URI Pharmacy study seeks to identify new toxins in algal blooms

Assistant Professor Matthew Bertin’s study funded by $400,000 federal grant focuses on freshwater lakes, rivers

By Patrick Luce, November 14, 2022.

KINGSTON, R.I. — Nov. 14, 2022 — Bacterial algal blooms and the toxins they produce are a persistent problem in freshwater lakes and rivers and have affected local populations by contaminating drinking water and placing a significant burden on local economies due to diminished recreational activity. The toxins can sicken pets and livestock that drink directly from the waterways, and potentially pose a significant danger to people’s health.

University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy Professor Matthew Bertin is trying to mitigate the problem, discovering new toxins in local waterways and working to develop a detection and monitoring system to protect the public, thanks to a $400,000 research grant from the National Institute of Environment Health Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health.

Bertin and his team of three pharmacy graduate students are scouring three lakes in Roger Williams Park in Providence — Pleasure Lake, Polo Lake, and Cunliff Lake — harvesting algae when it blooms on the surface and testing it for toxins. The team is also working with biotech firm Biosortia Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has the capacity to access and harvest unprecedented amounts of algae to study. Biosortia’s harvesting technologies enable researchers to evaluate aquatic microbial chemistry in its most natural state. While its work just began in September, the team is already showing results, uncovering a surprising, and potentially alarming, number of new toxins.