North Carolina Center for Coastal Algae, People, and Environment (NC C-CAPE)

ABSTRACT – OVERALL
The North Carolina Center for Coastal Algae, People, and Environment (NC C-CAPE) will combine
multidisciplinary expertise in ocean and climate science, toxicology, epidemiology, modeling, and community
engagement to understand, predict, and reduce risks to human health from cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
(HABs) in coastal waters. Growing threats to ecosystem and human health are expected with the increasing
frequency, intensity, and range of cyanobacterial blooms, attributable to eutrophication and climate change. For
NC's coastal waters, including US' largest lagoonal estuary, the Pamlico-Albemarle Sound System, concerns
about emergent HABs have surged and coincide with reports on cyanobacterial toxin presence, mainly
microcystins (MCs), in water and seafood. The transport of toxic algae and MCs along the freshwater-to-marine
continuum further increases the potential to spread MC risks across coastal environments. Epidemiological
studies measuring the association of MC exposure and liver toxicity, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
(NAFLD), in rodent models are necessary to determine whether chronic MC exposure is associated with liver
toxicity, NAFLD and liver cancer in humans. Most research and environmental testing have focused on a single
MC congener but since blooms are associated with mixtures of congeners that vary in toxicity, further data is
needed to understand risks that emerge from MC mixtures and inform human health guidelines. NC C-CAPE
will investigate the health effects of various MC mixtures, and elucidate links among environmental drivers and
HAB dynamics, MC congener composition, and toxin contamination in oysters and blue crabs. Project 1 will
advance our understanding of HAB dynamics and MC contamination in seafood, combining state-of-the-art in
situ observing technologies and targeted field surveys. In addition, experimental work will elucidate trophic
transfer of toxins in oysters and blue crabs. Project 2 will define how MC mixtures influence mechanisms of liver
toxicity and resulting risk of adverse health outcomes in regulatory-relevant mammalian models as well as at-
risk human populations. Project 3 will integrate highly diverse data sets and coastal circulation modeling within
a probabilistic modeling framework to elucidate environmental controls on MC distribution in water and seafood
and assess MC exposure risk in a changing climate. The Center's Community Engagement Core will use the
principles of data justice, where community members are experts with the capacity to conduct critical and
systemic inquiry into their own lived experiences, to address HAB exposure and prevention. The Administrative
Core will provide effective fiscal and scientific leadership to promote collaborations across all Center components
and beyond. As an integrated whole, NC C-CAPE will provide significant insight to guide efforts to implement
effective monitoring approaches, inform guideline values for safe consumption of water and seafood, deliver
predictive tools to assess emergent and future toxin exposure risk, and leverage community engagement
initiatives to fill data gaps and improve oceans and human health.