Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Studies

华盛顿大学西北太平洋人类健康和海洋研究中心的成立是为了响应了解海洋过程与人类健康之间联系的迫切需要。该中心的重点是研究硅藻假尼奇藻毒华形成的机制以及中毒事件的公共卫生后果。该中心筹集了1200万美元，汇集了华盛顿大学5个不同部门的研究人员，他们在渔业和生物、化学和物理海洋学（海洋科学）方面具有专业知识，与在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）方面具有专业知识的研究人员合作，并直接与来自6个不同机构和研究所的研究人员合作。这个多学科小组的研究是通过风险链的概念进行协调的，风险链由5个步骤组成，从物理/化学海洋学开始，以对毒素对人类大脑中特定受体的影响的机制理解为高潮。中心的研究始于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，解释了西澳大利亚海岸有毒藻华的零星性质；利用分子方法快速区分整个海水样本中不同种类的伪尼茨氏菌，从而将环境条件与物种分布联系起来；定义伪nitzschia的基因组特征；能快速测定贝类组织内毒素水平的生物传感器；贝类对有毒伪尼茨氏菌食用量的差异；作为人类接触受毒素污染的海产品的重要危险因素的行为和文化习俗；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。在“基于成就的更新”的资助下，中心的新研究将建立在迄今已被证明非常成功的风险链框架之上，通过明确地将链中的不同步骤联系起来，进一步将这些研究工作综合成一个综合的动态框架。将使用几种研究方法来建立跨学科的额外联系：比较基因组学，根据定义，它依赖于不同类型生物体的比较；感知，它允许环境条件和生物体反应之间的联系；建模，它集成了所有的研究领域，并继续我们目前的重点。未来研究领域的具体例子包括伪尼茨氏菌田间群体的基因和蛋白质表达谱分析；通过开发易于获取的抗体来改进当前软骨藻酸生物传感器，从而提高仪器的灵活性；人类神经干细胞作为毒性机制和基因环境研究的模型系统的发展在普吉特海湾环流模型中整合假盘虱物种分布，以确定普吉特海湾内罕见毒性事件的定义特征；并且，将年龄相关的易感性因素纳入当前的风险评估模型。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方法，并将促进中心对政策和监测实践的研究。更广泛的影响：中心研究人员将通过指导近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，继续促进下一代海洋和人类健康研究人员的发展。该中心将在帮助确定新兴的海洋与人类健康学科方面发挥关键作用，通过科学场所和不同类型的外联活动，包括K-12互动、为监测机构提供咨询以及与食用大量海产品的潜在风险群体（亚洲和太平洋岛民和部落国家）互动，传达其研究结果的重要性。外展和教育一直是中心的特色，未来也将继续如此。这里的目标是继续整合整个海洋和人类健康研究，通过向新科学家、公众和有关利益集团传达这一新兴领域的重要影响，推进这一新的学科（风险链步骤6）。

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).