Protecting people from harmful ocean algal toxins
Official title: Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health
Funded at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution · NIH-11360094 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project works to improve detection and prediction of toxic algal blooms so coastal communities and seafood consumers face less risk of shellfish poisoning.
Quick facts
| Grant type | P01 program project |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Woods Hole, United States) |
| Project start | September 30, 2018 |
| Project end | February 28, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $606,571 |
| NIH project number | 5P01ES028938-08 |
| Project ID | NIH-11360094 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants or beneficiaries include coastal residents, recreational and commercial shellfish harvesters, seafood consumers, and communities in regions affected by harmful algal blooms.
✕Less likely to help
People who live far inland with no contact with coastal waters or seafood are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this project.
What this research studies
From your perspective, researchers are putting new ocean sensors and targeted sampling tools into the water and combining those observations with computer models to track when and where toxic algal blooms form. They focus on two algae that make saxitoxin (causing paralytic shellfish poisoning) and domoic acid (causing amnesic shellfish poisoning) and study how environmental conditions change toxin production. Field studies across coastal and Arctic sites, lab experiments, and modeling will be combined to improve early warnings and monitoring systems. The goal is clearer guidance for seafood safety and fewer unexpected exposures for people who live, work, or harvest food from the sea.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could reduce human exposures to shellfish toxins through better monitoring, earlier warnings, and safer seafood advisories.
How similar studies have gone: Related monitoring and modeling programs have helped reduce toxin exposures in some areas, but expanding sensitive detection and predictive tools to more regions and toxin types is still needed.
Where this research is happening
-
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Mcgillicuddy, Dennis J — Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Study coordinator: Mcgillicuddy, Dennis J
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.