RIDIR Collaborative Research: Building a Database to Determine Environmental and Familial Effects on Social and Biological Factors

Drs。来自德州农工大学的王茜（音）和一个跨学科的同事团队正在开发一个数据库，该数据库集成了遗传、环境和年龄相关的信息，以研究它们对波多黎各圣地亚哥岛恒河猴种群健康状况的影响。该团队汇集了人类学、生物学、生物医学科学和计算机科学方面的专业知识。这个殖民地成立于1938年，是一个罕见的骨骼收藏的来源，其中包含了每个个体的性别、年龄和血统（多达八代）的相关细节。一旦研究人员和公众可以使用综合数据库，来自圣地亚哥河猴种群的信息和衍生的骨骼收集将为研究人类疾病、家族史、发育、个人经历和衰老提供一个强大的非人类模型。王博士和他的同事将建立一个圣地亚哥岛猴子健康数据库，用于研究环境和基因对骨骼发育、衰老和病理的影响。这些研究是基于加勒比海灵长类动物研究中心和纽约大学在波多黎各圣地亚哥岛收集的骨骼。恒河猴的骨骼尺寸、骨密度、体重、出牙情况和可观察到的疾病状况将与每个个体的性别、出生和死亡日期、父母信息和社会地位等详细信息一起纳入数据库。随着时间的推移，骨骼特征的差异，以及健康、寿命和年龄相关疾病的家族差异将被评估。将评估大型飓风对恒河猴发育的影响。数据库开发结合了来自不同社区的本科生和牙科学生，提供了独特的学习机会。这些数据将建立一个有用的、可搜索的模型，供有兴趣进一步分析影响包括健康和疾病在内的多种因素的遗传和环境因素的研究人员使用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Drs. Qian Wang, from Texas A&M University, and an interdisciplinary team of colleagues are developing a database that integrates genetic, environmental and age-related information to study their effects on health conditions of the rhesus monkey colony at Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. The team brings together expertise in anthropology, biology, biomedical sciences and computer sciences. Founded in 1938, this colony is the source of a rare skeletal collection with associated details about each individual's sex, age, and pedigree (up to eight generations). Once the integrated database is available to researchers and the public, information from the Cayo Santiago rhesus colony and the derived skeletal collection will provide a powerful non-human model for studying human disease, family history, development, individual experiences, and aging. Dr. Wang and his colleagues will establish a database of Cayo Santiago monkey health for studies of the effects of environment and genetics on bone development, aging, and pathologies. The studies are based on the Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico derived skeletal collection housed at the Caribbean Primate Research Center and New York University. Bone dimensions, bone density, body mass, tooth eruption, and observable disease conditions of the rhesus monkey will be incorporated into the database with details on each individual's sex, birth and death dates, parentage information, and social rank. Differences in skeletal characteristics over time will be assessed, as well as familial differences in health, longevity, and age-related conditions. The effects of major hurricanes on rhesus monkey development will be assessed. Database development incorporates undergraduate and dental students from diverse communities, providing unique learning opportunities. These data will establish a useful, searchable model that will be available to researchers interested in further analyses of genetic and environmental factors influencing multiple factors including health and disease.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.