Interdisciplinary Team Of Scientists Research Articles

Team Science in Family Medicine Research.

Collaboration, particularly interdisciplinary collaboration, is very common in family medicine research. Interdisciplinary collaboration and team science are encouraged and have significant advantages but they also have challenges to implementation. Addressing those challenges, even with changes to how promotion and tenure are conceptualized to reward team science is necessary for family medicine research to continue to grow and prosper.

V-Mail: 3D-Enabled Correspondence About Spatial Data on (Almost) All Your Devices.

We present V-Mail, a framework of cross-platform applications, interactive techniques, and communication protocols for improved multi-person correspondence about spatial 3D datasets. Inspired by the daily use of e-mail, V-Mail seeks to enable a similar style of rapid, multi-person communication accessible on any device; however, it aims to do this in the new context of spatial 3D communication, where limited access to 3D graphics hardware typically prevents such communication. The approach integrates visual data storytelling with data exploration, spatial annotations, and animated transitions. V-Mail "data stories" are exported in a standard video file format to establish a common baseline level of access on (almost) any device. The V-Mail framework also includes a series of complementary client applications and plugins that enable different degrees of story co-authoring and data exploration, adjusted automatically to match the capabilities of various devices. A lightweight, phone-based V-Mail app makes it possible to annotate data by adding captions to the video. These spatial annotations are then immediately accessible to team members running high-end 3D graphics visualization systems that also include a V-Mail client, implemented as a plugin. Results and evaluation from applying V-Mail to assist communication within an interdisciplinary science team studying Antarctic ice sheets confirm the utility of the asynchronous, cross-platform collaborative framework while also highlighting some current limitations and opportunities for future work.

Toward a multi-level approach to the study of the intergenerational transmission of trauma: Current findings and future directions.

A central goal in the field of developmental psychopathology is to evaluate the complex, dynamic transactions occurring among biological, psychological, and broader social-cultural contexts that predict adaptive and maladaptive outcomes across ontogeny. Here, I briefly review research on the effects of a history of childhood maltreatment on parental, child, and dyadic functioning, along with more recent studies on the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Because the experience and sequelae of child maltreatment and the intergenerational transmission of trauma are embedded in complex biopsychosocial contexts, this research is best conceptualized in a developmental psychopathology framework. Moreover, there is a pressing need for investigators in this area of study to adopt dynamic, multi-level perspectives as well as using developmentally guided, sophisticated research methods. Other directions for research in this field are suggested, including the implementation of collaborative interdisciplinary team science approaches, as well as community-based participatory research, to increase representation, inclusion, and equity of community stakeholders. A greater focus on cultural and global perspectives is also recommended.

NSF DARE—transforming modeling in neurorehabilitation: perspectives and opportunities from US funding agencies

In recognition of the importance and timeliness of computational models for accelerating progress in neurorehabilitation, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored a conference in March 2023 at the University of Southern California that drew global participation from engineers, scientists, clinicians, and trainees. This commentary highlights promising applications of computational models to understand neurorehabilitation (“Using computational models to understand complex mechanisms in neurorehabilitation” section), improve rehabilitation care in the context of digital twin frameworks (“Using computational models to improve delivery and implementation of rehabilitation care” section), and empower future interdisciplinary workforces to deliver higher-quality clinical care using computational models (“Using computational models in neurorehabilitation requires an interdisciplinary workforce” section). The authors describe near-term gaps and opportunities, all of which encourage interdisciplinary team science. Four major opportunities were identified including (1) deciphering the relationship between engineering figures of merit—a term commonly used by engineers to objectively quantify the performance of a device, system, method, or material relative to existing state of the art—and clinical outcome measures, (2) validating computational models from engineering and patient perspectives, (3) creating and curating datasets that are made publicly accessible, and (4) developing new transdisciplinary frameworks, theories, and models that incorporate the complexities of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. This commentary summarizes U.S. funding opportunities by two Federal agencies that support computational research in neurorehabilitation. The NSF has funding programs that support high-risk/high-reward research proposals on computational methods in neurorehabilitation informed by theory- and data-driven approaches. The NIH supports the development of new interventions and therapies for a wide range of nervous system injuries and impairments informed by the field of computational modeling. The conference materials can be found at https://dare2023.usc.edu/.

Ethical challenges in the use of digital technologies in psychological science: Introduction to the special issue.

