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LABORATORY PROFILE Nothing fishy at FDA Seafood Laboratory Approaching the FDA Seafood Laboratory in Bothell, WA, the clearest landmark is a red brick Microsoft building. Across the way, the FDA building is nondescript by comparison. It's fitting. Despite the northwest's historical reliance on the seafood industry, high tech and computers dominate the local economy today. While Microsoft captures the spotlight, its neighbor quietly works to protect and promote public health while encountering what all federal agencies face reduced resources. A boon in the late 1970s led to the establishment of numerous FDA field centers, bringing the total to seven, according to Marleen Wekell, director of the Seafood Products Research Center. But that number is now down to two, and by the year 2000, field research could be managed differently than it is today. The FDA seafood center's research lab complements the regulatory lab that was established in 1937, which will become one of five FDA megalaboratories. Other changes are also likely on their way. For example the research lab could be eliminated as a free-standing research center. That wouldn't elimiate research entirely says Susan Hutchcroft director of public relations but it could reduce the amount of effort put into it A mega-regulatory lab with the additional responsibility of conducting research may not trive it the full attention that a stand-alone research lab would she contends T h e refriilatory lnh can handle outbreaks of known toxins and microhes with the wide rancre of rnrpH rps it alreaHv «p« inrl HincT HPT C GC MS and ppll -iiltr rps and
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animal model methods. But when unrecognized symptoms signal a novel outbreak, a research team must quickly locate and identify the culprit. It is important mat the FDA maintains a strong research base, says Weckell. "You need those kinds of brains in research in the government. It gives the agency credibility when it publishes in journals and can hold its own in scientific meetings," says Weckell. The greatest challenge facing the research center is taking leading-edge analytical technology and making it robust enough to stand up in court. Also, the matrix of the sample—not the sensitivity of the measurement—raises the biggest barriers, says Wekell. In one project, the research lab is applying PCR techniques to determine whether toxin genes are present in particular isolates of it. coli. But the food being tested often contains inhibitors to the PCR enzymes, requiring extensive pretreatment with columns or even additives such as dried milk according to Karen Jinneman a microbiologist in the research center. What difference the latter makes is unclear but it seems to do the trick Ironically, just as the research center faces potential cutbacks, one of its projects was honored by vice-president Al Gore in his campaign to reinvent government. Inspired by a NASA hammer that carried a $400 price tag, Gore's Hammer Award recognizes quality federal projects produced on the cheap. Seafood lab research chemist Brad Tenge, together with a team of FDA scientists from across the agency, initiated the regulatory fish encyclopedia—available online at http://vm.cfsan..da.gov/~frf/ rfe0.html in 1993 to give inspectors and fishing industry officials a tool to prevent economic fraud The site includes photographs safety information and gel electrophoresis isoelectric focusing data of mus~ cle proteins that be used to identify various species FDA officials can also use specially developed pattern-recognition software to compare their own isoelectric focusing data to that in the database. Tenge says this feature will soon be available for public use. On the short list to add to the site: DNA restriction fragmentation length polymorphism (RFLP) data. Muscle protein analysis works well for fresh or frozen fish, but the proteins denature during cooking, clouding the analysis. In contrast, DNA weathers the frying pan, making it a good
Analytical Chemistry News & &eatures, August 1, 1998
Preparing a PCR analysis for an unknown pathogen.
complement to the muscle protein data already in place. Tenge would like to see the resource grow to include up to 150 species of fish but expects the addition of new fish to come at a slower pace. New species will be added with an emphasis on those that carry greater health hazards—such as ones with a higher likelihood of carrying a natural toxin or a species prone to mishandling. That change in emphasis reflects a larger trend at FDA 'We have been told to focus more on public health and to de-emphasize economic fraud," says Jim Ahlrep, supervisory chemist in the regulatory lab. A primary focus is known, and emerging hazards such as toxins and microbes, which could place additional stress on reduced research resources. That, in turn, could reduce expenditure on innovative projects such as the fish encyclopedia, which is partially supported by the research budget. In any event, don't expect a tome the size of Microsoft's Encarta to appear overnight. "That's the advantage of a Web resource^—we can update it over a period of time," says Tenge. Al Gore—and even Microsoft would no doubt approve. Jim Kling
