NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2020

Westrick, Sarah E, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2020, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Most of our understanding of parental behavior comes from research on maternal care in mammals. As a result, we know very little about parental care in fathers, especially in cases where fathers alone care for offspring. Filling this gap is critical, as fathers vary in their expression of parental care, often with important consequences for their offspring. South American poison frogs show all three types of parental care: mother only, father only, and biparental care. These species therefore provide a unique opportunity to learn more about the causes and consequences of parental care. The goal of this project is to understand the mechanisms driving variation in parenting behavior by investigating hormone levels, neural activity, and brain gene expression. This research will add to our understanding of male parental behavior and the origins of individuality in behavior. In addition to innovative research involving students from diverse backgrounds, the project will expand an existing outreach program to bring hands-on learning of a wide range of biological topics to K-12 students. Using the Dendrobates tinctorius (poison frog) study system, the mechanisms underlying individual variation in paternal behavior will be investigated by combining data from multiple hierarchical levels of biological organization. The Fellow will characterize individual variation in parental care in fathers and link this behavioral variation to hormone levels at time intervals, neural activity across brain regions, and gene expression specifically in neurons active during parental care. The work will also include conducting hormone manipulations and the use of gene editing techniques to modulate gene expression. Taken together, the project will address fundamental questions about the mechanisms underlying parental behavior and how individual variation propagates across levels of biological organization, from genes to behavior. Through the project the Fellow will gain research, mentoring, and professional skills for an independent research career. The Fellow will also participate in collaborative projects to mentor undergraduates and community college students, as well as to expand hands-on learning opportunities to K-12 classrooms through the Froggers School Program. The Froggers School Program will broaden the Fellow’s science communication skills and bring more STEM outreach to the traditionally underserved region of central Illinois. 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.