Pacific Research Center for Marine Biomedicine

夏威夷大学nsf - niehs海洋与人类健康卓越研究中心该奖项将支持夏威夷大学中心建立在该机构在海洋学和热带医学方面的研究优势及其在地球上最大海洋中心的位置，以创建太平洋海洋生物医学研究中心（PRCMB）。通过海洋学家和医学研究人员的互动协作环境，该中心将在热带沿海水域和小岛屿的专题范围内，对有害藻华、水媒和病媒传播的疾病以及海洋衍生药物和探针进行假设驱动的跨学科研究。有害藻华的研究将集中在热带特有的雪卡毒素问题上。该研究的具体目标将包括：(1)更好地了解冈比亚铁毒的生态学，以期确定减少暴发频率的管理策略；(2)开发廉价、广泛适用和快速的方法来检测鱼类中是否存在雪卡毒素；(3)开发测量人体中低浓度毒素的方法。期望确定慢性暴露于雪卡毒素是否可能与神秘的健康状况有关，如慢性疲劳综合征。与水传播病原体有关的研究将探讨通过以下两种方式直接检测病原体来确定与水接触有关的人类健康风险的可行性：(1)利用分子生物学方法来确定肠道病原体子集的存在、生存能力和毒力，期望开发基于分子生物学方法的实用水质测试方案；(2)利用海洋双壳类作为病原体的天然浓缩和隔离剂，期望双壳类中某些病原体的浓度可能被证明是水质监测中有用的诊断工具。海洋制药项目将利用微生物分离和培养方法方面的最新进展，以及夏威夷群岛周围独特的、基本上尚未开发的热带微生物菌群，以：(1)从热带沿海和开放海洋中分离和培养海洋微生物，(2)筛选这些微生物，以生产具有潜在公共卫生应用的抗生素和其他药物，特别是治疗神经退行性疾病；(3)开发分子遗传工具，用于分离和表达相关生物合成基因，以及在宿主生物中表达用于生产海洋药物的途径。这些研究项目将得到核心微生物培养和表征设施的支持，该设施将为筛选和分离次生代谢物提供微生物生物量，开发新的富集培养分离技术，为PRCMB科学家提供和维护分析设备（GC/MS和LC/MS/MS），并与中心研究人员合作聘请其他学科的教师。试点项目计划将开展探索性研究，以补充重大项目或解决PRCMB科学议程中的空白。该中心的智力优势在于，它汇集了夏威夷大学海洋、地球科学与技术学院、约翰·a·伯恩斯医学院、自然科学学院、水资源研究中心、太平洋生物医学研究中心、夏威夷癌症研究中心以及夏威夷州卫生部的互补优势和多学科专业知识。开展跨学科研究，就海洋对人类健康的深远影响产生新知识。这一新发现的知识将促进国家健康，并导致改进战略，以减少因急性和慢性接触海洋环境风险而造成的人类疾病负担。更广泛的影响：该中心更广泛的影响反映了热带、小岛屿的背景以及该主题与夏威夷和太平洋岛民的相关性。这些民族对海洋有着浓厚的兴趣，中心活动的许多方面将提供激发他们对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）职业兴趣所需的文化相关性。

ABSTRACTOCE-0432368NSF-NIEHS Research Center of Excellence in Oceans and Human Health at the University of HawaiiThe University of Hawaii Center that will be supported under this award builds on the institution's research strengths in oceanography and tropical medicine and its location in the center of the largest ocean on Earth to create a Pacific Research Center for Marine Biomedicine (PRCMB). Through the collaboration of an interactive milieu of oceanographers and medical researchers, the PRCMB will conduct hypothesis-driven, interdisciplinary research on harmful algal blooms (HAB), water- and vector-borne diseases, and marine-derived pharmaceuticals and probes, in the thematic context of tropical coastal waters and small islands.HAB research will focus on the ciguatera problem, which is unique to the tropics. Specific goals of the research will include (1) a better understanding of the ecology of Gambierdiscus toxicus, with the expectation of identifying management strategies for reducing the frequency of outbreaks, (2) the development of inexpensive, broadly applicable, and rapid methods for testing for the presence of the ciguatoxin in fish, and (3) the development of methods to measure low concentrations of the toxin in humans, with the expectation of determining whether chronic exposure to ciguatoxin may be associated with enigmatic health conditions, such as chronic fatigue syndrome.Research relevant to water-borne pathogens will explore the feasibility of determining human health risks associated with water contact through the direct detection of pathogens in two ways: (1) the use of molecular biological methods to determine the presence, viability, and virulence of a subset of enteric pathogens with the expectation of developing a practical water quality testing protocol based on molecular biological methods and (2) the use of marine bivalves as natural concentrators and sequesters of pathogens with the expectation that the concentration of certain pathogens in bivalves may prove to be a useful diagnostic tool in water quality monitoring.The marine pharmaceutical project will take advantage of recent advances in microbial isolation and culturing methods and the unique and largely unexplored tropical microbial flora surrounding the Hawaiian Islands to (1) isolate and culture marine micro-organisms from tropical coastal and open ocean seas, (2) screen these organisms for the production of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals with potential public health applications, particularly the treatment of neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and (3) develop molecular genetic tools for the isolation and expression of relevant biosynthetic genes and for expression of pathways in host organisms for the production of marine pharmaceuticals.These research programs will be supported by a core microbial culture and characterization facility that will provide microbial biomass for screening and the isolation of secondary metabolites, develop new enrichment culture isolation techniques, provide and maintain analytical facilities (GC/MS and LC/MS/MS) for PRCMB scientists, and engage faculty from other disciplines in collaborative work with Center investigators. A Pilot Project Program will carry out exploratory research that complements major projects or addresses gaps in the scientific agenda of the PRCMB.The intellectual merit of the Center lies in its convergence of the complementary strengths and multidisciplinary expertise within the University of Hawaii School of Ocean, Earth Sciences and Technology, the John A. Burns School of Medicine, the College of Natural Sciences, the Water Resources Research Center, the Pacific Biomedical Research Center, and the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, as well as the State of Hawaii Department of Health, to conduct trans-disciplinary research that will produce new knowledge about the profound impacts of the ocean on human health. This newfound knowledge will advance national health and lead to improved strategies to reduce the burden of human diseases resulting from acute and chronic exposures to risks in the ocean environment.Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of the Center reflect is tropical, small island context and the relevance of that theme to Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. These ethnic groups have a keen interest in the ocean, and many aspects of the Center's activities will provide the cultural relevance needed to stimulate their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.