Winter 2018 INBRE

Alaska INBRE

NEWSLETTER {winter 2018}

Welcome to our quarterly newsletter!

Upcoming...

April 18-19th - EAC meeting May 2018

Jan 26th

- UA Biomedical Research Conference (UA-BRC)

- Pilot Research Grant Submission Deadline

Feb. 1st

- GRA submission deadline

Exploring the Microbiome at the University of Alaska Fairbanks: Undergraduate student Maddie McCarthy exploring antibiotic resistance in soil microbes with the Nanopore MinION pocketsized DNA sequencer.

Devin Drown, Assistant Professor of Biology, continues to expose students to cutting edge genomic methods in his new course, The Human Microbiome. ...details on page 7.

In this issue:

ANNOUNCEMENTS

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Funding Opportunities, Conferences, Workshops, and More ………………………………

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A message from Alaska INBRE director,

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Brian Barnes …………………………………………...

FROM THE BENCH

Research Spotlights From UA Students and Faculty ……………………………………………...

TAILS FROM THE TRAIL

Travel reports from Malabika Maulik and

SPECIAL REPORT

Curriculum Development in the Last

Chris Cavanaugh………………………………………

Frontier…………………………………………………...

RESEARCH RETREAT

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Alaska INBRE celebrates our statewide Network…………………………………………………………

ALASKA INBRE:

THIS ISSUE:

108 Irving I Building (UAF) Fairbanks, AK 99775-7040 Phone: 907-474-1104 Fax 907-474-6745 Email: inbre@alaska.edu

Author & Designer Abbey VandenBerg

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Editor Jynene Black Anita Goetz Cover Photo: Homer, Alaska, courtesy of Wylie Donich

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EVENTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Funding

Save the Date...

Opportunities Biomedical Research Conference — The 11th annual University of Alaska Biomedical Research Conference will be held in May (date to be announced) at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

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Curriculum Development Awards

Application Due: April 2, 2018

EAC meeting — The 2018 External Advisory Committee meeting will be held April 18th-19th at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Funds to pay for the development of learning/teaching methods and materials appropriate for biomedical and health sciences curriculum.

Submission Deadlines:

-Click here to apply!

GRA Applications —February 1st Graduate Research Assistantships provide support for projects in the biomedical sciences with mentorship from UAF, UAA, or UAS faculty involved in biomedical research. Click here for more information on how to apply.

Pilot Research Grant Applications —January 26th Providing awards for research projects in the biomedical and health sciences to improve researcher competitiveness for winsized DNA sequencer. ning ongoing, independent support for their research and graduate student training programs. Click here for more information.

Join our list serve and stay up to date on all INBRE-related opportunities!

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Undergraduate Research Assistantship

UAA/UAF Application Due: ~February 26, 2018 UAS: Ongoing Funds are available for undergraduates to partake in funded, mentored research at their university. The goal of the assistantship is to develop undergraduate student skills in understanding biomedical and health research, applying critical abilities to conduct research, identifying problems in research, and proposing solutions to resolve problems.

- Click here to apply!

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From the Director A MESSAGE FROM THE DESK OF THE ALASKA INBRE DIRECTOR, BRIAN BARNES

AK INBRE Community: As we begin the new year, I want to welcome you back to your institution. I hope you enjoyed time with family and friends over the holidays. Before looking ahead to 2018 and the important work before us, I want to take a moment and reflect on three of the accomplishments of 2017: 1. Welcome to ANTHC and SCF – in 2017, Alaska INBRE added two important partners to our network: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium(ANTHC) and Southcentral Foundation (SCF). We are excited to expand the Alaska network and look forward to sharing research opportunities with these important partners.

2. Pilot Research Awards – in our current funding period, Alaska INBRE awarded $724,468 in pilot research awards. For additional details about the exciting research in this segment, please visit http://www.alaskainbre.org/funded-projects/faculty/ 3. Graduate Research Assistants – in this academic year, Alaska INBRE is supporting 11 graduate research assistants based on their applications and a competitive review process.

For more information about what they are doing, visit http://www.alaskainbre.org/funded -projects/students/ Looking ahead, we are excited to review a new crop of research pilot applications and consider research advancements for the next year of funding. If you have any questions about the opportunities, please visit our website, http://www.alaskainbre.org/ Please enjoy this newsletter! If you have any comments or questions, we’d love to hear from you.

I look forward to seeing you all in 2018!

