IRES: Better Access for Training Scientists (BATS) in Methods to Conserve Bats and Detect Emerging Pathogens

University Of North Carolina At Charlotte, Charlotte NC

Investigators

Abstract

Bats are known to host more viruses than any other mammal species; understanding the spillover potential of these viruses, known as a zoonotic outbreak, has become increasingly important as humans encroach on the habitat of wild flora and fauna. At the same time, bats are essential to maintaining ecosystem health through seed dispersal, pollination, and insect control. This paradox emphasizes the urgent need to understand the disease ecology of bats in the interest of global health. Understanding how to monitor, characterize, and disseminate information about pathogen spillover is critical to global public health and Southeast Asian countries are at the highest risk of wildlife zoonotic outbreaks due to immense biodiversity found in this region. The urgency of these circumstances requires training of the future generation of scientists to connect and collaborate with scientists in high-need regions, where scientists, educators, and public health officials may lack the necessary training to monitor wildlife in a genomic and evolutionary framework. This IRES project trains U.S. student participants in fieldwork methods and analytical approaches for studying pathogens in wildlife reservoirs using affordable and portable biotechnology. The students are also trained in education and science communication techniques necessary for sharing information related to these topics. The program hosts up to 8 U.S. students per year at the Center for Biodiversity and Endangered Species (CBES) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Students conduct sampling in a national park inventorying the bat biodiversity and microbes occurring within the region. To understand the diversity of microbes in the environment, how they circulate, and how they evolve within and between their hosts, scientists must sample the data directly from the environment, extract genetic material, sequence this genetic material, and characterize the microbes in the sample with computational methods to visualize the results. Students participating in this research are being trained in genomic surveillance techniques of zoonotic pathogens with low-cost “backpack laboratory” approaches. The project provides a high-quality international research experience for U.S. students that builds collaborative monitoring efforts with scientists in Vietnam while also establishing scientific communication training protocols to facilitate scientific discussion amongst disciplines and dissemination of appropriate information to policymakers and the public. Bats are used as a framework for teaching these protocols, as they are central to public health in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. participants benefit from the experience by learning about the ecology, evolution, and immunology of many unique bat species distributed throughout Vietnam and Southeast Asia. However, these techniques are not unique to bats and can be extrapolated to any environmental monitoring and surveillance program. During the students’ research experience, they engage in data collection and analysis for two major projects. The first is a metagenomic surveillance project that involves collecting bat feces, comparing pathogens present at two sampling localities, and documenting in a library of pathogenic strains of bacteria with metadata documentation in a public repository. The second is a science communication project that includes writing a series of podcasts with local collaborators to be released throughout the year, a three-minute thesis style competition of the study abroad experience, and social media engagement to communicate the importance of bats to ecosystem health. Overall, the students are being trained in field-based genomic methods, data analysis techniques with an evolutionary perspective, and data visualization to be used in peer-reviewed publications and public dissemination of results. 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.