PhD candidate, Awarded Student Marine Mammal Research Award

PhD candidate, Liz Brammer-Robbins, was awarded a $4,500 Student Marine Mammal Research Award through the UF College of Vet Med’s Aquatic Animal Health Program. This funding will support her PhD dissertation research which focuses on the health impacts of red tide brevetoxins in Florida manatees. 

Florida red tide is a marine harmful algal bloom that produces neurotoxins called brevetoxins. Florida manatees are primarily exposed to brevetoxins through their food and the air. Exposure to brevetoxins can impair manatees’ respiratory and neurological faculties, leading to difficulties in breathing, disorientation, muscle paralysis, seizures, and in severe cases, death. Ms. Brammer-Robbins’ research will contribute to our understanding on how these vulnerable manatees are affected. The Aquatic Animal Health Program run by Vet Med at UF has four main initiatives that are aimed at helping aquatic animals. They include Diagnostics, Clinical Training and Education, Research, and Stranding Responses.