NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020

Brown, Tanya Louise, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, 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 skin is the largest sensory organ in the body and provides important information about the surrounding environment through the sense of touch. Most studies of touch focus on rodent models, but recent findings highlight key molecular differences of touch-sensing cells in different skin environments. The Fellow will use zebrafish as a new model to investigate conserved mechanisms of touch system development and function. The Fellow has identified putative sensory cells in the zebrafish skin that share hallmarks with touch-sensing cells in mammals and other organisms. This research will use zebrafish to develop new tools to investigate how these sensory cells communicate information from the environment (i.e., touch) to the nervous system. This project will provide important insights into the conservation of touch sensation among vertebrates, as well as develop a new model to investigate sensory cell biology. To provide undergraduate students opportunities to participate in research, the Fellow will mentor undergraduate researchers throughout this project. The Fellow will also develop a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) for underrepresented minority students and provide them with access to authentic research experiences, aiding their development of skills in data analysis. To investigate the sense of touch in zebrafish, the Fellow will investigate a novel population of putative sensory cells in the zebrafish skin. To determine how sensory cell biology is conserved among vertebrates, this proposal will use both targeted and unbiased approaches that include antibody staining, transmission electron microscopy, and RNAseq to characterize this novel cell population and identify specific neurotransmitters that mediate sensory cell-axon communication. This research will also use live-cell imaging, optogenetics, and chemical perturbations to test the functionality of sensory cells in the zebrafish skin. This proposal will address the evolution and conservation of the vertebrate touch system while creating novel reagents and datasets to be shared with the community. The Fellow will be trained in RNA sequencing methodology which will be extended to the development of a CURE that is focused on RNA-seq, computational analysis, and using big data to develop novel hypotheses. Education and outreach programs at the host institution (BERG, McNair Scholars, and LSAMP) will support the engagement of students from diverse backgrounds in the proposed research activities. 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.