How practical is the mouse bio assay for shellfish? It’s saved some human lives. But in this episode we take a look at its practicality and future in the state of Alaska.
We continue our chat with Shannon Cellan the Environmental Lab Manager at the Sitka Tribe of Alaska about the mouse bioassay and shellfish. I also go off on some tangents—sifting through legislative documents, taking a peek into some old spycraft and looking back at some old reports on portable tests for paralytic shellfish toxin.
Vocab!
Microgram
Mouse Unit
Litmus
ADEC
High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography-Post Column Oxidation (HPLC-PCOX) method
Links!
Sitka Tribe of Alaska Environmental Research Lab
https://sitkatribe.org/our-services/resource-protection-programs/sta-environmental-research-lab/
Vintage PST Reports Mentioned in Episode (I scanned them—they’re all public documents so I don’t think there’s any copyright issues)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15sGFa7apQQR2bk40QXLM8wEJ4kLwczVO?usp=drive_link
From the CIA Reading Room…
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00806R000201180060-3.pdf
Government Budget & Agency Resources (Alaska)
Alaska Legislature — DEC Budget Comparison (Senate Enacted)
State of Alaska FY2025 Governor’s Operating Budget: Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Health RDU/Component Budget Summary
https://omb.alaska.gov/ombfiles/25_budget/DEC/Proposed/7_comp3202.pdf
Shellfish Safety & Monitoring (Public Health / DEC)
DEC Shellfish Biotoxin Monitoring Plan
https://dec.alaska.gov/eh/fss/shellfish/resources/bivalve-shellfish-biotoxin-monitoring-plan/DEC Shellfish Permitting Guide
https://dec.alaska.gov/eh/fss/shellfish/resources/permit-guide/
Scientific Methods & Research
PubMed: High Pressure Liquid Chromatography–Post Column Oxidation
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21919349/NOAA Coastal Science — Receptor Binding Assay for Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/project/advancing-the-receptor-binding-assay-for-multi-species-monitoring-of-paralytic-shellfish-poisoning/
Health & Toxicology
EMRA — Shellfish Poisoning Overview
https://www.emra.org/emresident/article/shellfish-poisoningUAA Fact Sheet — Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP)
https://accscatalog.uaa.alaska.edu/sites/default/files/Fact%20sheet%20PSP%20-%20Public%20Health.pdfAlaska Epidemiology Bulletin Newsletter - Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Update ― Alaska, 1993–2021
https://epi.alaska.gov/bulletins/docs/b2022_05.pdf
Other / Contextual
Alaska Public — Article on Spy Stuff and Shellfish
https://alaskapublic.org/news/2021-04-26/alaskas-secret-cold-war-export-shellfish-toxin-for-the-ciaReddit Discussion — Source of MilliporeSigma’s Porcine Products
https://www.reddit.com/r/labrats/comments/1pfymyt/what_is_the_source_of_milliporesigmas_porcine/