Brian Barnes

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From the Bench RESEARCH SPOTLIGHTS FROM UA STUDENTS AND FACULTY

Above: the first successful milk sample taken from an arctic ground squirrel in the Duddleston lab

Shannon Medlock, INBRE Undergraduate Researcher and multi -conference scientific poster awardee

Shannon Medlock is an undergraduate researcher studying the relationships among the diet of arctic ground squirrels, the resulting microbial communities of their milk, and the effects of these microbial communities on pups. Medlock is a non-traditional student and single mother to three kids, who got interested in research after working in a graduate student’s lab at the University of Alaska Anchorage. After having the opportunity to experience lab work first-hand, Medlock was hooked. Khrys Duddleston, professor of biological sciences at UAA, encouraged Medlock to pursue a research grant through INBRE. Medlock received

“INBRE allowed me to work full-time over the summer as a researcher.”

assistantship allowed Medlock to work as a full-time researcher over the summer.

Exploring gut microbial communities and their influences on health has become an exciting research topic in recent years, but much is yet to be understood. “There is very little research on the milk microbiomes of hibernating hosts currently, which makes this a fascinating research area to be a part of.” Medlock describes the experience of “research joy” that came after weeks of attempting to milk the ground squirrels to get samples: “This was a new procedure never before attempted by anyone in the lab. After several weeks and many attempts, the lab erupted in cheers as the first drop of milk was finally collected.”

Medlock’s poster presentation at the fall INBRE research retreat won her a full-cost travel award to present her research at the 2017 NIH IDeA Western Regional Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Medlock’s poster continued to impress at the conference, where she was once again awarded as the best undergraduate poster presentation.

first-hand training on grant writing and project design, and was awarded an Undergraduate Research Assistantship in Summer 2017 in Duddleston’s lab. The stability of a salary “There are so many scientific questions still and research funding provided by a INBRE left to answer, and being able to contribute

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to that process is very rewarding,” Medlock adds. “I hope that my contributions can make the world a better place.” Shannon plans to continue her education and pursue microbiota research as a graduate student at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Shannon Medlock, single mother of three and undergraduate researcher at UAA.

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INBRE travel awards as the ticket to academic adventure

Tales from the trail

Strengthening Connection Malabika Maulik is a PhD student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Maulik’s research utilizes the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, a small transparent nematode commonly found in temperate soils, to research the therapeutic value of plants in their treatment of disease. With a travel award from INBRE, Maulik travelled to the 20th international C. elegans meeting at the University of California in Los Angeles. She presented her work on Alaskan blueberry and its potential therapeutic use in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. At the meeting, Maulik was able to learn new techniques and unMalabika Maulik at the 20th International C. elegans derstand new assays that can be utilized in her meeting in Los Angeles. thesis research. “Attending relevant talks and posters on Parkinson's disease and the molecular mechanisms benefitted me to a greater extent in expanding my knowledge base . This could be very fruitful for my current work as I can integrate these methods and techniques in my thesis research work. The “Among individuals, as among nations, meeting allowed me the opportunity to network respect is peace,” was the theme of the 2017 Sociewith others in the C. elegans research community for potential collaborations, and I gained a compre- ty for Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chris hensive understanding of my research area.”

Cavanaugh, therapist and PhD candidate at the University of Alaska Anchorage, travelled to the conference to share some of the factors influencing the disproportionate rate of Alaska native people experiencing homelessness in Anchorage, including systems of health care and policy, local laws, and INBRE TRAVEL AWARDS tension between indigenous and western cultural values. Chris shared strategies to promote mutualApplications are due the 15th ly beneficial outcomes for non university affiliated, of every month. For more community based organizations and graduate stuinformation, click here. dent research, as well as research design and methods for examining recovery narratives from prolonged homelessness and substance abuse.

Strengthening Respect

At the conference, Chris gained insight into the use of geo-mapping and photography as means of better representing a participant’s experience, the feasibility of using technology such as smart phones to reach and provide intervention services for those in need, and strategies to translate research into policy action via collaboration with the community.

Connections were made among participants from all over the country, including those studying how incarceration affects homelessness in veterans, connecting policies to their affects of marginally housed people, and integrating media into community-based research. Cavanaugh discussed collaborating with other conference participants on various projects to present at the upcoming 2018 International Community Psychology Conference. Cavanaugh intends to share what he has learned at the conference with the UAA Community Psychology Research Collaborative, and adds that the type of collaboration seen at the SPSSI conference enable access for UA schools to access research expertise on methodologies and strategies to better conduct research with medically underserved and marginalized populations.

