NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

_该行动为2015财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金提供资金，扩大参与。该研究金支持研究员在东道实验室的研究和培训计划，以及扩大在科学领域代表性不足的群体参与的计划。这项研究计划的标题是“母体抗体对后代生存和健康的影响”。“这项奖学金的主办机构是普林斯顿大学，赞助科学家是安德烈格雷厄姆和C。母亲抗体通过胎盘、初乳和哺乳期从母亲传给后代，被认为对保护新生儿免受病原体的侵害很重要。研究金研究调查了母体抗体如何影响早期感染的结果，并试图通过确定母体抗体是否减轻人群水平疾病爆发的风险来探索传染病的生态学，其结果适用于野生动物和人类群体。从母体传递给后代的母体抗体对母体暴露的病原体具有特异性。据推测，由于母亲及其后代暴露于相似的病原体，自然选择有利于母体抗体的进化，并提高后代在这些病原体存在下的存活率。除了对个体后代的影响外，母体抗体还可以改变整个人群和大地理范围内疾病爆发的倾向。为了解决母源抗体在哺乳动物中的进化和生态作用，研究重点放在两个研究系统上：野生动物中的蠕虫感染，以及儿童中的麻疹和风疹病毒感染（传染病生态学研究的完善系统）。这些模型系统被选为蠕虫和病毒参与免疫系统的不同子集;因此，平行研究它们将揭示母体抗体如何影响整体传染病发病率和死亡率的一般性。正在开发数学疾病传播模型，以跟踪人群中的母体抗体，并确定母体抗体是否改善后代存活率并降低疾病发病率。除了阐明免疫力的新生态方面外，研究结果还可以为政策制定者和科学家提供工具，以制定治疗野生动物和牲畜种群蠕虫感染的策略，并改善婴儿疫苗接种计划。与人类、野生动物和牲畜的感染作斗争，减少痛苦和死亡，是科学与社会交叉的奋进。培训目标和职业发展活动为研究员在疾病生态学和进化生物学的界面上从事研究职业做好准备，并立即在现实世界中应用。教育推广面向代表性不足的群体，重点是科学领域的种族和社会经济地位少数群体。该研究员正在帮助来自贫困背景的人建立通往STEM的途径，通过志愿服务The Last Mile Code.7370（https：//thelastmile.org/），该项目教授圣昆廷监狱的囚犯如何使用Python，HTML和Java进行计算机编程和数据可视化，以便他们在释放后具有就业竞争力。

_____________________________________This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Broadening Participation. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow and a plan to broaden participation of groups under-represented in science. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Micaela Martinez-Bakker is "Effects of maternal antibodies on offspring survival and health." The host institution for this fellowship is Princeton University, and the sponsoring scientists are Andrea Graham and C. Jessica Metcalf.Maternal antibodies are passed from mothers to offspring through the placenta, colostrum, and during lactation and are believed to be important for protecting newborns from pathogens. The fellowship research investigates how maternal antibodies affect the outcome of early-life infections and seeks to explore the ecology of infectious disease by determining if maternal antibodies mitigate the risk of population-level disease outbreaks, with results being applicable to wildlife and human populations. Maternal antibodies passed from mothers to offspring are specific to the pathogens to which the mother was exposed. It is hypothesized that, since mothers and their offspring are exposed to similar pathogens, natural selection favors the evolution of maternal antibodies and improves offspring survival in the presence of those pathogens. In addition to effects on individual offspring, maternal antibodies could modify the propensity for disease outbreaks across populations and at large geographic scales. To address the evolutionary and ecological role of maternal antibodies in mammals, the research focuses on two study systems: helminth infections in wildlife, and measles and rubella virus infections in children (well-established systems for the study of the ecology of infectious diseases). These model systems are selected as helminths and viruses engage different subsets of the immune system; therefore, studying them in parallel will reveal generalities about how maternal antibodies impact overall infectious disease morbidity and mortality. Mathematical disease transmission models are being developed to track maternal antibodies in populations and determine if maternal antibodies improve offspring survival and reduce disease morbidity. In addition to elucidating new ecological aspects of immunity, results may provide tools for policy makers and scientists to develop strategies for treating helminth infections in wildlife and livestock populations and improve infant vaccination schedules. Combating infection in humans, wildlife, and livestock reduces suffering and death and is an endeavor at the intersection of science and society.Training goals and career advancement activities are preparing the Fellow for a research career at the interface of disease ecology and evolutionary biology with immediate real-world applications. Educational outreach is being directed toward under-represented groups with emphasis on ethnic and socioeconomic-status minorities in science. The Fellow is helping build pathways to STEM for people from underprivileged backgrounds by volunteering with The Last Mile Code.7370 (https://thelastmile.org/) which teaches inmates in San Quentin Prison how to do computer programming and data visualization using python, html, and java so that they may be competitive for employment upon release.