Relating harmful phytoplankton to shellfish toxicity and human health

浮游植物是海洋食物链的基础。大多数浮游植物是良性的，确实对环境的健康有益。然而，少数植物因其产生的有毒物质而对人类、环境或经济有害。这些浮游植物通常被称为有害藻华或HAB。有毒的浮游植物可能被滤食性贝类摄入，这些贝类本身并不受伤害，但会在其组织中积累和浓缩毒素。如果贝类被人类食用，可能会发生严重的疾病。浮游植物和贝类肉的监测计划作为一种手段，最大限度地减少贝类消费对人类健康的风险。然而，通过不完全了解的因素，有害浮游植物及其毒素被认为是在英国沃茨的增加。因此，有必要更好地了解影响毒素产生的因素、贝类的媒介作用以及贝类毒性对公众健康的影响。英国在这一领域的研究相对不发达，而且分散，环境科学家和生物医学科学家之间很少或根本没有合作。在本提案中，我们打算举办一个研究讲习班，将科学家、监管机构、监测机构和行业代表与有害浮游植物及其影响方面的专业知识结合起来。研讨会将允许跨学科的知识和想法的共享，并允许为未来的环境/生物医学合作项目制定假设。编写报告将使我们能够更广泛地传播项目期间获得的知识。

Phytoplankton form the base of the marine food chain. Most phytoplankton are benign and indeed positively benefitial to the health of the environment. However, a minority of phytoplantkon are harmful to humans, the environment or the economy as a result of their prouction of toxic substances. These phytoplankton are often called harmful algal blooms or HABs. Toxic phytoplankton may be ingested by filter feeding shellfish that are not themselves harmed but which accumulate and concentrate the toxin in their tissue. If the shellfish are them eaten by humans potentially serious illness may occur. Monitoring programs of phytoplankton and shellfish flesh act as a means of minimising the heath risk to humans of shellfish consumption. Hwever, through factors that are not fully understood harmful phytoplankton and their toxins are perceived to be on the increase in UK waters. Hence, it is necessary to better understand to factors that influence toxin production its vectoring by shellfish and the public health implications of shellfish toxicity. Research in this field in the UK is relatively underdeveloped and fragmented with little or no colllaboration between environmental and biomedical scientists. In this proposal we intend to hold a research workshop to integrate scientists, regulators, monitoring agencies and industry representatives with expertise in hamful phytoplankton and their effects. The worshop will allow the interdisciplinary sharing of knowledge and ideas and allow the hypothesis to be formulated for future environmental/biomedical colloborative projects. The production of a report will allow us to disseminate more widely the knowledge gained during the project.