UMBI Scientist Receives 3-year, $500,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms Program to Study Toxins in Fish-Killing Algae

(Baltimore, MD) –University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute’s (UMBI’s) Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) received a 3-year, $500,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study toxin production in fish-killing algae. The grant from the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms program, managed by NOAA Ocean Service will focus on Karlodinium micrun, which occurs widely along the east coast of the US and produces at least two fish-killing toxins.

“Harmful algal blooms are a serious economic and public health problem all over the world, “ said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA is working to remove, or at least diminish, the threat of these occurrences to save lives and protect the vital economy of our coasts. NOAA is working to improve the understanding of our environment and to strengthen regional initiatives like those run by the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute.”

“NOAA’s grant will support research to investigate how and why toxin structure varies between different locations,” said Dr. Allen Place, a biochemist and professor at UMBI’s Center of Marine Biotechnology. Dr. Place, who will serve as the principal investigator, notes ”This research may lead to new insights into why some algae produce toxins and others do not, which is turn may assist us in developing management strategies to protect against fish-kills.”

Each year, NOAA Ocean Service’s Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, which manages ECOHAB, awards approximately $30 million in grants to members of the academic, state and scientific communities to assist NOAA in fulfilling its mission to study our coastal oceans in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable and timely scientific information. NOAA-sponsored competitive research programs such as ECOHAB demonstrate NOAA's commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service.

The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute is an independent research University within the University of System of Maryland. It consists of five major research centers dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biotechnology and its application to human health, the marine environment, agriculture, protein engineering and structural biology. UMBI’s Center of Marine Biotechnology is located in Baltimore, Maryland, and is dedicated to applying the tools of modern biology and biotechnology to study, protect, and enhance marine and estuarine resources. COMB has earned international acclaim for its work in aquaculture and fisheries biotechnology, marine microbial biotechnology and marine derived natural products.

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NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.
For more information on NOAA visit www.noaa.gov

The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute was mandated by the state of Maryland legislature in 1985 as "a new paradigm of state economic development in biotech-related sciences." With five major research and education centers across Maryland, UMBI is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biotechnology. The centers are the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology in Rockville; Center for Biosystems Research in College Park; and Center of Marine Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology Center, and the Institute of Human Virology, all in Baltimore.