Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Studies

西北太平洋人类健康与海洋研究中心

• 批准号: 0910624
• 负责人: Elaine Faustman
• 金额: $ 182.5万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0910624&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Pacific; Northwest; Center; Human; Health

The Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Studies at the University of Washington was created in response to the critical need to understand links between ocean processes and human health. The focus of the Center is on mechanisms that underlie development of toxic blooms of the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia and the public health consequences of toxic events. The Center, which has leveraged $12 million, brings together researchers from 5 different departments within the University of Washington with expertise in fisheries and biological, chemical and physical oceanography (ocean science) to work with researchers with expertise in molecular and cellular mechanisms of toxicity, neuro-developmental biology, behavior and risk assessment (public health science) and collaborate directly with researchers from 6 different agencies and institutes. Research is coordinated across this multi-disciplinary group through the concept of a risk chain consisting of 5 steps that begin with physical/chemical oceanography and culminate in a mechanistic understanding of the impact of toxin on specific receptors in the brains of humans. Center research began in early 2003 and since then Center researchers have identified circulation-based explanations for the sporadic nature of toxic blooms along the WA coast; molecular approaches to quickly distinguish between different species of Pseudo-nitzschia within whole seawater samples and thus link environmental conditions and species distributions; genomic features that define Pseudo-nitzschia; biosensors that can rapidly determine toxin levels within shellfish tissues; differences in shellfish consumption of toxic Pseudo-nitzschia; behavioral and cultural practices that serve as important risk factors for exposure of humans to toxin-contaminated seafood; and genetic factors in mammals that influence toxic oxidative stress responses following exposure to domoic acid. With funding from this Accomplishment-Based Renewal, new research at the Center will build upon the risk-chain framework that has proven so successful thus far, further synthesizing these research efforts into an integrative and dynamic framework by explicitly linking different steps in the chain. Several research approaches will be used to make additional linkages across disciplines: comparative genomics, which by definition relies on comparisons of different types of organisms; sensing, which allows linkages between environmental conditions and organism responses; and modeling, which integrates across all research areas and continues our current focus. Specific examples of future research areas include analysis of gene and protein expression profiles of field populations of Pseudo-nitzschia; improvement of the current domoic acid biosensor through development of readily accessible antibodies that will enhance instrument flexibility; development of human neuronal stem cells as a model system for mechanistic and gene-environment studies of toxicity; integration of Pseudonitzschia species distributions into circulation models of Puget Sound with the goal of identifying defining features of the rare toxic events within Puget Sound; and, incorporation of age related susceptibility factors into current risk assessment models. Focusing efforts on these approaches will provide an iterative means of integrating new knowledge into the risk chain framework and will facilitate Center research on policy and monitoring practices. Broader Impacts: Center researchers will continue to foster the development of a next-generation of oceans and human health researchers by supervising nearly 50 early-career scientists consisting of post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, undergraduates (10 with REU fellowships), and research scientists/staff. The Center will play a key role in helping define the newly emerging discipline of oceans and human health by conveying the importance of their findings through scientific venues and different types of outreach including K-12 interactions, advice for monitoring agencies, and interactions with potentially at-risk groups (Asian and Pacific Islanders and Tribal Nations) that consume high levels of seafood. Outreach and education have been defining features of the Center and will continue to be so into the future. The goal here is to continue to integrate across ocean and human health research to advance this new discipline by conveying the important ramifications of this emerging field to new scientists, the general public, and concerned interest groups (risk chain step 6).

华盛顿大学西北太平洋人类健康和海洋研究中心是为了满足了解海洋进程与人类健康之间联系的迫切需要而设立的。该中心的重点是硅藻伪菱形藻有毒水华的发展机制和有毒事件的公共卫生后果。该中心筹集了1200万美元，汇集了来自华盛顿大学5个不同系的研究人员，他们具有渔业和生物、化学和物理海洋学方面的专业知识（海洋科学）与具有毒性分子和细胞机制、神经发育生物学、行为和风险评估（公共卫生科学），并直接与来自6个不同机构和研究所的研究人员合作。通过风险链的概念，在这个多学科小组中协调研究，风险链由5个步骤组成，开始是物理/化学海洋学，最终是对毒素对人类大脑中特定受体影响的机械理解。中心的研究开始于2003年初，从那时起，中心的研究人员已经确定了基于循环的解释有毒水华的零星性质沿着西澳大利亚州海岸;分子方法，以快速区分不同物种的假菱形藻在整个海水样本，从而连接环境条件和物种分布;基因组特征，定义假菱形藻;生物传感器，可以迅速确定贝类组织内的毒素水平;贝类消费有毒伪菱形藻的差异;行为和文化习俗，作为人类接触毒素污染的海产品的重要风险因素;以及哺乳动物暴露于软骨藻酸后影响毒性氧化应激反应的遗传因素。通过这种基于成就的更新的资金，该中心的新研究将建立在迄今为止已经证明非常成功的风险链框架的基础上，通过明确连接链中的不同步骤，进一步将这些研究工作综合成一个综合和动态的框架。几种研究方法将用于跨学科建立额外的联系：比较基因组学，根据定义，它依赖于不同类型的生物体的比较;传感，它允许环境条件和生物体反应之间的联系;建模，它集成了所有研究领域，并继续我们目前的重点。未来研究领域的具体例子包括：分析拟菱形藻田间种群的基因和蛋白质表达谱;通过开发易于获得的抗体来改进目前的软骨藻酸生物传感器，这将提高仪器的灵活性;开发人类神经元干细胞作为毒性的机制和基因-环境研究的模型系统;将拟菱形藻属物种分布纳入普吉特海湾的循环模型，目的是确定普吉特海湾内罕见毒性事件的定义特征;并将年龄相关的易感性因素纳入目前的风险评估模型。将工作重点放在这些方法上，将提供一种将新知识纳入风险链框架的迭代手段，并将促进中心对政策和监测做法的研究。更广泛的影响：中心的研究人员将继续通过监督近50名早期职业科学家，包括博士后研究人员，研究生，本科生（10名获得REU奖学金）和研究科学家/工作人员，促进下一代海洋和人类健康研究人员的发展。 该中心将发挥关键作用，通过科学场所和不同类型的外联活动，包括K-12互动，为监测机构提供建议，以及与消费高水平海产品的潜在风险群体（亚洲和太平洋岛民和部落民族）的互动，传达其发现的重要性，帮助定义海洋和人类健康的新兴学科。外联和教育一直是该中心的主要特点，今后将继续如此。其目标是继续整合跨海洋和人类健康研究，通过向新科学家、公众和相关利益集团传达这一新兴领域的重要影响，推进这一新学科的发展（风险链第6步）。