This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, 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. This project will determine how adaptation to high altitude affects function of the placenta. Biologists study altitude adaptation to understand how animals evolve under environmental challenges. At high altitude, there is less oxygen available, and lower oxygen can cause problems for animal health. For example, high altitude slows the growth of babies during pregnancy. However, animals that have adapted to altitude have babies that grow at normal rates. One reason pregnancy might be protected in adapted animals is because their placentas, which control growth of the baby, have evolved some special functions. The fellow's research will identify the changes to placental function that protect offspring growth by comparing development of the placenta among altitude-adapted and non-adapted populations of mice. This research will help us understand basic function of the placenta and how the placenta evolves. The fellow will also establish a mentor training program to teach mentoring skills to graduate students and other early-career scientists.
The fellow will use three populations of mice to generate gestational timelines of placental development, gene expression (TagSeq), and fetal development in mothers gestating under normoxia or simulated-hypobaric hypoxia. The fellow will compare outcome measures among deer mice derived from lowland- and highland-resident populations and an outbred house mouse strain. Comparing placental structure and gene expression among populations gestating under different hypoxia regimes will allow the fellow to identify which hypoxia-dependent regulatory systems in the placenta are conserved among all populations which display signatures of adaptation. The fellow will also connect regulatory network modulation in the placenta to fetal and maternal health to determine how altitude adaptation has altered regulatory systems to preserve offspring survival. As part of this project, the fellow will receive training in high-throughput sequencing and functional genomics analyses. The fellow will recruit and support students from underrepresented backgrounds to work on the proposed project and she will initiate a mentorship program between early career scientists and American Indian undergraduates to help them navigate STEM career paths.
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.
