Hosted by US Environmental Protection Agency
Presentations
- Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) produce excessive amounts of cyanotoxins, significantly threatening aquatic ecosystems and public health. Accurately predicting CyanoHABs is essential to the development of effective prevention strategies, but current CyanoHAB prediction approaches are limited, complicated, and difficult to use. This presentation will discuss the study of cyanotoxin-encoding genes as targets for an early warning system that can predict cyanotoxin production in various lakes in the United States. This approach can be a useful tool to inform CyanoHAB prevention and mitigation practices in inland and coastal freshwater lakes.
- This presentation will provide an overview of the genome sequences of cyanobacterial strains from recent CyanoHAB events in the Pacific Northwest and will discuss the resultant taxonomic interpretations pertaining to the “ADA Clade” taxonomic group. The knowledge of genomic sequences has practical outcomes, which will be covered in this presentation, along with a project pipeline for the early detection of emerging blooms and the development of models for bloom prediction.
Presenters
Jingrang Lu, Ph.D. (EPA Office of Research and Development)
Jingrang is a Research Biologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ORD in Cincinnati, Ohio. His main interests are to apply molecular approaches to applied environmental microbiology and public health research. His research focuses on molecular method development, detection and microbial exposure assessment. His research in CyanoHABs includes molecular approaches for early detection of cyanotoxins and cyanotoxin assessment through aerosols during HAB events. Jingrang holds a Ph.D. in microbial ecology and an M.S. in zoology.
Theo Dreher, Ph.D. (Oregon State University)
Theo is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at Oregon State University. For the last 15-20 years, he has conducted research on the genetics of CyanoHABS in the Pacific Northwest. Most recently, his group has determined the complete or near-complete genome sequences of the dominant cyanobacteria present in several recent CyanoHAB events, improving the understanding of CyanoHAB assemblages and providing tools for strain-specific monitoring and research. Through his role in academia and as President of the Oregon Lakes Association, Dr. Dreher has helped to raise awareness of CyanoHABs among Oregon legislators. He has hosted an annual Oregon CyanoHABs Stakeholder Meeting for the last decade.