NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: Biophotonics, Species, and Relationships

Mccoy, Dakota E, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, 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. Coral reefs, essential elements of the global ecosystem, depend on solar-powered symbioses: algae live inside marine reef animals, such as coral and giant clams, and photosynthesize to provide ready energy. However, increasingly environmental changes jeopardize the balance that maintains these animal-algal symbioses. To protect critically-threatened reefs worldwide, we face a powerful imperative to (i) explore how reef animals harness solar power so efficiently and (ii) understand threats to their intricate solar. In this project, the fellow will research optical adaptations and evolution in reef-dwelling symbiotic animals. The results will help us understand why corals bleach so severely while other symbiotic marine animals do not. Along the way, the innate creativity of nature may inspire sustainable technologies for solar power. Through three projects, the fellow will explore the following rule of life: how do animal hosts and their symbionts partner together to harness solar energy? In Project 1, the fellow will research whether photosymbiotic acoels and anemones have adaptations to channel light toward their symbionts, and if so whether these adaptations resemble light-harnessing structures seen in other organisms (such as plants). As a result, this work will set the stage for comparative evolutionary analyses as well as, potentially, inspiring new solar panel research. In Project 2, the fellow will test hypotheses about what selective forces drive diversity in biophotonic structures (from Project 1) and colors across acoels and anemones. For example, are environmental influences—such as depth—less important than symbiotic pressures—such as species of symbiont? In Project 3, the fellow will analyze why some animals are so susceptible to bleaching while others are resistant. Specifically, I will assess whether certain biophotonic adaptations that concentrate light for photosynthetic could actually exacerbate bleaching – potentially by causing organisms to heat up, or experience light shock, amidst warming waters. The fellow will learn and apply cutting-edge microscopy, applied physics, and materials science methods to marine biology (including hyperspectral imaging, transmission electron microscopy, and finite-difference time-domain simulations). 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.