Chris Cavanaugh at the 2017 SPSSI conference in New Mexico

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Curriculum development on the last frontier... research and science communication experience with an endStudents at the University of Alaska semester, in-class symposium run Fairbanks practice genomic & bioinformatic anal- like a scientific research conferysis weekly in the Decision Theater North, explor- ence. “This course provides a ing environmental microbial communities, trandepth of knowledge in a growing scriptomics, bacterial & eukaryotic genome asfield relevant for many career sembly, & more in a newly developed course, The paths in biological sciences and Human Microbiome (BIOL 494). The course was human health,” Drown comPhoto credit: Devin Drown developed in 2015 as a collaboration between ments.

Assistant Professor Dr. Devin Drown and Dr. Mary The Human Microbiome Students enrolled in the Beth Leigh and implemented by Dr. Drown in 2016 with the support of an Alaska INBRE Curric- course have responded very positively (BIOL494) ulum Development Award. The course consists of and share the same enthusiasm for this growing field of research, even weekly lectures, student-led primary literature discussion, and lab modules, introducing students calling the Human Microbiome the highlight to environmental sampling, DNA extraction, PCR of their semester. Student comments have Alaska INBRE is proud to support the stressed the value of bioinformatics lab modules, amplification, and library preparation for secontribution of this course to UAF’s biomedical which cover material not typically covered in quence analysis. Students work on a semestercurriculum, as the University of Alaska commits other courses. long research project, gaining valuable to prepare future Alaskans to generate and interpret data in the genomics era.

Exploring the Human Microbiome—

Raymond Anthony— In the words of Raymond Anthony, professor of philosophy at the University of Alaska Anchorage, “Successfully engaging Alaska students and the public on relevant and contemporary biomedical and health issues requires more than an understanding of the relevant science and clinical matters; an understanding of ethics is also required.” To pursue this belief in multidisciplinary understanding within the health sciences, Anthony enriched his 300-level online biomedical ethics course (PHIL A302) with innovative, Alaska specific digital learning materials with the support of an Alaska INBRE bioinformatics award.

Anthony met with colleagues at the Universidade Positivo, in Curitiba, Brazil, where he joined forces with instructional designers, veterinarians, animal scientists, a musician, and healthcare professionals to best develop his animated modules. “Most of them had very little exposure to biomedical ethics, and this experi-

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ence challenged me to think about different ways to distill and communicate philosophical and empirical content effectively for layaudiences,” Dr. Anthony shares. “I also had the opportunity to share what it is like to live and work in Alaska and the nature of biomedical ethics with others from the southern hemisphere.

We had significant cross cultural dialogues on ethical challenges facing our respective communities and likely strategies for addressing them across hemispheres.”

Anthony’s goal is that the modules will assist students in understanding medical ethics and applying them to current issues pertaining to Alaska, the Arctic, and their future patients.

“Philosophy and ethics are integral to our everyday activities. Not surprising but perhaps not obvious to most of us, they can be applied to many aspects of our lives - how we live and what we do for a living, can all be looked at through the lenses of philosophy and ethics. The study of philosophy and ethics at UAA exposes Four learning modules including a com- students to different systems of thought and bination of case study exploration and decision- discovery, and an enlightened understanding of making frameworks were created, covering the Alaska and Anchorage within a global context.” topics of One Health, Sustainable Diets and Food Dr. Anthony invites anyone to join him and his Systems, Disaster Ethics, and Indigenous-Rural colleagues in identifying more potential placeHealth. The modules combine integral biomedibased solutions for safe, compassionate, just, cal theories and approaches with place-based sustainable, and healthy communities across narrative, “designed to challenge students to Alaska. apply moral reasoning and ethical deliberation frameworks to local situations.”

Click here to explore Dr. Anthony’s learning modules.

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Research retreat...

Alaska INBRE celebrates our statewide network at the annual Alaska INBRE research retreat When you live in the largest and most sparsely populated state in the country, connection is key. Participants from all three major University of Alaska campuses and our partner institutions, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Southcentral Foundation, fostered those connections near Denali National Park in September 2017 at the Alaska INBRE Research Retreat. The weekend served as an opportunity for student and faculty researchers to review their progress alongside peers within our statewide network, drawing inspiration from both the natural beauty of our state, and the innovative research aiding our discovery of a healthier tomorrow.

gree in Dental Therapy through the Ilisgavik Tribal College.

