1. TransformShareConnect
NESCent
The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
ADDRESSING
FUNDAMENTAL CHALLENGES IN
EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE

2. TransformShareConnect
NESCent is presently funded by the NSF
NESCent is a collaborative partnership
between
• Duke University
• The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
• North Carolina State University

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NESCent in Durham,
North Carolina

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How does one define a synthesis
center? Our Mission
• NESCent promotes the synthesis of information,
concepts and knowledge to address significant,
emerging, or novel questions in evolutionary
science and its applications.
• NESCent achieves this by supporting research
and education across disciplinary, institutional,
geographic, and demographic boundaries.

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Sidlauskas et al (2009). Linking Big: the Continuing Promise of Evolutionary Synthesis. Evolution Volume 64, Issue 4, pages 871-880.
What is Synthesis?

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What is the value of a synthesis
center?
• As a synthesis center, NESCent’s role is to Connect, Share,
Transform

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How do we build a successful
research incubator?
• Goal: Foster and enable novel and transformative research
so that the chances for successful funding increases
• Structure:
– Interdisciplinary, self-identified teams
– A neutral, physical space
– A resident community
– Freedom from distractions
– Data reuse, not data generation
– Core informatics support

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NESCent as a Synthesis Center
• As a synthesis center, NESCent’s role is to Connect, Share,
Transform

9. TransformShareConnect
NESCent as a Synthesis Center
• As a synthesis center, NESCent’s role is to Connect, Share,
Transform
• NESCent is an Incubator for new scientific research
– Provision of informatics resources
– Provision of administrative and logistic support
– Triage of high-risk science

10. TransformShareConnect
NESCent as a Synthesis Center
• As a synthesis center, NESCent’s role is to Connect, Share,
Transform
• NESCent is an Incubator for new scientific research
– Provision of informatics resources
– Provision of administrative and logistic support
– Triage of high-risk science
• NESCent promotes the establishment and development of
Communities of Practice and Grassroots Resource Solutions
– groups of individuals working in similar areas or on similar problems, and
sharing similar requirements and constraints

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Education & Outreach
• Working Groups
Approaches: Core Science Programs

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Education & Outreach
• Working Groups
• Catalysis Meetings
Approaches: Core Science Programs

13. TransformShareConnect
Education & Outreach
• Working Groups
• Catalysis Meetings
• Sabbatical Scholars
Approaches: Core Science Programs

14. TransformShareConnect
Education & Outreach
• Working Groups
• Catalysis Meetings
• Sabbatical Scholars
• Postdoctoral Scholars
Approaches: Core Science Programs

15. TransformShareConnect
Education & Outreach
• Working Groups
• Catalysis Meetings
• Sabbatical Scholars
• Postdoctoral Scholars
• Short Term Visitors
Approaches: Core Science Programs

16. TransformShareConnect
Education & Outreach
• Working Groups
• Catalysis Meetings
• Sabbatical Scholars
• Postdoctoral Scholars
• Short Term Visitors
• Graduate Fellowships
Approaches: Core Science Programs

17. TransformShareConnectPrimate Life Histories
Karen Strier (Univ. Wisconsin), Susan Alberts (Duke), 2007-2008

18. TransformShareConnectPrimate Life Histories
Develop “… a collaborative, shared database allowing analyses of irreplaceable life
history data on wild primates.”
Karen Strier (Univ. Wisconsin), Susan Alberts (Duke), 2007-2008

19. TransformShareConnectPrimate Life Histories
Develop “… a collaborative, shared database allowing analyses of irreplaceable life
history data on wild primates.”
Karen Strier (Univ. Wisconsin), Susan Alberts (Duke), 2007-2008

20. TransformShareConnectPrimate Life Histories
Karen Strier (Univ. Wisconsin), Susan Alberts (Duke), 2007-2008

21. TransformShareConnectPrimate Life Histories
Karen Strier (Univ. Wisconsin), Susan Alberts (Duke), 2007-2008

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• Examples of activities:
Evolutionary Medicine Initiative

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• Examples of activities:
– A “mini-camp” on evolutionary biology for medical
practitioners, at NESCent
Evolutionary Medicine Initiative

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• Examples of activities:
– A “mini-camp” on evolutionary biology for medical
practitioners, at NESCent
– A CME summer course at Mt. Desert Island, sponsored by
NESCent
Evolutionary Medicine Initiative

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• Examples of activities:
– A “mini-camp” on evolutionary biology for medical
practitioners, at NESCent
– A CME summer course at Mt. Desert Island, sponsored by
NESCent
– An Evolutionary Medicine symposium at Evolution 2011.
Evolutionary Medicine Initiative

26. TransformShareConnect
• Examples of activities:
– A “mini-camp” on evolutionary biology for medical
practitioners, at NESCent
– A CME summer course at Mt. Desert Island, sponsored by
NESCent
– An Evolutionary Medicine symposium at Evolution 2011.
• Working Groups on Curriculum Development for pre-
med and med students
Evolutionary Medicine Initiative

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• The Perils of Being Bipedal: an Evolutionary
Perspective on Human Muscoloskeletal Disorders.
Evolutionary Medicine Initiative
Bruce Latimer (CW Reserve) and Linda Spurlock (Kent State)
Walking on extended hind limbs is the hallmark
adaptation characterizing our species but it makes us
vulnerable to a wide range of serious joint and soft
tissue problems
…chronically sprained ankles, hernias,
osteoporotic fractures of the hip, spine, and
forearm, obstetric problems, knee problems, foot
disorders, fatigue fractures.
Goal: develop and implement a model curriculum for
medical students, create a reference website, and
publish an edited volume.

