Project Summary This is a proposal for a diversity supplement to the MIRA award R35GM122610 to support Ms. Reem Hussein-Fricke, MSc, to work as a research trainee for two years in the Blackwell lab. Ms. Hussein-Fricke is a Black woman of Sudanese origin who was previously enrolled in a PhD program at Rutgers University, but eventually withdrew from graduate school after experiencing a series of challenging personal circumstances. With time Ms. Hussein-Fricke has decided to follow her passion for research and re-enter PhD training in order to pursue a career as a research scientist. This award will allow her to train and develop further as a scientist in critical ways, and to establish herself as a competitive candidate for top graduate programs. The Blackwell lab studies mechanisms that maintain metabolic, protein, and lipid homeostasis, primarily in the powerful model organism C. elegans. The parent MIRA research addresses specific functions of the SKN-1 transcription factors, which respond to oxidative, xenobiotic, proteasomal, and metabolic stresses, and investigates how these and other protective mechanisms influence cellular redox regulation and its effects on the organism. Ms. Hussein-Fricke will investigate an aspect of metabolic regulation that is an exciting new direction, how specific metabolic cues control feeding behavior and food intake. Our work in this area so far has shown that specific nutrients and metabolites profoundly influence feeding behavior and food consumption, and has suggested models for how this occurs. Ms. Hussein-Fricke will work with a postdoctoral fellow in the lab who pioneered this area. They will investigate neuronal interactions through which signals we have identified operate to control feeding, and use genetic screening approaches to identify additional metabolic cues that influence these behaviors. This research has already begun to profoundly alter our understanding of relationships between diet, hunger, and satiety. During the two-year training period Ms. Hussein-Fricke will benefit from research training, mentoring, and educational opportunities. In the laboratory she will expand her range of research skills, including gaining experience in neuronal functional analysis, a specific interest of hers. Most importantly, the time spent in the lab will provide a research opportunity of sufficient depth to allow her to generate publishable work. Ms. Hussein-Fricke will benefit from mentoring from Dr. Blackwell, lab members, and a mentoring committee, and will be deeply steeped in a rich and exciting scientific environment. Through this environment and attendance at scientific meetings, she will learn scientific presentation skills. During this time she will also avail herself of courses and workshops in the greater Harvard community in order to develop her knowledge and skills in bioinformatic and data analysis, another key interest of hers. Together, this experience will allow Ms. Hussein- Fricke to develop...