Research Initiation Award: Life after death - The role and composition of the thanatomicrobiome in the decomposition of mammalian organs

研究启动奖(RIA)为开始建立研究计划的历史黑人学院和大学(HBCU)的初级教师提供支持，以及为需要重新指导和重新建立研究计划的职业生涯中期教师提供支持。预计该奖项有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善研究人员所在机构的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究经验。阿拉巴马州立大学(ASU)HBCU-UP RIA旨在系统评估死亡微生物组(即死亡微生物组)在人体器官分解中的作用。拟议研究的目标有三个：(I)建立已知死亡间隔(即实际死亡后经过的时间)的人类身体的死亡微生物组(血液、肝脏、脾、心脏和脑)的工作基线；(Ii)将采样地点(血液、肝脏、脾、心脏和脑)的数量缩小到1/3，以便对许多身体选定器官中的死亡微生物组进行深入评估；(Iii)确定可用于准确确定死亡间隔的微生物群落特征。在为期两年的项目中，该奖项支持分子生物学、微生物学和生物信息学STEM培训的四名本科生和一名硕士学生。该项目与亚利桑那州立大学、华盛顿大学和阿拉巴马州法医科学部的研究人员合作，作为刺激研究(EPSCoR)管辖权的指定实验计划，该项目具有潜在的地方、地区和全国影响，该项目扩大了阿拉巴马州的研究能力和能力，并有助于培养生物和计算科学领域的多样化劳动力。该项目有可能导致一种工具，有助于预测死亡间隔，但迄今尚无科学方法。

Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support for junior faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who need to re-direct and re-build a research program. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the researcher's home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences.Alabama State University's (ASU) HBCU-UP RIA is aimed at systematically evaluating the role of the thanatomicrobiome (i.e., death-microbiome) in the decomposition of human organs. The goals of the proposed study are threefold: (i) to establish a working baseline of the thanatomicrobiome (blood, liver, spleen, heart and brain) of human cadavers that have known post-mortem intervals (PMIs) (i.e., the elapse time since actual death), (ii) to narrow down the number of sampling sites (blood, liver, spleen, heart and brain) to one/three in order to provide an in-depth assessment of the thanatomicrobiome in selected organs in many cadavers, (iii) identify the microbial community signatures that could be used to accurately determine PMI. During the two-year project, the award supports four undergraduate and one master student in molecular biology, microbiology and bioinformatics STEM training. The project has the potential for local, regional and national impact as a collaboration with researchers at ASU, the University of Washington and the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, As a designated Experimental Program to Stimulate Research (EPSCoR) jurisdiction, the project broadens research capacity and capability in Alabama and contributes to preparation of a diverse workforce in the biological and computation sciences.The project has the potential to lead to a tool that will assist in predicting the death interval for which, to date, no scientific method exists.