NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

2016 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金

• 批准号: 1611752
• 负责人: Molly Womack
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Womack Molly C
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1611752&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

Postdoctoral Fellow: Molly C. Womack Proposal number: 1611752 This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Molly C. Womack is 'Selection and Constraints on Evolution of the Anuran Skeleton' The host institutions for this fellowship are the University of California-Berkeley and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Erica Bree Rosenblum (UC-Berkeley) and Dr. Rayna Bell (Smithsonian). The goal of this research is to identify selection pressures and evolutionary limitations acting on the skeleton diversity of frogs (anurans) over 160 million years of evolution. The Fellow is using X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) to examine the skeletons of 200 genera, spanning all 55 families of frogs. Using this dataset, the Fellow is analyzing the co-evolution of traits and providing a comprehensive study of anuran skeleton diversity. Despite the vast diversity of forms seen in nature, particular phenotypes evolve repeatedly across both closely related and deeply divergent species (convergent evolution). Frogs show rampant convergence and provide an exceptional system for researching the constraints and selection pressures that dictate evolutionary convergence as well as the limits of morphological evolution. The Fellow is using collections at the UC-Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to generate a dataset to understand convergent evolution and evolutionary development. The 3D models of 200 anuran skeletons are being made freely available to other researchers and the public, allowing future studies to easily collect morphological data from museum specimens without destruction of any curated specimens. In addition to the proposed research, the Fellow is utilizing this extensive dataset to highlight species and clades of frogs that would provide ideal comparisons for future research investigating the evolution of skeletal traits. The Fellow is receiving training in micro-CT methods and comparative phylogenetic analyses. The Fellow is collaborating with both the Berkeley Natural History Museums Project and the Smithsonian's Q?rius program to create and implement lessons to communicate concepts such as adaptation and convergent evolution to broad audiences. These lessons use interactive 3D models of museum specimen skeletons that the Fellow is generating, and that are being made freely available for teachers and the general public through the Berkeley Natural History Museums Project and Q?rius websites. The Fellow is also mentoring multiple undergraduate researchers on the manipulation and quantification of 3D data as well as data for comparative phylogenetic analyses. These undergraduate researchers also have access to the broad dataset generated by the Fellow's research, for use in independent research projects.

博士后研究员：Molly C. Womack 提案编号：1611752 该行动资助 2016 财年 NSF 生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物收藏进行研究。该奖学金支持研究员的研究和培训计划，以高度创新的方式利用生物收藏，采取变革性方法应对生物学领域的重大挑战。 莫莉·C·沃马克 (Molly C. Womack) 的这项奖学金的研究计划的标题是“阿努拉骨骼进化的选择和约束”。这项奖学金的主办机构是加州大学伯克利分校和史密森尼学会的国家自然历史博物馆，以及赞助科学家是 Erica Bree Rosenblum 博士（加州大学伯克利分校）和 Rayna Bell 博士（史密森学会）。 这项研究的目的是确定在 1.6 亿年的进化过程中，选择压力和进化限制对青蛙（无尾目）骨骼多样性的影响。 该研究员正在使用 X 射线显微断层扫描 (micro-CT) 检查青蛙 55 个科的 200 个属的骨骼。使用该数据集，该研究员正在分析性状的共同进化，并对无尾目骨骼多样性进行全面研究。尽管自然界中存在着巨大的多样性，但特定的表型在密切相关和深度分化的物种中反复进化（趋同进化）。青蛙表现出猖獗的趋同性，并为研究决定进化趋同性的约束和选择压力以及形态进化的极限提供了一个特殊的系统。该研究员正在利用加州大学伯克利分校脊椎动物学博物馆和史密森国家自然历史博物馆的藏品生成数据集，以了解趋同进化和进化发展。 200 具无尾动物骨骼的 3D 模型将免费提供给其他研究人员和公众，使未来的研究能够轻松地从博物馆标本中收集形态数据，而无需破坏任何精选标本。除了拟议的研究之外，该研究员还利用这个广泛的数据集来突出青蛙的物种和进化枝，这将为未来研究骨骼特征进化的研究提供理想的比较。该研究员正在接受显微 CT 方法和比较系统发育分析的培训。该研究员正在与伯克利自然历史博物馆项目和史密森尼 Q?rius 项目合作，创建和实施课程，向广大受众传达适应和趋同进化等概念。这些课程使用研究员正在生成的博物馆标本骨架的交互式 3D 模型，这些模型通过伯克利自然历史博物馆项目和 Q?rius 网站免费向教师和公众开放。该研究员还指导多名本科生研究人员操作和量化 3D 数据以及比较系统发育分析的数据。这些本科生研究人员还可以访问研究员研究生成的广泛数据集，用于独立研究项目。