrinsic factors interact in individual fish to affect cognition at the behavioral, neural, and transcriptomic level. This fellowship will provide opportunities for the Fellow to develop research, teaching, and public engagement skills that will prepare them to begin an independent career at a research-intensive institution. The Fellow will engage diverse communities with STEM through public outreach and cultivate valuable research opportunities for students from local community colleges.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.

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。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。动物通过认知机制与它们的世界互动，认知机制的底物存在于中枢神经系统的神经组织中。认知的一个基本机制是联想学习，其中个体将刺激与特定体验相关联。动物对世界中的事件形成许多联想，包括负面事件，如避免捕食者或极端条件，以及积极事件，如食物或配偶的位置。根据个人对压力的反应，积极和消极的学习环境可能会以不同的方式影响个人。以斑马鱼为模型，这项研究旨在了解具有不同应激反应的鱼类如何对不同的学习环境做出反应，以及这如何对它们的大脑产生差异性影响。该项目将为与这项工作相关的不同受众创造公共宣传机会。这项研究将利用尖端的行为分析和神经分子技术来探索不同学习环境的行为，神经和转录结果。使用斑马鱼从线选择高（反应性）和低（主动）的压力反应，研究员将训练鱼在一个条件性的地方偏好范例使用食欲或厌恶刺激。实验之后，将使用即刻早期基因npas1和可塑性相关基因npas4a在参与学习和记忆的大脑区域网络中的表达来评估神经激活。研究员随后将评估海马体和基底外侧杏仁核中的神经转录组。研究员将比较学习和记忆，神经激活和学习环境（食欲或厌恶）和压力应对方式（反应或主动）之间的基因表达，以确定内在和外在因素如何在个体鱼中相互作用，以影响行为，神经和转录水平的认知。该奖学金将为研究员提供发展研究，教学和公众参与技能的机会，这些技能将为他们在研究密集型机构开始独立职业生涯做好准备。该研究员将通过公共宣传与不同社区接触STEM，并为当地社区学院的学生培养宝贵的研究机会。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。