Digital technologies are pervasive in every aspect of our daily lives. The proliferation of such technologies has also influenced the conduct of biomedical, behavioral, and social research. The articles in this special issue provide illustrative examples of the range of applications of digital technologies in psychological science research across a variety of populations. They highlight ethical, legal, and social issues that emerge when digital technologies are employed in psychological science research in the current era of rapid technological change, increasing prevalence of interdisciplinary team science, evolving understandings of ethical precepts and social norms, and promoting open science. This introduction to the special issue provides an overview of challenges to the Belmont principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice revealed in the 10 articles. The conclusions reached are that these ethical principles do not always adapt well to the digital environment and that practices cannot always be uniquely classified under one of these three headings. We recommend that conceptual work and practical guidance be undertaken to expand the interpretation of these principles in the light of evolving societal norms and emerging ethical issues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Achieving success with RISE: A widely implementable, iterative, structured process for mastering interdisciplinary team science collaborations

Abstract Scientific experts from different disciplines often struggle to mesh their specialized perspectives into the shared mindset that is needed to address difficult and persistent environmental, ecological, and societal problems. Many traditional graduate programs provide excellent research and technical skill training. However, these programs often do not teach a systematic way to learn team skills, nor do they offer a protocol for identifying and tackling increasingly integrated interdisciplinary (among disciplines) and transdisciplinary (among researchers and stakeholders) questions. As a result, professionals trained in traditional graduate programs (e.g., current graduate students and employed practitioners) may not have all of the collaborative skills needed to advance solutions to difficult scientific problems. In the present article, we illustrate a tractable, widely implementable structured process called RISE that accelerates the development of these missing skills. The RISE process (Route to Identifying, learning, and practicing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary team Skills to address difficult Environmental problems) can be used by diverse teams as a tool for research, professional interactions, or training. RISE helps professionals with different expertise learn from each other by repeatedly asking team-developed questions that are tested using an interactive quantitative tool (e.g., agent-based models, machine learning, case studies) applied to a shared problem framework and data set. Outputs from the quantitative tool are then discussed and interpreted as a team, considering all team members’ perspectives, disciplines, and expertise. After this synthesis, RISE is repeated with new questions that the team jointly identified in earlier data interpretation discussions. As a result, individual perspectives, originally informed by disciplinary training, are complemented by a shared understanding of team function and elevated interdisciplinary knowledge.

Innocell Bioreactor: An Open-Source Development to Produce Biomaterials for Food and Packaging Based on Fermentation Processes

A growing number of science and design scholars and design practitioners have recently embarked on studying fermentation processes to produce alternative materials. The main driver of this trend is the search for a sustainable future by proposing novel alternatives that could substitute or integrate into society’s current production and consumption models. This study presents the development of an open-source bioreactor capable of enhancing and optimizing a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) production process. The bioreactor is part of a greater design-driven project aiming to process edible and non-edible materials. The study presents the experiments and methods that led to the development and refinement of the current bioreactor, and all the information needed to replicate it with tools and equipment currently available under the Creative Commons status. The aim of sharing open-source methods and results to reproduce the bioreactor is to support different interdisciplinary teams of scientists and designers in generating high amounts of SCOBY, accelerating R&D with this auspicious yet underexplored source of bacterial cellulose.

Maximizing Training and Mentorship in Sex as a Biological Variable Research Across Different Brain-Body Disorders.

The Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) on sex differences at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has a long track record studying bidirectional interactions between different organs and the brain in health and disease with a strong focus on sex as a biological variable (SABV). While the initial focus was on brain-gut interactions in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), one of the most common disorders of gut-brain interaction, the scope of our Center's research has expanded to a range of different diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, alcohol use disorder, obesity, urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome, and vulvodynia. This expansion of research focused on the role of brain-body and brain-gut microbiome interactions in these various disorders, aligning well with the increasing importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team science. The SCORE's Career Enhancement Core (CEC) has modeled team science as applied to SABV research, with educational and training opportunities, a mentoring program, seed grant funding, and other career development experiences that enable mentees to work across the disciplines involved in brain body research. The CEC goals are: (1) To provide seed grant funds for innovative research relevant to the overall SCORE mission and research program; (2) to recruit and foster the career development of students, trainees, and junior investigators who conduct research focused on sex differences or women's health in IBS and chronic constipation and other brain-gut disorders; (3) to facilitate and promote collaboration between the UCLA SCORE and other academic programs involved in women's health education and research; and (4) to promote the importance of SABV through community outreach using collaborative and innovative approaches. These goals focus on establishing the leading research center in sex differences in basic, translational, and clinical aspects of brain-body interactions and on providing women and underrepresented individuals with research opportunities needed to become independent investigators.

