{"id":1507,"date":"2024-01-03T11:22:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T16:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mote.org\/?post_type=program&p=1507"},"modified":"2024-12-12T20:46:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T01:46:27","slug":"environmental-laboratory-for-forensics","status":"publish","type":"program","link":"https:\/\/mote.org\/research\/program\/environmental-laboratory-for-forensics\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Laboratory For Forensics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ELF lab explores a range of organismal and environmental health issues. Over the past 18 years, the ELF lab has been funded over $6.5 million to carry out oil spill and industrial contaminant pollution research, nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n\n

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\n \n \"\" <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/figure>\n
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\n \n \"\" <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n Christelle Miller uses a High Performance Liquid Chromatograph, an instrument for analytical chemistry, in Mote's Environmental Laboratory for Forensics. <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
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\n \n \"Rebecca <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n Rebecca Medvecky and Dr. Dana Wetzel test potential compounds for red tide mitigation. Photo by: Hayley Rutger <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
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\n \n \"Senior <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n Senior Chemist Rebecca Medvecky in Mote's Florida Red Tide Mitigation & Technology Development Facility. Photo by: Hayley Rutger\/Mote Marine Laboratory <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n\n \n

 <\/p>\n

While the most fundamental research done in our lab is the quantification of environmental levels of organic contamination from petroleum, PCBs, flame retardants, pesticides and other industrial contaminants, we are also strongly engaged in developing novel techniques for understanding cause and effects of stressors on species, populations and overall environmental health.<\/p>\n

Towards this end, we develop and employ a variety of cutting edge approaches based on human health models. Our lab supports environmental conservation through biochemical assessment technique innovation. Our ultimate challenge is to develop technologies that allow us to effectively identify key biological attributes of health assessment, like fatty acid composition and lipid class characterization, compromises of immune function and fertility potential, measuring genotoxicity and predicting heritable responses from exposure to a variety of environmental stressors. These stressors are often the result of organic contaminants in water, sediments, air and organisms but also include noise, climate change, salinity and pH changes. Large scale exposure studies of select marine organisms exposed to a suite of stressors resulting in targeted responses are compared with field collected samples to be able to elucidate pathways of adverse outcomes to the response.<\/p>\n

Organisms we study range from polychaete worms to Arctic whales and polar bears. The geographic range of our projects extends from the Arctic to the Caribbean, north and south and from Malalysia to Europe,<\/p>\n

west and east. Defining a health status diagnostic panel evaluation for wildlife using a suite of key biological parameters is our main goal in order to be able to support wildlife health, conservation and management.<\/p>\n

Program Details<\/h2>\n
\n \n Current Projects\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
    \n
  • The toxicity of Deepwater Horizon oil on Gulf of Mexico fish.<\/li>\n
  • Using amino acids to determine the age of baleen whales in the Arctic.<\/li>\n
  • Assessing the health of dugongs in Malaysia exposed to chronic petroleum contamination.<\/li>\n
  • Novel markers for the identification of sex in sturgeon and other fish for conservation.<\/li>\n
  • Health and status of beluga whales.<\/li>\n
  • Polar bear contaminant and health assessment study in the Alaskan Arctic; a comparison of two populations.<\/li>\n
  • The development of biomarkers for the determination of reproductive competence in Thoroughbred horses.<\/li>\n
  • Northslope crude oil exposure in impacts on wild populations of salmon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>
    \n \n Grants Received\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n
    \n
    \n
      \n
    • Forensics of Fish Diseases in the Gulf of Mexico. 2011.\u00a0 Correlating Potential Impacts from the BP Horizon Oil Spill on Immune Function, Reproduction and Genotoxicity.\u00a0 Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, $370,000.<\/li>\n
    • Reproductive evaluation of dolphins using protein peptide hormones. 2011 Harbor Branch Oceanographic, $95,000.<\/li>\n
    • Deepwater Horizon NRDA State of Louisiana. 2012. Immune Function and Genotoxicity of Impacted Marine Organisms. Stratus Environmental, $786,000.<\/li>\n
    • Assessment of Health Status of Beluga Whales: Pre-oil Spill Status.\u00a0 North Slope Borough, AK. 2012, $120,000.<\/li>\n
    • Age estimating bowhead whales using amino acid racemization. 2012-15. North Slope Borough, AK, $90,000.<\/li>\n
    • Biomarkers of health in Florida manatees. Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. 2012-2015, $76,000.<\/li>\n
    • PAHs in prey of Cook Inlet Beluga whales. Cook Inlet Regional Citizen\u2019s Advisory Council.\u00a0 2013, $57,000.<\/li>\n
    • Determination of sex in wild caught white sturgeon in Idaho.\u00a0 Idaho Power and Light. 2013, $11,300.<\/li>\n
    • Sublethal effects of oil and dispersant exposure to Alaskan salmon.\u00a0 North Slope Borough.\u00a0 2014, $200,000.<\/li>\n
    • Contaminant assessments of dugong habitat in Malaysia. Pew Foundation. 2014. $30,000.<\/li>\n
    • Sex determination of Endangered Gulf Sturgeon.\u00a0 NOAA. 2014, $70,000.<\/li>\n
    • Sublethal effects of oil and dispersant exposure to Alaskan salmon.\u00a0 Oil Spill Response Research Institute. 2015, $100,000.<\/li>\n
    • Genetic resilience of coral in Jamaica. University of the West Indies. 2014, $42,000.<\/li>\n
    • Understanding short and long term sublethal impacts of Deepwater Horizon oil on adult and sub adult Gulf of Mexico fish. 2014. Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, $2.0 million<\/li>\n
    • Development of Equine reproductive biomarkers.\u00a0 2016. Private donation, $45,000.<\/li>\n
    • Health Status and Conservation of Alaskan Polar Bears. 2016. North Slope Borough, AK and Shell Arctic Baseline Program, $370,000.<\/li>\n
    • Sex determination of endangered sturgeon. Using New Technology to address critical uncertainties for conservation and recovery. 2017. NOAA Section 6, $533,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>
      \n \n Research Collaborations\n <\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n
      \n
      \n
        \n
      • University of South Florida<\/li>\n
      • University of Birmingham<\/li>\n
      • Florida Wildlife Conservation<\/li>\n
      • North Slope Borough<\/li>\n
      • University of Alaska<\/li>\n
      • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/li>\n
      • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/li>\n
      • State of Alaska<\/li>\n
      • Island of Curacao<\/li>\n
      • University of the West Indies<\/li>\n
      • Texas A&M University<\/li>\n
      • Clarkson University<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5931,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","areas-of-research":[14,12,10],"research-program-type":[1039],"class_list":["post-1507","program","type-program","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","areas-of-research-biomedical-technology-development","areas-of-research-conservation-restoration-monitoring","areas-of-research-environmental-health","research-program-type-mote-research-programs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEnvironmental Laboratory For Forensics | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/research\/program\/environmental-laboratory-for-forensics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmental Laboratory For Forensics | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ELF lab explores a range of organismal and environmental health issues. 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