NSF Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship for FY 2009

这一行动资助了NSF 2009财年的少数民族博士后研究奖学金，并根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)提供资金。该奖学金支持在东道主实验室为研究员提供研究和培训计划，该研究员还提出了扩大生物参与的计划。约翰·M·琼斯的这项研究和培训计划的标题是“描述趋化因子受体及其信号复合体的特征”。这项研究的主办机构是加州大学圣地亚哥分校，由特蕾西·汉德尔博士赞助。趋化因子是一种小蛋白，通过与趋化因子受体结合来指导哺乳动物体内细胞的运动。趋化因子受体和其他相关受体具有重要的生物学意义，是生物技术和基础研究的重要靶点。然而，由于在实验室生产受体的困难，在理解趋化因子如何工作方面的进展一直受到限制。该项目试图通过在细菌中产生趋化因子受体来克服这一困难，趋化因子受体通常用于生产蛋白质。能够产生足够数量的受体将允许进行各种科学实验，否则这些实验是不可能的。该项目还在研究这些受体如何与细胞内的其他蛋白质相互作用，称为信号复合体，通过使用非常敏感的技术来确定哪些蛋白质与受体相关联，以响应趋化因子的结合。培训目标包括指导和教授下一代科学家。这个生物系统的复杂性保证了未来几年将是一个富有成效的研究领域，并为本科生和研究生提供了参与，他们被吸引到具有实际和社会效益的研究中。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2009 and is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to John M. Jones is "Characterizing chemokine receptors and their signaling complexes." The host institution for this research is the University of California San Diego under the sponsorship of Dr. Tracy Handel. Chemokines are small proteins that direct the movement of cells within the mammalian body by binding to chemokine receptors. Due to their biological importance, chemokine receptors and other related receptors are highly valued targets for biotechnology as well as in basic research. However, progress in understanding how chemokines work has been limited by difficulties in producing receptor in the laboratory. This project seek to overcome this difficulty by producing chemokine receptors in bacteria, which are commonly used to produce proteins. Being able to produce sufficient quantities of receptor will allow the pursuit of a variety of scientific experiments that otherwise would not be possible. This project is also studying how these receptors interact with other proteins within the cell, called a signaling complex, by using very sensitive techniques to determine what proteins are associating with the receptor in response to chemokine binding.Training objectives include mentoring and teaching the next generation of scientists. The complexity of this biological system promises a fruitful research area for years to come and provides for the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students who are attracted to research with practical and societal benefits.