NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: Disentangling the diversity of synovial joint form and function

该行动资助了美国国家科学基金会2022财年生物学博士后研究奖学金，研究基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该奖学金支持将以创新方式对生活规则领域作出贡献的研究员的研究和培训。脊椎动物关节的形状和运动表现出异常的多样性，从使蛇能够吞噬大量猎物的颚关节到使鸟和蝙蝠能够飞行的翅膀关节。这项研究旨在了解当动物生长时，这些关节形状的差异何时以及如何产生，以及关节运动的差异如何使动物成功地占据全球栖息地。该研究员将利用胚胎关节形成可视化和测量幼年和成年动物关节运动的新技术来探索这些问题。该项目还将产生用于K-12教室的教育材料。因为鸟类——现存种类最多的四足动物群体——使用它们的后肢与各种各样的栖息地进行互动，如行走、涉水和栖息，它们为这项工作提供了理想的焦点群体。该研究员将整合发育生物学、生物力学和计算建模的技术和观点，以：(1)研究鸟类后肢关节形态多样性的孵化前起源，(2)表征鸟类后肢关节形态与功能之间的联系，以及(3)在运动生态学的背景下建立鸟类后肢功能的预测模型。因此，这项工作将直接揭示现代鸟类辐射的功能多样化，但也将把实验数据转化为关节形式、功能和环境适应之间关系的预测模型，这将转移到脊椎动物树上的其他类群。在从事本研究的同时，研究员将接受胚胎学成像和运动比较方面的培训。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, 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. Vertebrate animals display an exceptional diversity of joint shapes and motions, ranging from the jaw joints that enable snakes to engulf massive prey to the wing joints that enable birds and bats to take flight. This research aims to understand when and how these differences in joint shape arise as an animal grows, and how differences in joint motion enable animals to successfully occupy habitats across the globe. The fellow will take advantage of new technologies for visualizing joint formation in embryos and for measuring joint motion from juvenile and adult animals to explore these questions. The project will also result in educational materials for use in K-12 classrooms.Because birds – the most speciose group of living tetrapod animals – use their hindlimbs to interact with a wide variety of habitats in behaviors such as walking, wading, and perching, they offer an ideal focal group for this work. The fellow will integrate techniques and perspectives from developmental biology, biomechanics, and computational modeling to (1) investigate the pre-hatching origins of diversity in avian hindlimb joint morphology, (2) characterize the post-hatching connection between avian hindlimb joint morphology and function, and (3) develop a predictive model of avian hindlimb function, within the context of locomotor ecology. This work will thus directly shed light on functional diversification in the modern avian radiation, but will also translate experimental data into a predictive model of the relationships among joint form, function, and environmental adaptation that will be transferable to other groups across the vertebrate tree. While engaging in this research, the fellow will receive training in embryological imaging and motion comparison.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.