NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Desert Adaptations of Asiloid Flies: Genomics, Heat Shock Proteins, and Climate Change

这一行动资助了NSF 2022财年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。该研究金支持一项针对该研究员的研究和培训计划，该计划将增加生物学中代表性不足的群体的参与。随着全球气候变化导致气温上升，研究那些处于危险之中并在很大程度上被忽视的群体是很重要的，比如适应沙漠的昆虫。通过研究沙漠苍蝇的多样性和生理适应，该研究员将调查这些不同物种是如何适应极端温度的。关于气候变化对这些群体的影响的研究也可能告诉我们，其他适应沙漠的昆虫将如何应对全球气候变化。该研究员将为来自代表性不足群体的学生提供基于收藏的研究方面的指导和培训。这位研究员还将在赞助机构吸引公众参与，传播研究结果并教育公众收藏的重要性。考虑到沙漠中物种的高度丰富，拟态苍蝇是一个理想的模式系统，可以用来研究生命如何适应沙漠，以及什么生理机制可能导致了它们的多样化。在这个项目中，该研究员将对广泛的拟青蝇种群的基因组进行排序，这些基因组将作为基础数据集，用于该研究员和其他对基因组学感兴趣的研究人员的进一步研究。此外，这位研究员还将识别和表征拟青蝇的热休克蛋白，并了解它们如何影响对沙漠生物群的适应。利用历史生物地理学、分布模型和以前研究结果的组合，该研究员将调查全球气候变化可能如何影响拟青蝇和其他适应沙漠的种群。该研究员将接受基因组测序、生物信息学、热休克蛋白鉴定和表征方面的培训。此外，该研究员还将学习各种基于收藏的研究技能，包括博物馆经济学、形态学和网络分类学。该研究员将在赞助机构与来自不同背景的本科生实习生接触，提供各种基因组和基于集合的研究方法的指导、学术指导和培训。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。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. As temperatures rise due to global climate change, it is important to study groups that are at risk and have largely been neglected, like desert adapted insects. By studying the diversification and physiological adaptations of desert flies, the fellow will investigate how these different species have adapted to extreme temperatures. The studies on the effects of climate change on these groups may also inform how other desert adapted insects will respond to global climate change. The fellow will provide mentorship and training in collections-based studies for students from underrepresented groups. The fellow will also engage the public at the sponsoring institution, disseminating findings and educating the public about the importance of collections. Given high species richness in deserts, asiloid flies are an ideal model system to investigate how life has adapted to deserts and what physiological mechanisms may have led to their diversification. In this project the fellow will sequence the genomes of a broad sample of asiloid fly groups, that will serve as a foundational dataset to be used for further studies for the fellow and other researchers interested in genomics. In addition, the fellow will identify and characterize the heat shock proteins of asiloid flies and develop an understanding of how they have influenced adaptation to desert biomes. Using a combination of historical biogeography, distribution modeling, and results from previous studies, the fellow will investigate how global climate change may affect asiloid flies and other desert adapted groups. The fellow will be trained in genome sequencing, bioinformatics, heat shock protein identification and characterization. In addition, the fellow will learn various collections-based research skills including museomics, morphology and cybertaxonomy. The fellow will engage with undergraduate interns from diverse backgrounds at the sponsoring institution, providing mentorship, academic guidance, and training in various genomic and collection-based research methods.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.