«Fifty shades of cyanobacterial green»
October 31, 2019Our PhD student Vittoria Mallia recently participated to the Horizon 2020 MSCA-ITN cluster event “Clean Water” organized by the Research Executive Agency (REA) of the European Commission in collaboration with the Fundacio Institut Català de Recerca de l’Aigua (ICRA). The event took place in Girona (Spain), on the 22nd of October 2019. Representatives from 12…
A Practical ELISA for Azaspiracids in Shellfish and Algae
February 21, 2019Azaspiracids (AZAs) are a group of natural algal toxins that appear periodically in shellfish. These toxins can cause food poisoning in humans and the first known poisoning episode happened in The Netherlands in 1995. The Irish shellfish consumed gave symptoms like stomach cramps, vomiting, severe diarrhea, and general nausea. Current methods for quantifying the regulated…
Bird mortality event associated with microcystins at Poplar Island, Maryland, USA
November 14, 2018More than 750 dead and dying birds were observed at the Paul S. Sarbanes Ecosystem Restoration Project at Poplar Island, Maryland, USA (Chesapeake Bay) in summer 2012. Avian botulism was suspected based on clinical signs. At the same time, a bloom of Microcystis was also ongoing in an impoundment on the island, and high levels…
Deoxynivalenol – nervous effects reconnaissance
August 1, 2018Data on neurotoxicological effects of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON), also called vomitoxin, are limited. Orally exposed laboratory (mice, rats) and domestic animals (pig, chicken) show behavioural changes such as feed refusal, increased locomotor activity and aggressive behaviour, and DON plasma concentrations at ppm-level result in vomiting in pigs and humans. Preliminary observations suggest that DON…