Roskamp Institute receives $400,000 grant to study red tide’s effect on brain health
Roskamp Institute announced Wednesday it has received a federal grant of $400,000 to study the potential effects of the Florida red tide neurotoxin on brain health.
“Hopefully, our research will show that there is no link between the Florida red tide brevetoxin exposure and an increase of neurological disorders,” Dr. Mike Mullan said in a press release.
Mullan is one of the team leaders in the Florida red tide project and the executive director of the Roskamp Institute.
“However, when you see metric tons of marine life being killed in a few weeks you realize how powerful the toxin is, and knowing that some of the effects of exposure can be long-lasting in other species, it makes sense to make sure that something similar is not happening in the human population – particularly in vulnerable populations,” Mullan said.
Roskamp Institute scientists have studied the causes and potential cures for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease for two decades.
Roskamp has sought to find the link between environmental agents and increased risk for Alzheimer’s and other brain conditions.
The peer-reviewed federal grant of more than $400,000 comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
“One critical observation is that brevetoxin does not affect everyone equally – some people are relatively unaffected by it, whereas others get severe symptoms very easily. We are very interested to know the reason for this and so we are examining the role of the immune system and looking at differences in neurological effects between those that have severe symptoms versus those that do not,” project team leader Dr. Laila Abdullah said in the press release.
The new funding will allow the Florida red tide team at Roskamp to continue the work already underway, examining the neurological effects of Florida red tide in a clinical study designed to determine whether exposure to brevetoxin can increase the incidence of neurological symptoms in susceptible individuals.
Previous work, including by Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick, has suggested that this might be the case, as she and her colleagues recorded an excess of emergency room admissions for neurological complaints during the Florida red tide blooms occurring in 2005-2009.
The study calls for the recruitment of 400 volunteers in Manatee and Sarasota and requires three assessments where blood and urine samples are taken to measure brevetoxin and antibody levels.
Volunteers will be seen during periods when no Florida red tide blooms are being observed and also during periods when they are. Comparing the levels of brevetoxin and antibodies with the levels of neurological complaints will shed light on whether Florida red tide brevetoxin exposure can trigger neurological conditions and whether immune responses are likely protective or make symptoms worse.
As with other diseases studied at the Roskamp Institute, scientists and clinicians there are always looking for new ways to understand and treat neurological disorders.
Last June, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1552 at Mote Marine Laboratory to reinforce the battle against red tide, which devastated the area in 2018.
The bill established the Florida Red Tide Mitigation and Technology Development Initiative, along with $3 million in annual funding.
The bill builds on a partnership between Mote Marine and the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, within the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Effective July 1, 2019, the agencies were tasked with creating a novel, sustainable technology to curb red tide and its harmful impact on public health and Florida’s economy.
