NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2013

哺乳动物和鸟类红细胞的起源和长骨中的血管供应：来自最近和化石骨骼的生物学见解红细胞(RBC)对于摄取和向脊椎动物组织输送氧气是必不可少的。红细胞的大小和形状在不同的脊椎动物群体中差异很大，这种差异在一定程度上反映了红细胞大小、毛细血管直径、气体吸收动力学和有氧能力之间的关系。骨中皮质管的结构限制了毛细血管的大小和流速，并影响毛细血管内的剪应力。奖学金基金将支持犹他大学为期三年的博士后研究，在此期间，该研究员将学习成像技术(如µ-CT可视化)和实验古生理学技术，以及针对弱势学生的伦理研究和公共推广活动。实验室活动将包括调查血值、红细胞大小和股骨皮质血管供应(使用传统组织学和µ-CT)，以及研究环境氧气对鳄鱼骨骼血管供应的影响的实验。该研究员将分析化石数据，以确定非鸟类恐龙和哺乳动物祖先血液和氧气运输的化石指示器。该研究员的研究将支持犹他大学组织学和分析资源的学生项目，促进未来科学家的专业发展。这位研究员将与赞助科学家和犹他州自然历史博物馆合作，构建用于教育盲童有关进化生物学、化石记录和功能形态的“工具箱”。通过向盲人学生伸出援手，这位研究员将扩大对生物学的参与，让那些渴望成为未来生物科学领导者的人参与其中。该项目产生的数据将通过国家进化合成中心(NESCent)和国家科学基金会支持的MorPhoBank.org部分便利地保存在一个可免费访问的组织学图像在线数据库中。

The origins of mammalian and avian red blood cells and vascular supply in long bones: Biological insights from Recent and fossil boneRed blood cells (RBCs) are essential for uptake and delivery of oxygen to tissues vertebrates. The sizes and shapes of RBCs vary considerably across vertebrate groups, variation that partly reflects the relationship among RBC size, capillary diameter, kinetics of gas uptake, and aerobic capacities. The structure of cortical canals in bone limits capillary sizes and flow rates, and affects shear stresses in the capillaries. Fellowship funds will support three years of postdoctoral research at University of Utah, during which the fellow will learn imaging technologies (like µ-CT visualization) and experimental paleophysiology techniques, and about ethical research and public outreach activities aimed at disadvantaged students. Lab activities will include surveys of blood values, RBC sizes, and femoral cortical vascular supply (using traditional histology and µ-CT), as well as experiments to study effects of ambient oxygen on vascular supply to bone of alligators. The fellow will analyze data from fossils to identify fossilizable indicators of blood and oxygen transport in non-avian dinosaurs and mammal ancestors.The fellow's research will support student projects on histology and analytical resources at the University of Utah, fostering the professional development of future scientists. The fellow will collaborate with the sponsoring scientist and the Natural History Museum of Utah in constructing "toolboxes" for educating blind children about evolutionary biology, the fossil record, and functional morphology. By reaching out to blind students, the fellow will broaden participation in biology to people who aspire to be future leaders in biological sciences. Data resulting from this project will be archived on a freely-accessible online database of histology images, facilitated partially through the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) and NSF-supported MorphoBank.org.