Tracy Collier, Ph.D.

Reopening Fisheries after an Oil Spill: Tainting, Chemical Analysis, and Risks to Human Health

The ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in widespread closures of fisheries in both state and federal waters, and is causing economic harm to the fishing industry in the region.  Decisions are made to close fisheries in oil-impacted regions, because the USFDA considers fish and shellfish in waters affected by an oil spill to be adulterated, until shown otherwise.  Currently, once oil is no longer present on fishing grounds, organoleptic testing for tainting is used to demonstrate that fish and shellfish are fit for commercial harvest and human consumption.  Generally, negative organoleptic tests are backed up by chemical analysis for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to demonstrate that levels of PAHs are below levels that the USEPA reports may be associated with human health risks.  While simple in theory, this approach is often very difficult to implement and explain.  Drawing on my experiences with the EXXON Valdez, North Cape, and Prestige oil spills, I will discuss the current approach for considering seafood safety following oil spills, associated uncertainties, and approaches for reducing uncertainties.

Tracy Collier currently serves as the science advisor to NOAA’s Oceans and Human Health Program, where he provides science direction in the areas of chemical contaminants, pathogens, and algal toxins and their effects on human and ecosystem health. The OHH Program also investigates benefits from the sea, including the development of novel drugs. Until recently, Dr. Collier was director of the Environmental Conservation Division of NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, where he supervised a research enterprise comprised of approximately 90 scientists. Dr. Collier received his PhD from the University of Washington in 1988, and he holds faculty appointments at Oregon State University and Washington State University. He serves on a number of regional, national, and international panels and committees, and has over 125 scientific publications.

Marleen M. Wekell, Ph.D.

Microbiological Research at OARSA/CFSAN/FDA -Preparing for Emergencies

Dr. Marleen M. Wekell, Ph.D., Director, Office of Applied Research and Safety Assessment (OARSA), Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), FDA, Laurel, Maryland

Much of the research at OARSA is geared towards preparing for microbiological emergencies. These emergencies can include examination of the genomics of microorganisms responsible for food borne illness, or analysis of samples for materials intentionally added to foods or the environment such as anthrax spores. Preparation for emergencies requires setting up an infrastructure and developing procedures that can be deployed when needed. This involves a certain amount of skill (and luck!) in correctly forecasting which emergencies are likely to arise. It takes resources and commitment to achieve a state of functional readiness which also fits into the ongoing research program at FDA. Emergency readiness is built on several key components which include: 1. good leadership; 2. personnel on board with appropriate skill sets; 3. ties to counterparts 3. facilities; 4.equipment; 5. on-going training program; 6. QC/QA measures. When emergencies do arise, personnel need to be flexible and if it requires work 24/7, care must be taken to avoid employee burn out. Data reporting and adequate sample storage need to be anticipated as well. CFSAN has developed the Microbiology Emergency Response Team (MERT) to ensure that scientists are properly trained to meet emergencies. In addition, OARSA is a part of the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) set up after 9/11 to coordinate the state and federal laboratories in the U.S. responsible for analyzing foods, and the CDC Laboratory Response Network (LRN) responsible for emergency preparedness and response to biological and chemical terrorism.

Dr. Marleen Wekell, Ph.D. is the Director of the Office of Applied Research and Safety Assessment (OARSA) with the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) with FDA. The research facility is located in Laurel, Maryland. She provides leadership to the research program at OARSA which includes Divisions of Toxicology, Molecular Biology and Virulence Assessment of Pathogenic Organisms. Prior to joining CFSAN, Dr. Wekell was the Director of the Office of Research at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) in Laurel, Maryland. From 2000-2003, she was the Director of the FDA’s New York Laboratory (North East Regional Laboratory) in New York City for the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA). She spent 18 years as the Director of the FDA Seafood Products Research Center in the Seattle, Washington area. Prior to joining FDA in 1982, Dr. Wekell was on the graduate and undergraduate faculty of the Department of Nutrition at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr. Wekell has been on the editorial board of several journals, is a member of many national and international committees and has published numerous articles in scientific journals on marine toxins, pathogenic microorganisms, and seafood quality and safety. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Washington and B.Sc. in chemistry at Seattle University. She is a native of the state of Washington and proud of it. Go Huskies!

