HBCU-UP RIA: Isolation and identification of novel chemical entities from marine microorganisms

历史上的黑人学院和大学本科项目（HBCU-UP）研究启动奖（RIAs）为hbcu中开始建立研究项目的STEM初级教师提供支持，也为那些在担任行政职务后可能已经回到教师队伍或需要重新定向和重建研究项目的职业中期教师提供支持。教师可以在自己的学校、美国国家科学基金会资助的中心、研究密集型机构或国家实验室进行研究。RIA项目将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善其所在机构的研究和教学，并使本科生参与研究经验。在国家科学基金会的支持下，菲斯克大学将开展旨在从海洋微生物中分离新型化学实体的研究。这个项目代表了菲斯克大学的一个新的研究领域（海洋自然化学），这是一个小型的文科HBCU，超过94%的少数族裔本科生在STEM专业。该项目将用于加强菲斯克多个学科（化学、生物学、数学（统计学）和计算机科学）的教学，从而为广泛的本科生群体提供体验式学习。此外，菲斯克大学正在改变其STEM教学方法，将课程相关实验室的真实研究纳入其中，这项工作将成为有机化学和分析化学课程的典范，从而对STEM专业的学生及其专业发展和保留产生更广泛的影响。本研究的目的是从新分离的黄乳状革兰氏阴性棒状stutzeri假单胞菌（菌株35M3）中鉴定新的生物活性化学实体，该菌株的身份和独特性通过16S rRNA基因序列分析得到证实。本项目的具体目标是：1)利用高信息密度分析工具，通过共培养实验（分别与革兰氏阳性菌wratislavienis红球菌、革兰氏阴性菌大肠杆菌和真菌酿酒酵母）或抗生素选择后，从新鉴定的假单胞菌35M3中鉴定出新的化学实体及其对该菌株代谢组的影响；2)将生物活性分析扩展到细菌和哺乳动物细胞毒性的典型评估之外，以秀丽隐杆线虫为模型系统，包括这些新化合物对多巴胺神经元发育的影响和对诱导多巴胺神经变性的保护。本研究具有鉴定新鉴定微生物菌株16S rRNA基因序列的潜力。从这项工作中产生的数据将为未来实验的设计提供信息，这些实验将探索其他代谢组和/或解剖细胞发育、信号传导、细胞间通讯和其他过程中正常稳态的细胞通路。该项目将与范德比尔特大学合作进行。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM junior faculty at HBCUs who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who may have returned to the faculty ranks after holding an administrative post or who need to redirect and rebuild a research program. Faculty members may pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. With support from the National Science Foundation, Fisk University will conduct research aimed at isolating novel chemical entities from marine micro-organisms. This project represents a new area of research (Marine Natural Chemistry) at Fisk University, a small liberal arts HBCU with over 94% under-represented minority undergraduates in STEM. This project will be used to enhance teaching and learning at Fisk across several disciplines (chemistry, biology, mathematics (statistics) and computer science) and thus, provide experiential learning to a wide undergraduate student population. In addition, Fisk University is transforming its STEM pedagogies to include authentic research in course-associated laboratories, where this work will serve as a model in both organic and analytical chemistry courses, thus having a broader impact on the STEM majors, their professional development, and retention.The goal of the proposed study is to identify new bioactive chemical entities from a newly isolated yellow-cream Gram-negative, rod-shaped Pseudomonas stutzeri bacteria (strain 35M3) whose identity and uniqueness was confirmed from 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The specific aims of this project are to: 1) to use high information density analytic tools to identify novel chemical entities from the newly identified strain of Pseudomonas 35M3 and the impact on this strain's metabolome by co-culture experiments (with Gram-positive bacteria Rhodococcus wratislaviensis, Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, and fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae separately) or after antibiotic selection; and 2) extend bioactivity analysis beyond the typical assessment of bacterial and mammalian cell cytotoxicity to include the impact of these novel compounds on dopamine neuron development and protection against induced dopamine neurodegeneration using C. elegans as a model system. This study has the potential to identify 16S rRNA gene sequences of newly identified microbial strains. The data generated from this work will inform the design of future experiments that explore other metabolomes and/or dissect cellular pathways central to normal homeostasis of cell development, signaling, cell-cell communication, and other processes. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Vanderbilt University.