The benefits of big-team science for conservation: Lessons learned from trinational monarch butterfly collaborations

Many pressing conservation issues are complex problems caused by multiple social and environmental drivers; their resolution is aided by interdisciplinary teams of scientists, decision makers, and stakeholders working together. In these situations, how do we generate science to effectively guide conservation (resource management and policy) decisions? This paper describes elements of successful big-team science in conservation, as well as shortcomings and lessons learned, based on our work with the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) in North America. We summarize literature on effective science teams, extracting information about elements of success, effective implementation approaches, and barriers or pitfalls. We then describe recent and ongoing conservation science for the monarch butterfly in North America. We focus primarily on the activities of the Monarch Conservation Science Partnership–an international collaboration of interdisciplinary scientists, policy experts and natural resource managers spanning government, non-governmental and academic institutions—which developed science to inform imperilment status, recovery options, and monitoring strategies. We couch these science efforts in the adaptative management framework of Strategic Habitat Conservation, the business model for conservation employed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to inform decision-making needs identified by stakeholders from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. We conclude with elements critical to effective big-team conservation science, discuss why science teams focused on applied conservation problems are unique relative to science teams focusing on traditional or theoretical research, and list benefits of big team science in conservation.

Catalyzing Conversations: Critical Thinking Skills to Win the Battle for Truth in the Post-Truth Era

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is uniquely poised to address one of the greatest challenges in the “post-truth” era through catalyzing conversations that promote the effective development of critical thinking skills necessary for identifying and avoiding conspiracy theories. An interdisciplinary team of scientists, science communicators, public health nurses and educators has designed case studies, modules and activities that are curriculum-based for use in kindergarten to grade 12 classes to promote vaccine safety. Two serendipitous outcomes from this Building Resistance to Vaccine Misinformation program included: i) significant learning experiences for everyone in our team about the other disciplines, and ii) that the research assistants articulated their own emerging professional identities. Once this program receives ethics approval, we will work with education programs to beta-test the case studies, modules and activities then assess the impacts of this program through pre and post experience questionnaires and journaling.

Abstracts from the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health 2022 Annual BIRCWH Meeting:Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health November 2, 2022

Abstracts from the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health 2022 Annual BIRCWH Meeting:Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health November 2, 2022

Evaluating team dynamics in interdisciplinary science teams

PurposeThis article considers how the evaluation of research teams can better account for the challenges of transdisciplinarity, including their larger team size and more diverse and permeable membership, as well as the tensions between institutional pressures on individuals to publish and team goals.Design/methodology/approachAn evaluation team was retained from 2015 to 2020 to conduct a comprehensive external evaluation of a five-year EPSCoR-funded program undertaken by a transdisciplinary research team. The formative portion of the evaluation involved monitoring the program’s developmental progress, while the summative portion tracked observable program outputs and outcomes as evidence of progress toward short- and long-term goals. The evaluation team systematically reviewed internal assessments and gathered additional data for an external assessment via periodic participation in team meetings, participant interviews and an online formative team survey (starting in Year 2).FindingsSurvey participants had a better understanding of the project’s “Goals and Vision” compared to other aspects. “Work Roles,” and particularly the timeliness of decision-making, were perceived to be a “Big Problem,” specifically in regard to heavy travel by key managers/leadership. For “Communication Channels,” Year 2 tensions included differing views on the extent to which management should be collaborative versus “hierarchical.” These concerns about communication demonstrate that differences in language, culture or status impact the efficiency and working relationship of the team. “Authorship Credit/Intellectual Property” was raised most consistently each year as an area of concern.Originality/valueThe study involves the use of a unique survey approach.

Culture of Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Nursing Research Training.

