WHCOHH: Harmful algal bloom dynamics and epigenetic mechanism of toxin action

该奖项将为在伍兹霍尔海洋研究所建立伍兹霍尔海洋和人类健康中心(WHCOHH)提供NSF支持，该中心拥有一套强大和综合的研究项目，将利用新颖的远程采样技术对已知和新出现的赤潮威胁的种群动态进行新的洞察，并解决将发育暴露与成人后果联系起来的毒素作用的关键机制。这些研究有望使我们预测有害的藻华事件和毒素影响的能力有实质性的改善。该中心的最终使命是通过加强对海洋和环境过程如何影响产生毒素的生物体的生产、分布和持久性，以及暴露于其强大的神经毒素的风险的了解，来改善公众健康。该中心将作为伍兹霍尔海洋学、生物科学和环境健康科学交叉点问题的研究中心。该中心将由三个相互依存的综合研究项目和一个行政核心组成。影响赤潮物种分布、存活、扩散和毒性的因素仍然鲜为人知，尽管它们对人类健康造成了巨大的后果。此外，越来越明显的是，多个HAB物种可能会同时出现，这引发了联合暴露的问题，加剧了对人类健康的威胁。该中心的研究团队将专注于两个关键物种，亚历山大藻(Alexandrium Fundyense)和伪菱形藻(Pus-Nitzschia spp.)，前者产生与麻痹性贝类中毒(PSP)有关的萨克毒素，后者产生软骨藻酸，导致健忘性贝类中毒(ASP)综合征。对毒素作用机制的研究将伴随着海洋环境中常见的重要人为毒物，并与之进行比较。因此，该中心将建立一种新的协调一致的方法，以解决和促进对沿海生态和物理过程如何影响有害藻类对人类健康风险的理解。更广泛的影响：中心工作人员将邀请地方和州公共卫生部门讨论中心？S的活动。此外，他们将参与科德角卫生保健系统，并将寻求向当地医生团体提供讲座，不仅涉及研究结果，还涉及整个科学，包括化学物质(毒素和毒物)的来源以及将作为中心活动一部分的分子毒理学。PIS和受训人员将通过标准的同行评议出版物和在国家和国际科学会议上的发言来传播成果。中心研究将包括对几名本科生和博士后研究员进行研究方法和方法的培训，我们将为新教师提供职业发展。为了协助学生和其他S的口头报告，并最大限度地与科学界进行有效的沟通，中心将提供演示培训，作为正常活动课程的一部分，作为管理核心活动的一部分。与公众的交流将包括将与中心项目有关的文章投稿给世界卫生组织杂志《海洋》，该杂志发表针对非专业受众的文章。NSF和NIEHS的联合资助：该项目所依据的原始提案(P01 ES021923-01)已提交给国家环境卫生科学研究所(NIH/NIEHS)，以回应由NSF联合赞助的资助机会公告RFA-ES-11-012“海洋人类健康中心(P01)”。该项目由NSF和NIEHS通过单独的奖项提供合作资金。

This award will provide NSF support for the establishment of the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health (WHCOHH) at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with a strong and integrated set of research projects that will employ novel remote sampling technologies to achieve new insights into the population dynamics of known and emerging HAB threats, and to address critical mechanisms of toxin action, linking developmental exposures to adult consequences. The studies are expected to lead to substantive improvements in our ability to predict harmful algal bloom events, and the effects of toxins. The ultimate mission of the Center is to improve the public health through enhanced understanding of how oceanic and environmental processes affect the production, distribution and persistence of toxin-producing organisms, and the risks from exposure to their potent neurotoxins. The Center will act as a focal point for research on issues at the intersection of oceanographic, biological and environmental health sciences in Woods Hole. The Center will comprise three integrated and interdependent Research Projects and an Administrative Core. Factors affecting the distribution, survival, proliferation and toxicity of HAB species still are poorly known, despite their enormous consequences for human health. Moreover, it is becoming clear that multiple HAB species can co-occur, raising issues of combined exposures compounding the threats to human health. The Center research team will focus on two key species, Alexandrium fundyense, which produces saxitoxins responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), and Pseudo-nitzschia spp., which produce domoic acid that is responsible for the amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) syndrome. Studies on the mechanisms of toxin action will be accompanied by and compared with those of important anthropogenic toxicants common in the marine environment. Thus, this Center will establish a newly cohesive approach to address and advance the understanding of how coastal ecology and physical processes may influence human health risks from harmful algae. Broader Impacts: Center staff will engage local and state Departments of Public Health in discussions regarding the Center?s activities. Additionally, they will engage the Cape Cod Health Care system, and will seek to provide lectures to local physician groups regarding not only the findings, but also the overall science, including the sources of chemicals (toxins and toxicants) and the molecular toxicology that will be part of the Center's activities. PIs and trainees will disseminate results via standard peer-reviewed publications and presentations at national and international scientific meetings. Center research will involve the training of several undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows in research methods and approaches, and we will provide career development of new faculty. To assist student and other?s oral presentations and maximize effective communication with the scientific community, the Center will offer presentation training as part of the normal course of activities, as part the Administration Core activities. Communication with the public will include such things as contribution of articles related to Center projects to the WHOI magazine Oceanus, which publishes articles directed at lay audiences. JOINT FUNDING BY NSF AND NIEHS: The original proposal on which this project is based (P01 ES021923-01) was submitted to the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH/NIEHS) in response to Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-ES-11-012 , "Centers for Oceans Human Health (P01)", an opportunity jointly sponsored by NSF. This project is cooperatively funded through separate awards from NSF and NIEHS.