Scientists have long recognized that both wild and captive populations of endangered species are at a high risk for loss of genetic diversity due to their rarity. With small or isolated populations, genetic diversity can be lost through stochastic genetic drift or breeding between close relatives. Therefore, proper management of captive populations is critical to ensure long-term sustainability. The struggle, however, is how to efficiently and economically collect and analyze high-resolution genetic data that can fill the knowledge information gaps in effective breeding practices.
Haw Chuan Lim, Associate 
Professor in George Mason’s College of Science, Department of Biology, saw an opportunity to combine the experience and knowledge of other experts in the field to develop a novel genomic tool to address this issue.
The researchers created and validated the application of a novel genetic probe-set. It was used to generate data from different types of genetic markers with complementary features such as ease of genotyping, presence throughout the genome, and high information content. The team reasoned that a study conducted on one animal could provide a platform for application to other endangered species.
The Eastern mountain bongo, a critically imperiled ungulate native to Kenya, was identified as a test species. Although fewer than 140 bongos
remain In the wild, there are approximately 160 bongos in U.S. zoos and several hundred more on private ranches. As such, breeding and transfer strategies that increase genetic diversity and reduce inbreeding of captive animals are critical for the survival of the species.
The 4-VA@Mason Advisory Board saw the value in Lim’s proposal, “Development of a novel genotyping panel for powerful and cost-effective evaluations of population structure and kinship in the critically endangered mountain bongo” and approved it for funding.
GMU researchers, Lim and his PhD student, Karen Holm, assembled their team — Aakrosh Ratan, Assistant Professor, University of Virginia; Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Senior Research Scientist, Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation; and Budhan Pukazhenthi, Research Physiologist, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. 4VA funding was used to purchase the necessary supplies, reagents and equipment including DNA tests and probe sets.
Four types of samples—whole blood, fecal swabs, tissues, and extracted DNA—from 39 North American conservation
centers and zoos were collected to begin the project. This resulted in a total of 207 samples from both current and historical ex situ populations (populations outside of the native ranges). They evaluated the effectiveness of the probe-set in generating high-quality genetic data from different sample types and for different genetic marker types. The data obtained are now being accessed for their ability to produce accurate information on animal kinship, genetic diversity and population structure, which will ultimately be used to guide precise captive breeding programs.
Some preliminary data, as well as a chromosome-level genome assembly, have already been published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and at https://www.dnazoo.org/copy-of-assemblies/tragelaphus_eurycerus_isaaci. A high-quality genome serves as an invaluable resource for species conservation because it can be used for many types of research such as those focused on detecting deleterious mutations. All results from this study will ultimately contribute to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan for the species.
Concludes Lim, “The 4-VA@Mason funding got us started, and now we have obtained external funding to move the research even further.”
Today, to Luther’s great delight, the results have proved far more successful than he could have ever anticipated. Tens of thousands of animal images from camera traps and audio recordings have already been collected.
Hassan, Jordan Seidmeyer, Katie Russell, Carolian Sanabria, Adrian Em, Alix Upchurch, Piper Robinson, Tristan Silva-Montoya, and Estefany Umana spent hours creating this treasure trove of records. Emilia Roberts, a MS student in ESP, managed these undergraduate researchers.
The project continues to gain traction. The team has created a website featuring the results of the acoustic portion of the research, 
This was achieved following 4-VA’s approval of a proposal by George Mason’s Yun Yu, an Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, for a grant entitled 
Angeline Lillard, a widely respected developmental psychologist and researcher in the Department of Psychology at UVA. Explains Doebel, “Our collaboration would not have taken off the way it did if it hadn’t been for Angeline, because she was the one who sent me an email about 4-VA. She said, ‘Have you heard of 4-VA? We should consider this option.’”
Led by Myeong Lee, Mason’s Assistant Professor of Information Science and the Director of the Community Informatics Lab, the researchers also included former College of Science faculty members Olga Gkountouna, who assisted with machine learning model development, and Ron Mahabir who provided insight on geographical data analysis. Amr Hilal of Virginia Tech helped with data analytics from a machine learning perspective.
in their geographical area, it tends to attract more participants. In a second finding, the team implemented three advanced machine learning models to predict the success of local Meetup groups, finding that the performances of these prediction models vary across different categories and cities, with some outperforming the state-of-the-art models.
That was just the challenge Younsung Kim in Mason’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy wanted to take on. Kim, who has an extensive background in complex environmental and sustainability issues, saw the potential of incorporating freely available data from US Geological Society and Census Bureau along with the local county government land use zoning data to create a computational spatial model to help identify what works, and what doesn’t work, in GI.
Finally, Kim wanted to incorporate today’s trends in GI architecture in the research; identifying UVA’s School of Architecture as a leading source of urban planning and spatial analysis expertise.
Political Science Association Conference, and at a Mason Earth Day event. A paper entitled “Mapping Green Infrastructure from Stormwater” was published in Environmental Pollution and Climate Change.
Graduate student Muhammad Umair (left), who gathered and processed fMRI and firing rate data for the research, won first place at the College of Engineering and Computing Innovation Week at Mason with a poster titled ‘Subject and Task Fingerprint using Dynamic Reconstruction from fMRI Time-series Data’.
This dilemma had been on the mind of Margaret Weiss, Associate Professor of Special Education at Mason who has long researched co-teaching and pre-service teacher preparation. She saw an acute need to develop and then test a hybrid professional learning series to prepare general and special education teachers in secondary inclusive classrooms to implement effective co-teaching practices.
Rodgers, an Associate Professor at VCU, would be the perfect collaborator. Rogers specializes in inclusive classrooms, co-teaching, learning disabilities, single-case design methods, collaboration, and classroom observation. As VCU is a partner in the 4-VA network, Weiss was able to invite Rodgers to join her in a 4-VA proposal as a co-principal investigator, which was subsequently greenlighted by the 4-VA@Mason Advisory Board.