NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2016

Graham Joseph G, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

Postdoctoral Fellow: Joseph Graham Proposal Number: 1612109 This award funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2016, Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Joseph Graham is "Defining the role of the bacterial protein BimA in Burkholderia intracellular actin based motility and cellular fusion." The host institution for this fellowship is the University of California - Berkeley, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Matthew Welch. The goal of this research is to understand differences in actin-based motility parameters and the formation of multi-nucleated giant cells (MNGCs) caused by the intracellular bacterium Bukholderia. In eukaryotes, the actin cytoskeleton is a key player in regulating cell shape, migration, and intracellular trafficking. Because of the central importance of actin in eukaryotic cell biology, it is perhaps not surprising that many microbes (bacteria and viruses) have evolved the ability to mobilize actin of their hosts' cells to facilitate intracellular motility and spread during infection. This proposal focuses on Burkholderia of the pseudomallei group, which are intracellular bacteria that can use their host cell's actin for motility within host cells during their infection cycle. Motility is important for cell-cell fusion and the formation of MNGCs, facilitating cell-cell spread of the bacteria. The Fellow is using bacterial genetics and live cell imaging to define differences in actin-based motility parameters and MNGC formation between closely related Bukholderia species. Additionally, the Fellow is using RNA interference screening to characterize the host protein networks required for motility as well as bacterial-driven host cell fusion and MNGC formation. By defining the bacterial and host contributions to these processes, the Fellow is producing a better understanding of how species differences evolved, and how they may contribute to the different host ranges of Burkholderia species, which are otherwise similar at the genetic level and in their intracellular lifecycle. More broadly, the Fellow is providing key knowledge about cellular fusion, an event that is required in uninfected organisms. Thus, the study is potentially impacting the fields of microbiology, cell biology and developmental biology. The Fellow is engaged in several activities to broaden the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. He is providing training to undergraduate and graduate students, and providing monthly science lessons to schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a group called BASIS (Bay Area scientists in schools). These schools have large populations of minority students and students from low income families. The fellow is also working with these schools independently of BASIS to provide extra help in teaching and tutoring to STEM students.