Pacific Research Center for Marine Biomedicine

夏威夷大学海洋与人类健康卓越研究中心夏威夷大学海洋与人类健康卓越研究中心将获得该奖项的支持，该中心将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之上，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，太平洋海洋监测和生物多样性中心将在热带沿海沃茨和小岛屿的专题背景下，对有害藻华、水媒和病媒传播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，有害藻华研究将侧重于热带地区特有的雪卡毒问题。 研究的具体目标将包括：（1）更好地了解毒性甘比耳盘菌的生态学，以期确定减少爆发频率的管理战略;（2）开发廉价、广泛适用和快速的方法，用于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，，以确定长期接触雪卡毒素是否可能与神秘的健康状况有关，例如慢性疲劳综合症。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）使用分子生物学方法来确定是否存在，活力，和毒性的一个子集的肠道病原体的期望发展一个实用的水质检测协议的基础上，分子生物学方法和（2）利用海洋双壳类作为病原体的天然浓缩器和隔离器，期望双壳类中某些病原体的浓缩可以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的最新进展，以及夏威夷群岛周围独特的、大部分未开发的热带微生物植物群，以（1）从热带沿海和公海分离和培养海洋微生物，（2）筛选这些生物体以生产具有潜在公共卫生应用的抗生素和其他药物，特别是治疗神经变性疾病、心血管疾病和传染病，以及（3）开发分子遗传学工具，用于分离和表达相关的生物合成基因，以及在宿主生物中表达生产海洋药物的途径。该项目将得到核心微生物培养和表征设施的支持，该设施将为次级代谢物的筛选和分离提供微生物生物量，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施（GC/MS和LC/MS/MS），并让其他学科的教师与中心研究人员合作。 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其在夏威夷大学海洋，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进行跨学科研究，将产生有关海洋对人类健康深远影响的新知识。 这一新发现的知识将促进国家健康，并导致改善战略，以减少人类疾病的负担所造成的急性和慢性暴露于海洋环境中的风险。更广泛的影响：该中心的更广泛的影响，反映了热带，小岛屿的背景下，该主题的相关性，夏威夷和太平洋岛民。 这些族群对海洋有着浓厚的兴趣，该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.