Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R008191/1
Quantifying community metabolomes within model freshwater ecosystems and their responses to pollutants
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor M Viant, University of Birmingham, Sch of Biosciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Birmingham, Sch of Biosciences
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Metabolomics / Metabonomics
- Ecotoxicology
- Water Quality
- Abstract:
- Current ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT of chemicals relies on standardised OECD tests on typically three isolated plant and animal species. This lack of realism is widely recognised as a central failure of environmental legislation (European Chemicals Agency, pers. comm.). QUANTITATIVE MODEL ECOSYSTEMS have the potential to revolutionise ecological risk assessment by enabling molecularly reproducible experiments on ecologies that 'develop' along predictable trajectories. Characterising the extent to which those trajectories are perturbed by pollutants would provide fundamental new metrics of pollutant impacts on ecosystems. Furthermore, when coupled with discovery-driven OMICS technologies, quantitative model ecosystems could for the first time enable discovery of stress response MECHANISMS (and subsequently diagnostic markers of pollutant impacts) within realistic environments of interacting sediment microbes, algae, higher plants, invertebrates, etc. METABOLOMICS is a proven technology for discovering mechanisms of how organisms respond to stress. The University of Birmingham (UoB) is a world leader in the development and application of metabolomics to quantify pollutant impacts on isolated species, with a particular focus on aquatic organisms. Our recent NERC-funded work has for the first time utilised metabolomics to discover a toxicity pathway spanning two species across two TROPHIC LEVELS (in prep.). Here we propose to partner with Thermo Fisher Scientific to (I) establish and optimise novel sampling and non-targeted LC-MS metabolomics techniques to characterise community metabolomes within model freshwater ecosystems that comprise of many species, (II) examine the temporal stability of metabolic processes in these model systems, (III) quantify the impacts of pollutants on baseline community metabolism, and (IV) disseminate via multiple channels including through our partnership with EC's Joint Research Centre and through our membership of OECD Extended Advisory Group on Molecular Screening and Toxicogenomics. Our CASE PARTNER, Thermo Fisher Scientific (TFS), is a world leader in the development of LC-MS and has identified metabolomics as a priority area. Since 2013, TFS and UoB have been actively engaged in a Technology Alliance Partnership. This proposal builds upon six earlier iCASE awards from TFS to NERC and BBSRC studentships as part of their commitment to PhD training. Collectively this team will provide SPECIALIST TRAINING: in LC-MS, including unparalleled access to current and prereleased metabolomics technologies (at TFS); in environmental metabolomics and toxicology (Viant), biostatistics and quantitative model ecosystems (Brown) and freshwater ecology (Ledger). TRANSFERABLE SKILLS will be taught at both UoB, through the extensive courses in the Biosciences Graduate Research School, and at TFS, including business awareness, project management and financial training. This training will be truly MULTIDISCIPLINARY to enrich the student experience. Furthermore the main supervisor is highly experienced, having completed 5 PhDs in the past five years and with 5 current students, most of which are/were NERC iCASE. The student will be integrated within pre-existing cohorts of PhD students and researchers, providing an exceptional TRAINING ENVIRONMENT: the growing Environmental Systems Biology network at Birmingham, comprising 7 research groups; the community of ca. 30 scientists who constitute the technology partnership with TFS; and NERC PhD students in the CENTA DTP led by UoB. The IMPACTS will be far reaching: economically to TFS through developing and marketing their LC-MS technologies for metabolomics; socio-economically by facilitating the development of new methodologies to enable more rigorous quantification and mechanistic understanding of the effects of pollutants on freshwater ecosystems; and by training a scientist who is competent in molecular, analytical and computational 'Big Data' science.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R008191/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £89,114
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - RTSG | Total - Student Stipend |
|---|---|---|
| £17,480 | £11,000 | £60,637 |
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