The three components of the One Health approach to health science were inaugurated with lectures from established researchers who spoke on their respective research themes relating to the health of humans, the environment, or animals. Bert Boyer, Director of the Center for Alaska Native Health Research and professor of molecular biology at UAF, presented on the community based participatory research in which over 2000 Yup’ik people in 18 communities have participated in since 2001.

Alaska INBRE principal investigator, Brian Barnes, welcomed participants to the retreat. “Networking is about communication; Everyone!, please find a moment over the next two days to introduce yourself to one another and tell of your research. Miss no one!!”

Timothy Thomas of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium gave the keynote address Saturday morning, highlighting the training, health education, disease prevention, and research being done on health issues impacting Alaska Native People. Thomas explained how the ANTHC aims to engage native people in health research through student internships and education programs. An example is ANTHC’s Dental Therapy education program, which has expanded access to dental care to 40,000 Alaskans living in over 81 rural Alaskan communities and includes the opportunity for students to pursue an Associates’ De-

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Boyer shared stories of learning to eat traditional foods from native elders, as well as how sharing research outcomes, and listening to the priorities of tribal leadership is key to effective participatory research. Mary Beth Leigh, associate professor of microbiology at UAF, introduced the critical theme of environmental health with a presentation on her research involving students and community members usURA - Shannon Medlock (UAA) – Milk Microbiota of the Arc ing plants to clean up toxins in the environment (phytoremediation). tic Ground Squirrel While we may think of Alaska as a relatively wild and pristine environment, Leigh explained that this is not necessarily the case, in fact, GRA- Alex Francian (UAA) – Enhancing Tumor Antigen “Five times more contaminated soils are left unmediated in rural vs.

Presentation with Complement Targeted Liposomes urban sites in Alaska, with rural sites also having a higher percentage of native populations and lower income citizens.” Phytoremediation is Karen Carlson (UAA) – Urea-Nitrogen Salvage and an inexpensive, low maintenance solution to soil contamination with Ureolytic Microbes in the Arctic Ground Squirrel Gut promising results, and Leigh suggests that “hiring locally, involving the Anna Rix (UAF) – Probing the Hypoxic Response of community, and giving people the ability to advocate for themselves Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes will make for more environmentally self-determined citizens.” Khrys Duddleston, professor of biological sciences at UAA, presented on the animal component of the triad, highlighting her research on the response of microbial populations to environmental changes. Duddleston’s lab is investigating how hibernation alters the diversity and The research retreat saw the presentation of 34 posters over composition of arctic ground squirrel gut microbiota, with the poten- the course of the weekend, each furthering our knowledge of Alaskatial to assess the ability of gut microbiota to produce essential amino specific health concerns. These presentations included 17 graduate acids. research assistant and undergraduate research assistant projects. The above mentioned three GRAs and one URA were chosen as the 2017 A highlight of the retreat, UAF’s research associate professor AK-INBRE research retreat poster presentation awardees, and received Stacy Rasmus presented her new work with the Alaska Native Collabofull cost travel awards to attend the 2017 NIH IDeA Western Regional ration Hub for Research on Resilience (ANCHRR) in a program based in Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

UAF’s College of Rural and Community Development and the Institute of Arctic Biology. The ANCHRR takes a One-Health approach to preAt the conclusion of the retreat on Sunday, over a beautiful venting the co-occurrence of alcohol abuse and suicide that investiafternoon participants departed from Denali’s arctic autumn to return gates examples of individual, family, and community protection and to their home universities. We will next meet with our Steering Comresilience in the face of health disparities and will develop methods for mittee and External Advisory Committee in spring 2018 before our communities to measure and strengthen their capacity to increase next retreat in the fall. youth health and reduce the risk for suicide.

Poster presentation awardees:

Associate professor Jason Burkhead of UAA ended the lecture series with a discussion of the AK INBRE Bioinformatics Core and plans for its development as our INBRE applies for renewal from the NIH. It will be critical to emphasize the strengths of each of the biostats, bioinformatics, and epidemiology cores among the several NIH programs in Alaska and how they coordinate and complement each other.

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Click here to view Alaska INBRE’s new video!

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Join our list serve here and stay up to date on all INBRE-related opportunities!

Alaska’s biomedical research network

108 Irving I Building (UAF) Fairbanks, AK 99775-7040 Phone: 907-474-1104 Fax 907-474-6745 Email: inbre@alaska.edu