NSF-NIEHS Research Center of Excellence in Oceans and Human Health at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
With support from this award, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will establish an NSF-NIEHS Center for Oceans and Human Health (COHH) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This will be a multi-institutional Center, with a mission to be a focal point for research and communication on issues at the intersection of oceanographic, biological and environmental health sciences, to improve the public health. The Center will involve investigators and facilities of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Woods Hole COHH will address fundamental issues of the distribution of biological agents with potential human health consequences, in the theme area of the temperate coastal ocean, including bays, harbors and estuaries. Within this geographic theme, research projects in the Center will focus on harmful algal blooms and on human pathogens and infectious agents, in both cases with focused and complementary physical oceanographic studies and biological studies of causative agents
The Center will comprise an Administrative Core and four Research Projects. The Research Projects will be coupled with an advanced Genomics Facility Core, establishing a combination of unusual strength, and supplemented by a Pilot Project program. The proposed Cores and Projects are: an Administrative Core; Project 1. Alexandrium Population Biology in the Gulf of Maine; Project 2. Hydrodynamic forcing of Alexandrium population biology; Project 3. Human Pathogens and Coastal Ocean Processes.; Project 4. Microecology; and Evolution of Two Marine Pathogens; Genomics Facility Core; and a Pilot Projects Program.
Broader Impacts: The establishment of a COHH at WHOI is expected to have a number of broader impacts. It will compliment an already strong set of inter-institutional research and educational alliances between WHOI and other organizations involved in marine science. The Center will also focus special attention on an aspect of ocean sciences that has been present at the institution for several decades but with the added dimension of being directed toward interaction with a broader segment of the biomedical community. This center is also expected to play a significant role in the support and training of graduate students and postdoctoral associates for careers related to the oceans and human health.
focused on Harmful Algal Blooms and human pathogens, in four main projects and a variety of pilot projects (feasibility studies). And Advanced Genomics Core aided the studies in the main and pilot projects. The various projects added greatly to the understanding of the biology and distribution of these biological threats, enhancing monitoring to the benefit of the public health. The success in the studies and of the Center overall is evident in the products of the research and other activities. These include publications, education, leveraging of funds and contributions to developing the field of OHH. To summarize briefly, the center research activities have generated nearly 120 papers published or in press. These include papers in Science and in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. We have contributed to the training of 43 undergraduates, 45 graduate students, and 15 post-docs, at the constituent institutions. The investigators have leveraged well in excess of $10 million to augment the efforts here in Oceans and Human Health Research. The Woods Hole Center lead the establishment of the highly successful Gordon Research Conference on Oceans and Human Health. The impact of the Center in relation to public health is evident in one of the researchers having been given the Belding Award by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission for contributing to the early warning of the massive 2005 Alexandrium bloom, leading to protection of the public health.
