NRT-URoL: Decoding the Mechanisms Underpinning Biofilm Function and Architecture in Extreme Environments

生物膜是附着在表面上的微生物群落，几乎存在于任何环境和表面类型中。因此，它们对工程系统和自然系统的许多方面都有广泛的影响，包括农业、工业和人类健康。极端环境为开展交叉性变革性科学提供了独特的机会。它们减少的生物多样性和极端的物理和化学条件使其能够对重要的物理、化学和生物过程进行详细的描述和定量描述。这项授予蒙大拿州立大学(MSU)的国家研究培训(NRT)奖将培训一批不同的博士生，让他们有效地参与并了解跨多个学科的极端生物膜系统的关键特性。跨学科研究培训将有助于产生新的见解，可以控制工程和自然系统中的生物膜。综合科学培训计划使用创新的教学元素，将使参与者掌握专业、沟通、团队合作、研究和解决问题的技能，这些技能广泛适用于各种工业和学术研究职业。该项目预计将培训71名博士生，其中包括21名由NRT资助的学员，项目活动还将服务于一系列STEM系的博士和硕士学生。NRT学员将利用极端环境中的生活来推动跨学科研究的边界，将基于元组学的方法与高分辨率成像相结合，以了解多物种和多领域生物膜中发生的复杂和交叉的相互作用。学生们将研究极端生物系统，这些系统覆盖了生命生存的各种条件，从结冰的南极冰冻圈，到黄石国家公园的陆地温泉，再到加利福尼亚州海湾瓜伊马斯盆地的热液喷口。主要研究主题包括：(1)利用元基因组学研究极端生物膜群落中与代谢潜力和多样性有关的基因变异和共性；(2)利用多尺度显微成像仪器研究生物膜组成和结构的模式；(3)利用蛋白质组学和代谢组学确定极端生物膜的发育模式、新途径的表达和信号分子。培训生的基于项目和协作的科学课程将帮助参与者获得必要的基本知识和技能，以便跨越学科边界调查研究主题，确定解释极端系统中生物膜凝聚力和组织的属性和活动模式。该NRT计划的关键要素是可扩展和可持续的，包括(1)允许学生个性化其技术培训、课程和指导团队的计划；(2)帮助受训者发展可转移的专业和技术技能的研讨会、课程和活动，这些技能在一系列与研究相关的职业中表现强劲；(3)招聘、指导和保留战略，以扩大STEM的参与，促进指导和专业关系，并提高学生的研究生产率。该计划为学员提供全面的教育体验，其中创新的培训元素深思熟虑地为参与者在各种研究职业中茁壮成长做好准备。NSF研究培训(NRT)计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革意义的STEM研究生教育培训模式。该计划致力于通过创新的、基于证据的、与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致的综合实习生模式，在高度优先的跨学科或趋同研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Biofilms, communities of microorganisms attached to surfaces, occur in/on almost any environment and surface type. As a result, they have widespread impact on many aspects of both engineered and natural systems including agriculture, industry, and human health. Extreme environments provide unique opportunities to conduct cross-cutting transformative science. Their reduced biodiversity and extreme physical and chemical conditions enable detailed characterization and quantitative descriptions of important physical, chemical, and biological processes. This National Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Montana State University (MSU) will train a diverse group of Ph.D. students to effectively engage and understand critical properties of extreme biofilm systems across multiple disciplines. The interdisciplinary research training will help to generate new insights that can control biofilms in engineered and natural systems. The integrative scientific training program uses innovative teaching elements that will equip participants with professional, communication, teamwork, research, and problem-solving skills that are broadly applicable across a variety of industrial and academic research careers. The project anticipates training 71 Ph.D. students, including 21 NRT-funded trainees, with program activities also serving Ph.D. and M.S. students across a range of STEM departments.The NRT trainees will use life in extreme environments to push the boundaries of interdisciplinary research, integrating meta-omics-based approaches with high resolution imaging to understand intricate and cross-cutting interactions occurring in multi-species and multi-domain biofilms. Students will investigate extreme biological systems that span the range of conditions where life survives, from the icy Antarctic cryosphere, to Yellowstone National Park terrestrial hot springs, to the hydrothermal vents of Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. Major research themes include: (1) using metagenomics to examine genotypic variations and commonalities related to metabolic potential and diversity in extreme biofilm communities; (2) investigating patterns of biofilm composition and architecture using multi-scale microscopic imaging instrumentation; and (3) identifying patterns of extreme biofilm development, expression of novel pathways, and signaling molecules using proteomics and metabolomics. The traineeship’s project-based and collaborative science curriculum will help participants acquire the fundamental knowledge and skills necessary to converge across disciplinary boundaries to investigate the research themes, identifying properties and patterns of activity that explain biofilm cohesion and organization in extreme systems. Key elements of this NRT program are scalable and sustainable, including (1) a program that allows students personalize their technical training, curriculum, and mentor team; (2) seminars, courses, and activities that help trainees develop transferrable professional and technical skills that feature strongly across a range of research-related careers, and (3) recruitment, mentoring, and retention strategies that broaden STEM participation, foster mentoring and professional relationships, and improve students’ research productivity. The program provides a holistic educational experience for the trainees, where innovative training elements thoughtfully prepare participants to thrive in a variety of research careers. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.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.