Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Woods Hole Center for Oceans & Human Health

John Stegeman, Ph.D.
jstegeman@whoi.edu
http://www.whoi.edu/science/cohh/whcohh/index.htm

Project Description

The goal of this grant is to establish an NIEHS/NSF Center for Oceans and Human Health in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This is 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 addresses 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 focuses 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 comprises four Research Projects. The Research Projects are 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:

• 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.

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