Establishing and maintaining collaborative scientific environments that can cultivate and benefit from a full range of talents is essential for the quality and influence of science. Inclusion of research training and career development interventions to expose nursing PhD students, postdocs, and junior faculty to team science stands to prepare graduates to effectively engage with interdisciplinary colleagues to conduct cutting-edge nursing research and compete successfully for precious research resources. To be effective, nursing research workforce development programs need to recognize and share a culture of interdisciplinarity. This project aims to develop, validate, and disseminate a theoretically grounded and methodologically rigorous tool for a cultural consensus analysis (CCA) of the culture of interdisciplinary collaboration in nursing research. Culture can be defined as shared cognitive structures and consensus around culturally correct values, attitudes, and normative behaviors. This mixed-methods study employs CCA to assess construct validity and empirically determine a set of underlying socially learned and shared notions about the cultural domain of interdisciplinary collaboration in nursing research. The study will include three phases: (a) qualitative data collection and analysis to define the cultural domain of interdisciplinary collaborations in nursing research; (b) validation of the CCA tool with the use of cultural knowledge statements; and (c) application of the CCA tool to assess cultural differences among nursing trainees, junior faculty, and training directors. The study participant pool consists of National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Nursing Research awardees, including training directors of institutional training grants, pre- and postdoctoral trainees with individual fellowship training grants, and junior faculty with career development awards. Qualitative data will be analyzed to formulate cultural statements about the values and behaviors that promote interdisciplinary collaboration in nursing research. Subsequent survey data will be assessed using matrix algebra, principal component analysis, and the Stuart-Maxwell Marginal Homogeneity Test. The development and validation of a CCA tool is a novel approach to assess, support, and systematically examine interdisciplinary collaboration and team science in nursing research and training. However, the investigation of culture needs to remain value neutral, refrain from being prescriptive, and be sensitive to the emergence and dominance of one "right" culture.

217 The Team Science Landscape within the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C)

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: As question complexity in science and medicine increase, the need for teams with diverse skill sets grows as well. We identify essential roles and barriers that define the team environment within the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), an initiative grounded in interdisciplinary team science. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: This work was compiled through a combination of observations, interviews, and survey responses involving members of the N3C research community, specifically those involved in N3C workstreams and clinical domain teams. Observational data was obtained through participation in N3C workstream activities and domain team research and meetings. The survey included five questions related to team science elements and barriers, as well as contrasting science-based teams and non-science-based teams, such as “What elements are common between both Team-Science and non-Team-Science teams?”, and was sent to members of two domain teams: Immunosuppressed and Compromised and Social Determinants of Health. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Team science within N3C has a unique structure of roles and barriers that define the team environment of each project. Within each group, team and role management within team science is an ongoing process that occurs even after a team is formed. We obtained 8 survey responses that indicated communication, attribution, team management, collaboration, interdisciplinary diversity, and problem solving were key aspects to successful team science. Additionally, survey respondents identified prominent barriers to successful team science that included bandwidth constraints, lack of a shared scientific language, learning curves, funding, and lack of communication. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Communication was identified as a key component of team science and a prominent barrier, which indicates that successful team science relies on communication between team members. Thus, it is vital that teams identify and commit to using predefined methods of communication to function effectively.

Considering Toxic Chemicals in the Etiology of Autism.

Considering Toxic Chemicals in the Etiology of Autism.

A conservation criminology-based desk assessment of vulture poisoning in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area

Abstract Vulture declines are uniquely problematic for socio-ecological systems because they are nature’s most important scavengers. Intentional and unintentional poisoning, human-wildlife conflict, energy infrastructure, belief-based use, and illegal hunting activities remain threats to vulture populations across Africa. Conservation stakeholders have identified evidence that a number of vulture species in particular ecosystems are being systematically targeted by poisoning with potentially significant effects on human, wildlife, and ecosystem health. We explored the extent to which an interdisciplinary, expert team-based approach linking conservation and criminology could help inform efforts to prevent poisoning of Africa’s vultures. We used the case of illegal vulture poisoning and conservation in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA), a known poisoning site, as an exemplar. We used an interdisciplinary framework, conservation criminology, to guide a desk assessment of how the local environment may create opportunities for illegal poisoning. Our assessment was conducted as a science team and included multiple iterations and structured discourse. The assessment identifies different elements of vulture poisoning and the opportunity factors that can both underly the problem and inform prevention strategies and tactics. We discuss controlling tools and weapons, extending local guardianship, denying benefits, reducing frustration and stress, and assisting compliance to help prevent illegal poisoning. Results provide insights into harm prevention using evidence-based theory and illustrate the positive potential of interdisciplinary team science for vulture conservation. With additional application, monitoring and evaluation, strategies and tactics explored in this desk assessment may be revised and implemented and portend other benefits for vulture conservation beyond poisoning; the spread of beneficial influence could be a welcome force multiplier for this important scavenger guild.

