Center Programs: Direction of the Duke NIEHS Marine/Freshwater
Biomedical Center will continue to be my primary contribution
to Center activities. I will continue to promote multidisciplinary
research, training and outreach efforts connected
with Marine and Freshwater Biomedicine. Approximately
40 Duke faculty members are Center Investigators,
committed to active pursuit of a mutually-held goal
of increasing our understanding of mechanisms that
underlie adverse environmental effects. With assistance
from three deputy directors and three research core
leaders, I stay in contact with these investigators
and encourage productive interactions among them.
I anticipate continuation of quarterly MBC symposia
or workshops, along with several focused workshops.
A February workshop had a focus on new methods of
assessment of oxidative and nitrosative stress. A
nationally-advertised workshop was held in April on
uses of fish and other non-mammalian models in toxicology.
I have learned that a supplement to the MBC to foster
fish toxicity studies will probably be funded within
the next two months.
Research Focus: Structure/function relationships
of oxygen and electron-transport proteins continues
to be my primary area of research, with an increasing
focus on environmental perturbations of structure
and function. My research makes use of structural
assays and complementary measurements of rapid reaction
kinetics and equilibria of red cells and hemoglobin,
using UV/VIS and fluorescence spectroscopy and novel
methods of spectroelectrochemistry. My work has led
to an increased understanding of molecular adaptations
in the respiratory proteins. I am currently gathering
base-line data on arthropod and molluscan hemocyanins
and on hemoglobins isolated from finfish (bluefish,
spot and trout) and from marine mammals (manatees
and bottlenose dolphins). My comparative studies with
hemoglobins, hemocyanins and cytochrome c oxidase
isolated from marine organisms illustrate aspects
of environmental toxicity associated with exposure
to free radicals and metals.
