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Valdosta\u00a0State University students signing up to conduct research with Dr. Thomas Manning, professor of chemistry, may find themselves sloshing around the murky coastal banks near Apalachicola, Florida, or examining coral growth in the more pristine waters of the Florida Keys, or even walking the marble floors of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
For more than 23 years, Manning has embraced his profession as a teacher and researcher. His unique approach to research is centered on a team effort, with his undergraduate students on the first string.<\/p>\n
Manning encourages VSU students to engage in research not only as part of their undergraduate experience but also prepare them for graduate or medical school. With more than 80 papers published in national and international peer-reviewed journals, many of which were co-authored by his students, Manning continues to see his mission as providing students with valuable experience and helping find solutions to world environmental and health issues.<\/p>\n
Several years ago, during a class trip to the Florida Keys, VSU students, under the direction of Manning, initiated research on developing biodegradable material for artificial reefs and other marine applications.<\/p>\n
Artificial reefs are man-made structures that are placed underwater to promote marine life. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) allows reefs to be constructed from steel or concrete; however, this can be costly and produce an environmental hazard. For example, the steel from old ships contains chromium and nickel\u2014both are toxic metals that have been linked to contamination in lobster, fish, and other marine life.<\/p>\n
At first, the students used dried bamboo and pine\u2014both are a good source of cellulose\u2014in an oven and then soaked the wood in nutrients to create an artificial reef. The wood products were then attached to concrete blocks to hold the reefs in place once they were lowered into the ocean.<\/p>\n
After deploying the artificial reefs in the Florida Keys and monitoring the marine ecosystem for several months, the students found that the artificial reefs contributed to the growth of a variety of marine organism and that other marine life, including octopuses, crabs, and shrimp, were using it as a food source.<\/p>\n
The students then moved the artificial reef project to the panhandle of Florida and found significant growth in the oyster population.<\/p>\n
Manning, in collaboration with VSU students, applied for U.S. and international patents to support the artificial reef project, which included the application of cellulose and concrete to construct artificial reefs that encourage the growth of marine life. The entire system is considered green technology because of its biodegradable design that leaves a functioning marine ecosystem after it decomposes.<\/p>\n
Research to Commercialization<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2014, Manning and three students\u2014Tess Baker, Brittany Butler, and Sydney Plummer\u2014participated in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) review process, which allowed professionals to review the artificial reef project and determine its merit for commercialization.<\/p>\n According to Manning, the I-Corps program takes university research groups through an evaluation process to determine if their technology has commercial value.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a rigorous seven-week process, which included over 100 interviews with people in public and government positions, as well as a series of presentations to an NSF technical panel, we were given the thumbs up to commercialize our product,\u201d Manning said. \u201cIt is based on three patent applications. One is based on growing marine biofilms on cellulose; a second is focused on growing marine biofilms on concrete; and the third is focused on deploying small, modular reefs over large areas rather than sinking single large structures.\u201d<\/p>\n Butler, who is now a Ph.D. student at James Cook University in Australia, presented the advantages of deploying the green technology reefs compared to the practice of using steel ships to create artificial reefs.<\/p>\n While Butler was making presentations to the panel of researchers and industry leaders, Baker and Plummer were meeting with legislative aides and members of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to discuss the environmental value of their artificial reef project.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were primarily talking to legislative representatives from coastal and agricultural states,\u201d said Plummer, who is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Georgia. \u201cWe were approached by a representative from Louisiana who was interested in our research because of the potential to increase the oyster population.\u201d<\/p>\n Manning explains that oysters are not just a food source; they serve a greater role. For example, in Virginia and Maryland, there is a large-scale effort to restore oyster reefs because of water quality issues. An oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water each day, and 99 percent of oyster bars in the Chesapeake have disappeared.<\/p>\n \u201cOyster bars also play a significant role in preventing shoreline erosion,\u201d Manning said. \u201cIn Louisiana, there is currently a significant financial investment in preventing shoreline erosion.\u201d<\/p>\n Plummer said, \u201cThis was the aha moment when the light bulb came on. We began to think, ‘Maybe we can move our research toward the oysters instead of coral.’