Revisiting the Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Academic Science: Evidence from “Twin” Discoveries

Which factors shape the commercialization of academic scientific discoveries via startup formation? Prior literature has identified several contributing factors but does not address the fundamental problem that the commercial potential of a nascent discovery is generally unobserved, which potentially confounds inference. We construct a sample of approximately 20,000 “twin” scientific articles, which allows us to hold constant differences in the nature of the advance and more precisely examine characteristics that predict startup commercialization. In this framework, several commonly accepted factors appear not to influence commercialization. However, we find that teams of academic scientists whose former collaborators include “star” serial entrepreneurs are much more likely to commercialize their own discoveries via startups, as are more interdisciplinary teams of scientists. This paper was accepted by Sridhar Tayur, entrepreneurship and innovation.

50565 CTSA collaboration to support K-12 school re-opening in the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT IMPACT: The mobilization of a CTSA-sponsored team with multi-disciplinary translational science expertise enabled the university to provide a range of T1-T4 expertise to a large, complex school district that resulted in permanent learning and data science infrastructure. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI) formed a multidisciplinary science team to provide expertise in support of the re-opening of in-person learning in the second-largest U.S. school district during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The assembled interdisciplinary science team provided expertise in epidemiology, machine learning, causal inference and agent-based modeling, data and improvement science, biostatistics, clinical and laboratory medicine, health education, community engagement, and experience in outbreak investigation and management. The team included TL1 pre and postdoctoral fellows and mobilized scientists from multiple professional schools and T1-T4 stages of translational research. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Tangible outcomes achieved using this team approach included the development of practical metrics for use in the school community, a learning process, the integration of preventive design elements into a testing and tracing program, and targeted and data-driven health education. The team, for example, generated new data displays for community engagement and collaborated with the school district in their use to visualize, learn from, and act on variation across a 700 square mile region. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: Novel translational methods can be used to establish a learning environment and data science infrastructure that complements efforts of public health agencies to aid schools in the COVID-19 pandemic. These new capabilities apply to COVID-19 testing and vaccines and can be mobilized for future population health challenges faced by school districts.

Sustainable Tourism in Svalbard: Balancing economic growth, sustainability, and environmental governance

AbstractThis commentary introduces a methodology and theoretical framework for studying how the tourism industry might balance the competing demands of economic growth and environmental governance. We focus on the “balancing act” Svalbard tourism industry must play among sometimes competing demands of climate change mitigation and emissions from tourism, and of strict Norwegian environmental management policy and demands for increased tourism. While these are specific to Svalbard, the balancing act of competing needs is the core challenge of the UN Sustainability Goals giving this research global and pan-Arctic relevance. Through collaboration between two tourism organisations, the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) and Visit Svalbard and an interdisciplinary team of scientists, we will co-produce knowledge about how to innovate new opportunities while protecting the wilderness, the very backbone of tourism. This collaboration considers how policy, climate change, and local attitudes together may affect the tourism industry and helps to define and develop sustainable tourism operations and products. For instance, tourists may participate in environmental and community-related activities or “micro safaris” rather than a sole focus on charismatic megafauna. Policy discussions about tourism growth need to consider how local and national governments anticipate and navigate rapid social, political, and environmental changes.

302 Phenomics and its potential impact on livestock development in low income countries: Innovative applications of emerging related digital technology

Abstract Infrastructure and institutional frameworks supporting sustainable phenotyping systems are lacking in most developing countries, which are characterized by subsistence agricultural systems with small, highly dispersed farms having few animals, which makes performance recording inefficient, unattractive and expensive. Nevertheless, capturing performance data in near real time using digital devices for livestock improvement is fast gaining ground in many emerging economies around the world because of technological advancements made in the use of information and communications technologies (ICT), mobile devices and a myriad of digital innovations. Several initiatives in developing countries have demonstrated that ICT models for livestock performance recording in small-holder farming systems coupled with appropriate feedback to farmers for improved management and decision making is sustainable. More work needs to be done in developing and designing simple, efficient, inexpensive, non-evasive and sturdy phenotyping devices to support the collection of a range of existing or new quantitative data relating to animal welfare, production, reproduction, product quality, feed efficiency, etc. on farms. Most suitable technologies will be those that will support routine data collection to be transmitted in real time/near real time, but can also function without the internet, and can be easily incorporated into genetic/genomic improvement programs with a community-based breeding program approach. Animal scientists will need to collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of scientists (software developers, engineers, programmers, etc.) to design these next generation of innovative technologies needed for phenotypic data collection. Efficient methods for data collection will generate a lot of data and will need trained scientists to transform this data into information needed for improving animal production systems. Application of these technologies will be critical in attracting youth into agriculture and thus ensure sustainable systems for phenomics in developing countries.