Economic development and urbanization of the Virgin Islands has brought the concomitant environmental deterioration associated with increases in population and poorly controlled usage of natural resources. Unfortunately, the significance of the relationship between changing environmental conditions and human health found in the Virgin Islands, as well as in other islands in the Caribbean, is an essentially neglected area of biomedical concern. The activities proposed for the College of the Virgin Islands MBRS program will begin to address this large problem through two pilot studies and a research project. The first pilot study will assess the health risk to the people of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands from automobile-generated lead found in dust particles and air. The second pilot study will determine the extent to which heavy metal poisons have entered segments of the marine food chain utilized by the human population for food. The research project will continue investigations on the relationship between the ciguatoxin found in marine fish that cause human poisoning and the toxin found in the dinoflagellate thought to be the biological source. Minority students will participate in the proposed projects and will gain a broad range of useful, career-oriented experiences. Even more important to the students and faculty interested in biomedical problems will be the opportunities and potential for career or educational redirection provided by enrichment activities in C.V.I.'s proposed MBRS program. Workshops, attendance and participation in regional and mainland meetings, and opportunities to learn new techniques at collaborating institutions will provide invaluable opportunities for students and faculty to explore options available in biomedical careers in the V.I. and elsewhere. The proposed MBRS program at C.V.I. will reduce the problems of geographical isolation and allow for a redirection of research interests toward biomedical problems while expanding and improving the educational experience of science majors at C.V.I.