\u201d<\/p>\n The students regrouped and started discussing with I-Corps the possibility of using the artificial reefs for oyster production. I-Corps was in agreement that the oyster production provided more of an economic impact because of the food sources and environmental issues.<\/p>\n Manning and the team then switched from just using cellulose in the ocean to specially created concrete cinder blocks produced locally by The Scruggs Company.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started doing work with cellulose but have migrated to a mineral-based mixture that incorporates cellulose, in addition to approximately 100 other chemicals into the structure,\u201d Manning explained. \u201cThe minerals use either cement or stearic acid as the binding for the limestone and chemicals.\u201d<\/p>\n Over time the chemical slowly leaks out, providing a biofilm or bacterial mat for the oyster larvae to colonize the surface.<\/p>\n The team then placed the chemically designed cinder blocks along the Florida shoreline to create a habitat for oysters to grow.<\/p>\n \u201cWe made an oyster bar and reef technically in an area where there wouldn\u2019t naturally be one,\u201d said Baker, who recently graduated from VSU with dual degrees in biology and chemistry. \u201cThey are approximately 60 feet long by 10 feet wide, and oysters started growing to full size in about 12 months, and normally it can take up to 36 months.\u201d<\/p>\n Manning and his team currently have 200 concrete pieces in the Gulf of Mexico (with a permit from the state of Florida.) The next step involves developing a prototype for a large-scale restoration.<\/p>\n Drugs from the Sea<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe work with oysters started with our pharmaceuticals from the ocean project,\u201d Manning said. \u201cThis has given rise, directly and indirectly, to a dozen cancer drugs that have entered preclinical trials at the National Cancer Institute.\u201d<\/p>\n These preclinical trials also include another five antibiotic complexes for TB and resistant strains of the bacterial diseases and several papers on the experimental Alzheimer\u2019s drug bryostatin.<\/p>\n Manning explains that TB is an increasing worldwide health concern due to the drug-resistant strains of TB primarily in other countries.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of TB patients in the U.S.is very low; however, there are cases that come from other countries,\u201d Manning explained. \u201cIt is a form of national security; we cannot have people showing up with a drug-resistant strain of TB.\u201d<\/p>\n For more than 15 years, Manning and his students have harvested sediment from the Gulf Coast for research on various natural drugs, including bryostatin.<\/p>\n Manning takes the collected sediment back to the laboratory for processing and purification. Bryostatin is then extracted from the marine organism bryozoa. Collecting the bryozoa can be a cumbersome project, as it takes approximately 14 tons of harvested bryozoa to obtain one ounce of bryostatin.<\/p>\n \u201cBryostatin is the first drug to show a reversal of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. The Rockefeller Foundation has a patent on this, but it cost over $10 million per gram,\u201d Manning said. \u201cIt is very difficult and complex to synthesize in the lab and in very low abundance from natural sources.\u201d<\/p>\n Manning and his students have been using biofilms to grow bryostatin much more efficiently than current methods.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are doing now is a broad culturing technique,\u201d Baker said. \u201cWe are trying to get pure bryostatin. They can produce it synthetically, but it can take up to a year to make 10 milligrams, and it is very costly.\u201d<\/p>\n Plummer explains that once they collect the sediment samples, they add different nutrients to feed the bacteria and produce bryostatin.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people try to grow bacteria in a lab, but the rule of thumb is you cannot grow marine bacteria in the lab because once you take it out of the ocean, they [bacteria] die,\u201d Manning said. \u201cMost of our success is in the Gulf of Mexico where we are trying to farm the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n Manning and his students currently have four compounds in preclinical trials at the National Institutes of Health and are receiving encouraging data on research related to developing new pharmaceuticals to use for TB, cancer, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Valdosta\u00a0State University students signing up to conduct research with Dr. Thomas Manning, professor of chemistry, may find themselves sloshing around the murky coastal banks near Apalachicola, Florida, or examining coral growth in the more pristine waters of the Florida Keys, or even walking the marble floors of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. For more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"vsu-research_1\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sgamag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/VSU-Research_1-225x300.jpg?resize=225%2C300\")
Manning said that while the green technology reef project continues to move forward, his primary research focus is on what he calls \u201cdrugs from the sea.\u201d Producing pharmaceuticals from the sea is a method that involves growing biofilms or bacterial mats in the ocean to develop new pharmaceuticals to use in research for tuberculosis (TB), cancer, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n