April 20, 2011
Harmful algae and nutritious sea vegetables to share top billing at summer symposium
Registration for Algae and Human Health July 15 is now open.
Abstracts are due May 1.
Algae grow in salty seas and in fresh water. They range from single-celled diatoms to giant kelp. Many kinds of algae are nutritious foods or potential sources of medications for people and animals. However, other algae can be hazardous, especially when they become abundant or “bloom.”
An algal bloom, visible as swirls in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, July 13, 2005.Landsat 7, NASA
Sea vegetables are algae that include species such as nori that supply protein, minerals, and vitamins to humans. Some single-celled species are important sources of omega-3 fatty acids in human diets.
River Cam near Trinity College with fresh water algal bloom.
They welcome local area health professionals to register to join them at the Algae and Human Health Symposium and sign up for separate related events.
The Algae and Human Health Symposium will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon, Friday, July 15, in Kane Hall at the UW.
Health professionals and biomedical scientists interested in algal toxins or the nutritional benefits of algae are encouraged to present or attend contributed papers sessions that afternoon. Abstracts are due May 1.
Symposium speakers the morning of July 15 will include:
Dr. Lora Fleming, of the University of Miami and European Centre for Environmental and Human Health. Fleming, a family physician and a specialist in occupational and environmental medicine, is a professor of epidemiology and public health at the Miller School of Medicine. She also holds an appointment in marine biology and fisheries at the Rosensteil School. She is a member of The Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. Her topic is brevetoxins and ciguatoxins, the toxins commonly found in Florida red tides and responsible for ciguatera fish poisoning.
Dr. Lorraine Backer, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She will speak on cyanotoxins, which are produced by cyanobacteria (blue green algae) and can contaminate fresh water. Backer is noted for her contributions to CDC efforts to predict and rapidly respond to Harmful Algal Blooms, anticipate public health problems, and report human and animal illnesses related to blooms.
Dr. Sherwood Hall, a seafood specialist at the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Hall has responded to major outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Central America, domoic acid along the Pacific Coast, and multiple toxins in New Zealand. Recognizing from these experiences the intrinsic limitations of traditional approaches to marine biotoxin management, he is developing practical, affordable and sustainable strategies for managing the risk of marine biotoxins. He will discuss saxitoxins, a suite of potent substances generated during algal blooms responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning, as well as amnesic shellfish poisoning caused by domoic acid.
Dr. Prannie Rhatigan, a general practice physician and author of The Irish Seaweed Kitchen. She will talk about “Algae in the Kitchen: Sea Vegetables for Everyday Health.” She has been cooking with seaweed since childhood. Rhatigan works in public health and lives in the coastal town of Streedagh in County Sligo, Ireland.
Dr. Prannie Rhatigan harvests sea vegetables near her home in Ireland.
At the UW, there will be contributed papers and posters on all aspects of algae and human health, including a presentation by the Phycological Society of Americas Committee on Nutritional and Functional Foods. In the evening, a Sustainable Seafoods/Sea Vegetable Dinner will be held at the University of Washington Club.
Health professionals can attend the July 15 algae and human health session of the national meeting for a special, one-day registration fee of $80. Registration is now open. At registration, health professionals can also sign up for the cooking demo ($25), a ticket for the evening dinner at the UW Club ($27) and a Tuesday, July 12, marine algae field trip ($25) to Point Partridge with Dr. Rob Fitch, of the Wenatchee Valley College. He is a visiting investigator at the UW Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories.
The organizers of the Algae and Human Health Symposium are oceanographer Dr. Patricia Tester and molecular biologist Dr. Wayne Litaker, both of the National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research, Beaufort, N.C. The National Ocean Service is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Co-support for the symposium and related activities comes from Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, Inc., Acadian SeaPlants, Ltd., and the University of Washingtons Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Studies, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health and Safety of the National Institutes of Health.
For more information, contact Dr. Patricia Tester, 252-728-8792; Dr. Susan Brawley, 207-581-2973, or Dr. Gaile Moe at 206-281-2238.
