Project: Scripps Center for Oceans and Human Health: advancing the science of marine contaminants and seafood security

The Scripps Center for Oceans and Human Health (SCOHH) is a five-year effort to advance the science and community engagement surrounding seafood pollutants, on a rapidly changing planet. The project brings together a multidisciplinary team of biomedical and oceanographic researchers with expertise in fish ecology, microbiology, marine chemistry, climate modeling, technology development, bioaccumulation, genomics, toxicology, and public health. The Center’s scientific goals and focus are guided by the needs of society, established through bidirectional community engagement, and led by a proven community engagement team. The proposed research program of SCOHH spans four main areas:

1. Climate change impacts on the human intake of seafood micronutrients and contaminants.
2. The marine microbiome as a source for the synthesis, transformation, and distribution of seafood contaminants.
3. Mechanisms of bioaccumulation and developmental toxicity of seafood pollutants.
4. Bidirectional public engagement and literacy surrounding seafood risks and benefits.

The outcomes of the SCOHH will inform policies, consumption guidelines, and individual decisions to lower risk and enhance greater benefits associated with seafood consumption. Internally, SCOHH will take deliberate measures to enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of its functioning, from the investigator team and graduate student/postdoctoral trainees to engagement with community partners. The Center is jointly supported by NSF’s Division of Ocean Sciences and by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

The central scientific theme of SCOHH is to advance knowledge of marine contaminants and seafood security. Natural and anthropogenic contaminants such as mercury, DDT, and PCBs drive seafood consumption advisories. Yet understanding of their sources, microbial transformations, toxicity, and potential for climate driven change remain incomplete. The SCOHH team will study and track the distribution of essential micronutrients and harmful contaminants in marine food webs to the three billion people who consume seafood globally, the roles that the marine microbiome play in their production and transport, and the developmental toxicity of seafood pollutants and their interactions with transporters that determine uptake and bioaccumulation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.