Kevin Walker, Ph.D.

Green Approaches in Taxol Cancer Research

Kevin Walker, Ph.D.

Professor, Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan

Taxol – generically known as paclitaxel – is a top-selling cancer-fighting drug, and in unmodified form, the pharmaceutical is used in cancer treatment, in preventing the re-closure of blood vessels after stent placement in post-heart surgery, and is showing promise in Alzheimer’s therapy. The compendium of literature describes new generation paclitaxel compounds that demonstrate increased potency against various cancer cell lines, and several of these are in current clinical trials. Nearly all of these new generation paclitaxels are derived from synthetic routes from a common naturally occurring precursor (baccatin III) isolated from Taxus plants (see below, for an example).

Presently, the knowledge gained in my laboratory, regarding the broad substrate specificity and the chemoselectivity of the enzyme catalysts on the paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway, brings us to a position where we can now conceivably assemble the end-product (above) through a completely biocatalytic route in fewer steps, as shown below. Markedly, the biocatalytic route removes all protecting group steps in the synthetic pathway (above) that are obligate in directing the reactivity to a certain regiocenter.

Furthermore, the ability to overcome inherent co-substrate/co-product ratios by enzymatically driving a reversible biosynthetic reaction towards complete conversion of substrate to products surmounts a significant challenge in biological systems. Our lab is working towards this end by employing broad specificity enzymes encoded by cDNA, such as acyl CoA ligases, obtained from other biological sources, which are coupled to the activity of enzymes in our library in order to drive reactions to completion. Furthermore, we anticipate that E. coli, tractable to genetic manipulation, can be engineered with the pertinent cDNA in natural- or genetically modified-form to express enzymes needed to make novel compounds in vivo via a ‘greener’ way to manufacture drugs.

Included in this effort is the less obvious goal of developing biosynthetic processes to assemble novel drug types to circumvent extensive use of organic solvent-based methods requiring considerable mandates surrounding waste management. The goal is to juxtapose our green chemistry approaches next to conventional synthetic organic chemistry strategies to produce more potent versions of a very important pharmaceutical.

Kevin Walker was born January 23, 1965 in Seattle, WA and earned his BS in Chemistry in June 1988 at the University of Washington, Seattle. Thereafter, Kevin worked at the Seattle District Laboratory, Food and Drug Administration where he worked with senior scientists to develop various analytical techniques that identified xenobiotic compounds in aquatic species from June 1988 to August 1990. He then earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1997 working on various natural product biosynthetic pathways in the laboratory of Prof. Heinz Floss at the University of Washington. He continued his training in Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Washington State University (Institute of Biological Chemistry) where he did postdoctoral research with Prof. Rodney Croteau from 1997-1999, and continued at the Institute as a Research Assistant Scientist until December 2003. Since January 2004, he has been an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University serving in both the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, where he is investigating biocatalysis and Green Chemistry approaches in the production of bioactive natural products.

Jarda Ruzicka, Ph.D.

Flow Injection Analysis: from Beakers to Microfluidics.

Jarda Ruzicka, PhD

Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii , Manoa, Honolulu

Integration of reagent based assays with analytical instruments is a central problem for both research and routine analytical work, in such diverse fields as biochemistry, environmental assays, agricultural assays, biotechnology, oceanography, clinical chemistry, and process control. Regardless whether the end measurement is carried out by a simple detector (such as spectrophotometer), or a sophisticated one ( e.g. MS,) the execution of the preceding “wet chemistry” steps, where reagent and sample solution are brought together to react under controlled conditions, is critical to success of any assay. Flow Injection Analysis,(FIA), fulfills this role, as documented by almost 20.000 papers and 20 monographs published on this topic.

This talk will briefly review solution handling concepts from traditional, manual approaches, to computer controlled, automated Flow Injection, and its sequels Sequential Injection and Bead Injection. Principles of Sequential Injection will be illustrated by examples of enzymatic assays. The participants will be given a DVD copy of the FIA Tutorial, which will be briefly reviewed during the talk.