28. TransformShareConnect
• Genetics and Genealogy: Teaching Evolution and
Human Diversity to Middle School Students
K-12 Evolution Education Initiative
Nina Jablonski (Penn State), Mark Shriver, Catherine Bliss, Eric Plutzer
Goal: develop a summer‐camp
curriculum for middle school students
entitled, “The Peopling of the World
and Me!”
• Use personal history and
genealogy to introduce the
principles of inheritance, modern
genetics, and the evolutionary
process.
• “This is a more exciting and
memorable way of teaching these
concepts than is the study of peas
or fruitflies.”

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The Social Challenge:
Engineering Grassroots Resource Solutions
• Why Grassroots Solutions?
– Needs-based. Community-driven identification of requirements ensures, at the outset,
that there is a real need for the tools and resources that are being developed.
• Advantages:
– Buy-in. By working with people who contribute to the construction of resources, and who
have a vested interest in their deployment, we overcome the social barriers to the
adoption of technological resources that often plagues top-down development.
– Built-in test cases. The scientists who participate in the development of the resources will
include people who want to use the prototypes in their own research. Hence, we have a
ready-made pool of alpha- and beta-testers in each project.
– Re-use. The information technologists and computational biologists who work with many
development teams have a high-level understanding of the resources that each group
uses, as well as the potential to re-use resources.
– Sustainability. By including postdoctoral scholars and graduate students in this process,
the resources that are developed take on a life of their own beyond the term of the
project. This is because these emerging scientists are likely to continue to use and develop
these resources.

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Approaches: Custom tools
for sponsored scientists
Physiological data of mammalian feeding
(FEED: https://www.nescent.org/wg_feeding)
Integrating ontologies for genes,
phenotypes, and evolution
(PHENOSCAPE: http://phenoscape.org)

31. • Data archived during publication
• Easy submission process
• Available to peer reviewers
• Persistent link from paper to data
• Supports data citation (data DOIs)
• Open and explicit terms of reuse
• Option to embargo
• Deep data indexing and searching
• Updatable datafiles
• File format migration & preservation
• Governed and sustained by
journals
http://datadryad.org
National Evolutionary Synthesis Center

32. TransformShareConnectApproaches: Education and Outreach
Serving…
•Education Community
•Science Community
•General Public
•Underrepresented
Minorities
•International Science
Community

33. TransformShareConnectThe Darwin Day Roadshow
• NESCent scientists and education/outreach staff visit
schools (K-16) and communities to talk about
evolutionary science and science careers
• Targets smaller, more rural communities
• 2011 – Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Virginia
• 2012 – Over 100 applications from 27 states

34. TransformShareConnectThe NESCent AcademyNESCent Academy
• Evolutionary Quantitative Genetics
• Next-gen Sequencing: data acquisition, comparative genomics,
design and analysis for population genetics, systematics and
development
• Anatomy ontologies in evolutionary biology and genetics
2012 @NESCent
academy.nescent.org
2011
• 2 courses @NESCent
• 4 co-sponsored off-site courses
• Travel awards for 22 participants from under-represented
minorities

35. TransformShareConnectMinority Outreach
NESCent postdoc Juan Santos
works with elementary school
students as part of SALSA!
NESCent postdoc Carlos Botero
mentors undergraduate students
at the SACNAS conference
LOCAL PROGRAMS
SALSA! (Seeing and Learning
Science Afterschool)
NATIONAL PROGRAMS
SACNAS (Society for the
Advancement of Chicanos and
Native Americans in Science)

36. TransformShareConnectNESCent Ambassadors Program
• International Outreach – NESCent scientists/informatics/education staff
work with local scientists and educators in developing nations
• To date: Ecuador/Galapagos, Indonesia, Madagascar
• Upcoming: Caribbean, Kenya, Galapagos, Panama
Dr. Carlos Valle (USFQ) discussing finch
evolution with natural history guides
on San Cristobal
NESCent postdoc Peter Unmack
works with Indonesian students
on the island of Bali

37. 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total
No.
No. of Participants 8 159 292 557 378 512 439 785 653 622 4356
No. of
Software/Datasets
1 21 25 16 8 14 34 2 121
No. of Publications 1 2 24 68 65 90 79 89 113 40 571
No. of News
Coverage
4 5 45 43 65 100 25 287
No. of Catalysis
Meetings
4 6 3 4 5 5 7 0 34
No. of Active
Working Groups
2 9 15 17 20 22 21 15 12 55
No. of New
Postdoctoral
Fellows
5 7 4 3 8 4 6 4 4 46
No. of Active
Sabbatical Scholars
4 5 1 5 3 5 5 5 5 38
No. of Courses 5 11 6 7 4 6 4 43
No. of Course
Participants
78 84 142 57 123 169 97 750