Jaromir (Jarda) Ruzicka is Professor Emeritus (University of Washington Seattle,) and Affiliate Professor ( Oceanography University of Hawaii, Honolulu). He is a member of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, and past president of the Danish Society for Analytical Chemistry. He was born in Prague in 1934, where he first graduated from Charles University, Department of Analytical Chemistry and later also from the Technical University, Department of Radiochemistry.

In 1968 he immigrated with his family to Denmark, where he obtained a position at the Technical University. There, he became, ten years later, a full professor. During his stay in Denmark, in 1974, he co-invented with his colleague E. H. Hansen, the flow injection method. During that time he also served as an expert for the International Atomic Energy Agency ( United Nations) in Brazil, where at the University of Sao Paulo in Piracicaba, flow injection method found, for the first time, its practical application.

In Seattle, at the Department of Chemistry and in the Center for Process Analytical Chemistry, his research has been, since 1987, aimed at further development of flow injection, leading to the concepts of sequential injection, bead injection and microfluidic-based automated assays. Applications areas in this work included drug discovery, immunoassays and bioassays. J.R. published two monographs and close to 300 papers. Amongst his scientific awards are Talanta Medal, the Torben Bergman Medal by the Swedish Chemical Society, the Gairn Medal by the Scientific Council of European Community, Water’s Award for Pioneers in Development of Analytical Instrumentation, the Memorial Medal by Charles University and The Silver Medal by the University of Warsaw. He is a honorary member of the Japanese Society for Analytical Chemistry .

He retired to Hawaii, where he lives with his family, and participates in research in chemical oceanography, since flow injection techniques are widely used in the laboratory and on board of research ships.

Donald G. Patterson Jr., Ph.D.

Emerging and Legacy Organic Pollutants and the Environmental Connection with Human Health

Donald G. Patterson Jr., Ph.D.
AXYS Analytical Services Ltd., Jasper, Georgia, and Sidney, British Columbia

Don Patterson has extensive experience with human biomonitoring methods and epidemiologic studies. He earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Arizona State University and he has authored and co-authored over 400 journal articles as well as 10 book chapters. At Axys Analytical he works with governmental organizations, universities and other academic organizations in their biomonitoring programs and directs the development and application of new methods for environmentally significant compounds in human tissues.

Don joined the Toxicology Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1979. He was a member of the Senior Biomedical Research Service within the Organic Analytical Toxicology Branch within the Division of Laboratory Sciences at CDC until his recent retirement. He and his team’s work included the development and application of new methods for sensitive, specific, fast, and accurate quantitative analysis of environmentally significant compounds in human tissues. Don has applied these methods (in collaboration with State Health Departments; other U.S. Government Agencies; and Government Agencies of other Countries) to a large number of epidemiologic health assessment studies including among others: Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam veteran ground troops; U.S. Air Force Operation Ranch Hand Vietnam Veterans (actually sprayed Agent Orange); Times Beach, Missouri dioxin exposure; dioxin half-life studies in humans; various occupational exposures and cancer mortality; Seveso, Italy dioxin exposure; herbicide sprayers; endometriosis and breast cancer in women; Great Lakes fish eaters exposure; residents exposed to incineration products; and pesticide exposure to farmers and their families.

He has received numerous awards, including: The U.S. Public Health Service’s Superior Service Award for “Outstanding Scientific Research which Substantially Contributed to a National Public Health Policy for Dioxin Exposure”; the Secretary of Health and Human Services Special Recognition Award to his research group “In Recognition of a Significant Public Health Accomplishment and an Extraordinary Group Effort in the Development of a Viable Method for Measuring Dioxin in Human Serum”; an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) in Environmental Chemistry which was presented by the Faculty of Chemistry at Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; and the 2001 Harvey W. Wiley Award for “Significant Contributions to Analytical Science Through Your Work in Developing State-of-the-Art Methods for Determining Ultra-Trace Concentrations of Toxic Environmental Contaminants” presented by AOAC International.